Treasure Tree DNA: Jesus changes everything.
Not only do we affirm that Jesus is at the center of everything, but we also affirm that Jesus changes everything. The story of Scripture is that we were made in God’s goodness, fell from His grace, and have been seeking a way back ever since. But when we failed to find our way, Jesus made a way. We affirm that the story of Jesus forever alters our own. From His humble birth to walking the streets teaching and healing, from suffering on the cross to His burial in the ground for three days, from His life-giving resurrection to His glorious ascension, every piece of the story matters to our story.
What does it change for us? Everything. Everyone who believes in Jesus has the right to become a child of God (John 1). His life on earth serves as a lesson of compassion, empathy, and hope for our own lives (Hebrews 4:15). His punishment sets us free and His suffering makes us whole (Isaiah 53). When He was nailed to the cross, our debt was nailed there with Him (Colossians 2:14). He became sin for us so that we could become righteous through Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
So when we affirm that Jesus changes everything, we really do mean everything. He buys back our past, canceling the debt of our sin and freeing us from our bondage to shame. He gives back our present, healing our wounds and inviting us to walk in righteousness that leads to life. And He takes back our future, giving us His Spirit as a deposit on the promise that He will one day make all things new and dwell with us again in complete peace. So when we say that Jesus changes everything, we mean it. He redeems our past, restores our present, and returns our future.
Everything is about Him and everything is because of Him. We know and have seen what life without Jesus looks like and we readily submit ourselves to a better story, one where Jesus is King. His life and sacrifice make all the difference and make Him worthy to receive blessing and honor, glory and power (Revelation 5:13). The reward of His suffering is a people for His own possession, a people transformed by His presence and marked by obedience.
We think, teach, and write with this core truth at heart. We will readily submit ourselves wholly to Jesus and give our lives to Him in the same way that He gave His life for us. We will proclaim loudly that He was not just a teacher or a prophet but that He indeed is God in flesh, worthy to be worshiped and adored. We will live in His life, even if it costs us our own. We will tell His story and declare His goodness as the hope of the world. We will be vessels of good news to a weary world.
