"...IT IS FINISHED" John 19:30

IT IS FINISHED

Many people say that the three most powerful words in our language are "I LOVE YOU"

I would have to disagree on that one. I prefer "IT IS FINISHED"

The first thing that pops in my head, almost every time I hear the word "finish" goes back to our first year on the mission field, 1999:

We went to a little cafe in Moscow as a family. We couldn't read or understand much Russian yet, so ordering was a hoot. We decided to go with chicken.I mean chicken is always "safe", right? To the embarrassment of our kids, and probably Michael too, I said chicken (in broken English) and flapped my arms. No harm no "foul" it worked and our orders were on their way. (Like we weren't already sticking out enough, a family of 6 Americans going out to eat. We were quite the "eye stoppers" everywhere we went.) They brought back what looked like chicken legs for each of us and some mashed potatoes with some sort of "sauce" and some sort of salad with some sort of green stuff all over it. We tried to pick up our legs, but to our surprise it wasn't a chicken leg at all. It was in the shape of a leg (like how long did it take them to do that creative art; now we are understanding why it took so long) It was mushy and tasted weird. We now know after living in Russia for years that it was a "cutlet" of some kind, who knows what kinds of meats or animal parts were in it. So we all stopped poking and eating. All through the meal, the waitress kept taking our napkins and our silverware, if we set it down, it was gone before you could stop them, not that we would know how to stop them. So the waitress looks over and comes over to the table, she says something, which we don't understand, and keeps saying something we don't understand. Finally she blurts out, "You Finnish" with a heavy Russian accent. One of the boys, pretty sure it was our eldest, said, "No, we are American's", (under his breath). I really don't think she heard him, but it was super funny (to me at least)I think he heard a story from another "M" and decided to practice it on someone else. It has made me laugh all through the years just to think about it.

I love to "finish" things. Sometimes I do things poorly or in a hurry just so I can finish and say, "I'm finished" "Whew that's out of the way." I am a huge note/list maker too. I love to write notes and make lists: things to do around the house, things to tell my kids, teach my kids, things to buy, things to do someday, things I have done. Sometimes I even do something that isn't on my list, then go write it on the list, and then go and mark it out.

My lists or notes aren't on a tidy little note pad either. They are anywhere, backs of print outs, in my Sudoku book, any little free corner of any thing I can write on or that is nearby. No empty space is wasted. My lists aren't pretty, my handwriting is atrocious. My lists are not in linear order; they are all over the page: sideways, upside down, diagonal. They have squiggly marks,doodles, sunshine faces, rainbows, little "V" birds, trees and words...lots of words: circled words, triangled words, recatangled words, underlined words, all caps, small caps, My "O's" and "A's" have smiley faces in them...there are arrows, asterisks, parenthesis, colons, question marks.

My absolute favorite thing to do is mark things off lists. I love it...it's like I'm addicted or something. I don't just put one line through it either. First I put a check mark in front of it, then I put a line through it, then another line, then I scribble over it and do little circles so that what I did cannot even be recognized by the human eye. I don't know why, because they are not legible anyway. Then I throw it away, but I don't just wad it up, I tear it,then wad it and usually throw it on the floor, then pick it up later, unless Michael is home, because it bothers him to see all my wadded torn paper all around me."Why don't you just get a can and throw it straight into the can?" He thought he broke me of this, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him... Cause I like to see it torn up all over the floor and then feel the pleasure of picking it all up...that's why, so I can see it FINISHED. I mean I am done with it. FINISHED.

Yep, I have a great "list story": Once I was in walmart, back at the dressing rooms. It was one of the late night, "going back to the field soon" nights. I had Mamaw, Michael, Grace and Caleb with me AND MY LIST. We had about 30 minutes to buy all the kids clothes to take back, and baby, we were gettin her done. I am not much of a lazy, take your time, kind of window shopper. I got a list, and I get it done and get out of there. So the kids were trying on something and I was out at the little desk, checking over my list. The lady working was obviously having a bad day, so I was trying to cheer her up. I had my list, but I didn't have my pen, so I asked to borrow hers, that she was doing some sort of puzzle with. She gave me a dirty look, but handed it to me. I thought she might be afraid I would take, so I said, I will give it right back, just need to mark some things off my list. So I "went to town", marking, just double marking, I didn't have time to scribble, or for all the squigglies and circles, I would go back and do that later. (HAHA) The lady actually said, you are wasting my pen. Just put a line through it and be done. I could not believe it. It wasn't like a 20 dollar pen or anything, it was like a black Bic that you buy in a box for 10 for a dollar or something. I finished my "one line marking" then gave her pen back. I try to always remember my pen from then on.

In my situation, I like to finish things, so I can move on to something else, feel accomplished, it is for me, basically. "Whew that is finished, next"

When Jesus "finished it". It was "for good and for all" He had me and you and every person of the world in mind. He did it all. He went to the Cross with joy, and completed the task that was set before Him, by His Father, once and for all. He was beaten and ridiculed beyond imagination, and suffered and died a cruel horrible death on the Cross. The Scripture says that He was not even recognized to be a man. He took on the sins of the world, yours and mine, for us. He was separated for the first time from His Father, forsaken and alone. He became ugly to make us beautiful, He became sin, to free us from the bondage of sin. He was alone so that we could be with Him forever and never be alone. He was forsaken, so that we could be accepted. He went through pain so that we can have joy, turmoil for our peace. His heart was broken, so that we can have pure, new hearts. He took our punishment so we could have His grace and mercy. He never once defended Himself, fought back, or returned evil for evil. He just took it, took it all, all our punishment and judgement, so we could be forgiven and saved. He took all of God's wrath, so we could experience His great love and grace. He knew that no one, No one, Not one would speak up for or defend Him, but He did it anyway, so that He could speak up for us, on our behalf. Then He gave it all, everything, His very life, so that we could have Eternal Life.

He took my sins, the sins of the world, wrote them on a list (more like books), put a line through them, then another line, He scribbled them out, scratched them out, turned the paper over and blotted them out from the other side, soaked them in His blood, nailed them to a tree, then he ripped them off the tree, wadded them up and threw them as far as the east is to the west.... IT IS FINISHED, YES IT IS!

Because He finished it, we can now come before the Father: He tore the veil, so we have access to Him, nothing can keep us from His presence now. It is not based on anything we have done, or could ever do, but all because of what Jesus did and what He said, "IT IS FINISHED." THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR FINISHING IT FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Chris Tomlin
Amazing Love

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

Amazing love,
How can it be
That You, my King, should die for me?
Amazing love,
I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.

You are my King
Jesus, You are my King