Love’s Exchange

This post delves into the exchange God wrought when Jesus took you and me into Himself giving His own self story to us as our own self story if we are willing to receive it.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This post was inspired through reading this one here
We live by the faith of Another…which He is glad to share with us…and the next bit, “Who loved us and gave Himself for us”….the word for “gave” is paradidomi which amazingly means:

1) to give into the hands (of another)
2) to give over into (one’s) power or use
2a) to deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage

Now I guess most would say ‘Yes Jesus gave over His self to God’….well no…Picture the sacrificial lamb/goat(Lev16:21)….the sinner lays his hand upon it’s head and confesses all his sins onto that innocent lamb….and all the innocence/righteousness of that lamb is now become the sinners own to do with as he will. (2Cor 5:21)
Jesus gave his self…the story he tells himself about Himself…to you and me…like the song by John Legend…

“…Give your all to me
I’ll give my all to you
You’re my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I’m winning
‘Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you,”

He didn’t just die for us…”gave himself for us” means He gave us his very own self to be our very own self.…and not only that…but He gladly takes our self story…our mess as His own self…He did this in Gethsemane when He drank His Father’s cup into Himself…He drank every last dreg of you and every last dreg of me….and in exchange we drink every thing that He is into ourselves by His faith. Not through a communion cup, but by taking the revelation of the Word by faith and speaking it as our own self story.
Hallelujah!!
Sometimes we get the fact that Jesus gave us Himself to be our self and that realisation is wonderful….But He wants us to accept by faith…to take it…that He has taken all of our self to be His very own self. That means every thing about you He is sharing with you, carrying you in all the mess, all the weakness, all the doubts, all the quirkiness that characterises you, all the things you like to do, all the things you like to eat, to be, places you love…EVERYTHING about you is also His self story BECAUSE at GETHSEMANE He took all of you into Himself —literally becoming you..and we(He&you)together went forth to that one death upon the Cross.
Father carried us all the way through death into life..INSIDE of Jesus our Mediator….who laid down His Life to take us as His own life, dying with us , thereby setting us free from the Old Man–to give us Himself as our own self story. Therefore we come forth as new creatures in Him, always singing His victory songs with shouts of praise for He has shared Himself with us so that He is mine and we are His.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Again…God our Father gave His Son for us all. Again…it would be easy to skip over this verse by thinking “yes Jesus died for me long ago on a tree”….But look and ponder!!
The word for delivered is again the same Greek word as in Galatians 2:20- paradidomi, meaning:

1) to give into the hands (of another)
2) to give over into (one’s) power or use
2a) to deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage

This time Paul is telling us this amazing exchange secret in the context of God having purposed in His heart that YOU should be conformed to the exact same image of Jesus…NOW…not in heaven later…but now! How??? Just like I have been saying to you(and me by the way). God delivered up…gave you His very SELF …to be your very own S/self.
Now something I just saw…the word paradidomi (G3860)means more!!

The prefix para means: “at or to one side of, beside, side by side”

Is that exciting or what?!!
When God gave or delivered up Jesus FOR us…He did it from a POSITION in direct relation to you. He did not die on His own and do all that stuff on His own. PARA means Jesus and you were together somehow….side by side….beside Him…at or to one side.
We see it later demonstrated when the sword pierced Jesus side and blood and water gushed out. We were with Him in Him. This is the intercession of Jesus our High Priest..who carried you and me in HImself, totally humbling Himself to become one with us in all our imperfection in order to take us through death and into the LIFE of God.
What can we say to these things?!!!