Imagine the astonishment of the disciples when, blessing the elements and explaining their symbolism, Jesus departs from the script that has been reenacted by generation after generation. He shows them the bread and says, “This is my body.” What does that mean? Jesus is saying, “This is the bread of my affliction, the bread of my suffering, because I’m going to lead the ultimate exodus and bring you the ultimate deliverance from bondage.”

Mark 12:44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Jesus uses a Greek phrase—all she had to live on—which could also be paraphrased like this: ‘she lay down her whole life.’ Both the poor widow and Jesus can lay down their whole lives because they trust their Heavenly Father—and so can we.

Faith is a relationship word. Faith is the same word as trust. And our faith, the Christian faith, is centered on our trust in Jesus, our trust in our Heavenly Father, our trust in the Holy Spirit. The opposite is also true: our faith is not about ourselves, our faith is not in our abilities or efforts. Our faith, or trust, is in our God. Here’s my hypothesis: Some of the struggles we have are just life. But some our deepest struggles—like our fear, our insecurity, how we respond to our deepest wounds, or how we assess our identity and purpose—these struggles are actually with God and they have everything to do with what we believe about God. If my faith is about trusting God, then I better figure out what I really believe about God.

In Mark 10, Jesus turns the disciples' world upside down: wealth, perfect living, good looks, positions of power—none of these are evidences of the Kingdom of God. Being helpless like a child, needing help, giving everything we have away, relying totally on Jesus—this is what God's Kingdom looks like.

The power of the Gospel changes your story. The old is gone...the new has come. And now God means for your new identity and new story to be used as a blessing for other people.