"... For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him..."
Lest we think that the salvation of the planet rests solely on our shoulders, think again. God's love and concerned for those yet to repent is much greater than yours will ever be. He has seen hell, you haven't. He knows fully the costs involved, you do not. They are his sheep, not yours. He has done - and is doing - everything he can do in order to woo, coax, invite, push (?), convince, and encourage all who are outside the manger's Saving Grace into the knowledge of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He uses everything from secular music to personal situations that demand a rescue. Everything is fair game for the Invitation to be received. He even uses Creation.
For Creation is a most excellent evangelist!
All of creation wreaks with the incarnational nature of Jesus Christ. As Paul's shadow healed the sick, and as Jesus' crucifixion caused the ground to tremble, so does everything - especially created order - bear witness to the all the hallowed Invitation to participate in the emerging Life of God.
These wise men from the east were not jews but gentile pagans steeped in occult-like devotion to the stars and their movements. And even in that state, God's guidance was revealed to them - in their darkness. He spoke to these wise men, in their deception, and led them to Christ through their deception. Through Creation he wooed them to the Manger's Grace - a baby Boy - which was, and still is, the ultimate incarnation of God in Creation.
Why? Because he loved them more and any of could could ever imagine.
This doesn't relieve us of our responsibility to be lights to the world - to pray, to share, to administer justice, and heal the sick - aka "The Great Commission" (for, indeed, we, too, are are part of this creation which wreaks with the Invitation). But it does remind us that we are co-workers with God in the business of witnessing Christ's love to the his world. This is not entirely on our shoulders.
So take heart, you who embrace the responsibility of "saving your family", or your "spouse", or your "wayward daughter". If your heart is grieved for the lost, think of his heart. Can he do no less for those we yearn to see come to Christ?
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Matthew Study: 1:24
"... then Joseph... did as the angel of the Lord commanded... and did not know her until..."
It's one thing to hear the Lord - especially when angelic voices are treated with suspicion - and quite another thing to move out in the obedience of that Call, regardless of what it looks like publicly.
Joseph did this. He heard the Lord, didn't understand the Lord, but - in complete obedience - decided to move into the Call. Not only that, he honored the Call in Mary. He said, "Honey, something bigger than us is happening here and I am going to respect it, honor it, and fear it. Here, let me nurture what God is doing in your life."
That sort of fear - the awesome ability of giving complete honor to the thing that God is birthing around us - is at the heart of our walk in Christ. When we come to the point of waking up each day in total adoration to the mysterious ways of God around us - and choosing to honor this ways in our life and in the life of those around us - then we have learned the secret of walking in the Spirit and blessing God's Kingdom in our midst.
It's one thing to hear the Lord - especially when angelic voices are treated with suspicion - and quite another thing to move out in the obedience of that Call, regardless of what it looks like publicly.
Joseph did this. He heard the Lord, didn't understand the Lord, but - in complete obedience - decided to move into the Call. Not only that, he honored the Call in Mary. He said, "Honey, something bigger than us is happening here and I am going to respect it, honor it, and fear it. Here, let me nurture what God is doing in your life."
That sort of fear - the awesome ability of giving complete honor to the thing that God is birthing around us - is at the heart of our walk in Christ. When we come to the point of waking up each day in total adoration to the mysterious ways of God around us - and choosing to honor this ways in our life and in the life of those around us - then we have learned the secret of walking in the Spirit and blessing God's Kingdom in our midst.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Matthew Study: 1:19
"...then Joseph... being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly..."
There is a buzz around gossip. It's a drug, gossip. There is so much "uncovering" and "revealing" of others' reputations on tv, radio, in the papers, and across the www that it would cause one to think that, if you are not involved in the latest buzz, then you don't know anything.
Christians are called to a higher standard. Like Joseph, we are called to deal with things in ways that diffuse the spirit of the world with gentleness and grace. We are called to meet uncomfortable situations - situations that would create an endorphin buzz in the community - with care, discretion, dignity, and honor.
Not entirely unlike the way God has dealt with us.
It's a choice, to be like Joseph, that is. His partner was pregnant by another man. He could have shouted it from the mountains. But he simply chose not to.
He didn't know about it then. Given time, he would. Soon after his resolve to honor the his potentially forsaken wife, he would come to learn that his partners womb had become transformed into the very throne of God.
He was protecting far more than he could have ever imagined.
There is a buzz around gossip. It's a drug, gossip. There is so much "uncovering" and "revealing" of others' reputations on tv, radio, in the papers, and across the www that it would cause one to think that, if you are not involved in the latest buzz, then you don't know anything.
Christians are called to a higher standard. Like Joseph, we are called to deal with things in ways that diffuse the spirit of the world with gentleness and grace. We are called to meet uncomfortable situations - situations that would create an endorphin buzz in the community - with care, discretion, dignity, and honor.
Not entirely unlike the way God has dealt with us.
It's a choice, to be like Joseph, that is. His partner was pregnant by another man. He could have shouted it from the mountains. But he simply chose not to.
He didn't know about it then. Given time, he would. Soon after his resolve to honor the his potentially forsaken wife, he would come to learn that his partners womb had become transformed into the very throne of God.
He was protecting far more than he could have ever imagined.
Matthew Study: 1:12
"... and after they were brought into Babylon, Jeconiah begat Shealtiel..."
It's easy to think, when you're not operating on all spiritual cylinders, God's plan simply shuts down. Some fear loosing all things spiritual when they enter into their exile experience. God is gone, they say. How can He carry on through this?
Yet, here in the genealogy of Christ, we see Jesus' family line dating all the way back to the Abraham, boring faithfully from one generation to the next - through judges, priests, and kings - through righteous, wicked, royal, and gentile people - nothing interfered with God's plans to birth forth his purposes in Jesus. He used it all.
Perhaps you yourself have found yourself in a spiritual babylon of sorts, a grayish season of exile where you wonder if he has left and forsaken you. Perhaps fear that your sacred history (or even God's future glory to be revealed) has become wasted, derailed, or permanently side-stepped because of something you did or didn't do?
Don't believe it. God's ancestry ran strong through the captivity in Babylon, and it will remain strong in your exile as well. He is much bigger than your worse sin and sees far further than your grandest dream!
Give him praise for that!
It's easy to think, when you're not operating on all spiritual cylinders, God's plan simply shuts down. Some fear loosing all things spiritual when they enter into their exile experience. God is gone, they say. How can He carry on through this?
Yet, here in the genealogy of Christ, we see Jesus' family line dating all the way back to the Abraham, boring faithfully from one generation to the next - through judges, priests, and kings - through righteous, wicked, royal, and gentile people - nothing interfered with God's plans to birth forth his purposes in Jesus. He used it all.
Perhaps you yourself have found yourself in a spiritual babylon of sorts, a grayish season of exile where you wonder if he has left and forsaken you. Perhaps fear that your sacred history (or even God's future glory to be revealed) has become wasted, derailed, or permanently side-stepped because of something you did or didn't do?
Don't believe it. God's ancestry ran strong through the captivity in Babylon, and it will remain strong in your exile as well. He is much bigger than your worse sin and sees far further than your grandest dream!
Give him praise for that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)