Jesus came to Reveal (God to man) and Redeem (man to God).
Oh
the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful,
and
since we've no place to go,
Let
it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
I've been singing this song on and off
all week. When I woke up last Monday and looked outside, I quickly sent
out an email to the FFC staff and declared our first ever 'Snow Day.' Memories
of no-school 'snow days' from my childhood stirred up an excitement and joy
that almost surprized me... we stoked up the fire, shoveled snow and had a very
enjoyable day.
Good news that brings ‘great joy.’ The
news that we had 16 inches of snow covering our home and city, and that we
could stay home and enjoy the beauty brought ‘great joy.’ I realized that
Monday’s weather conditions launched me into not only a day of joy, but a
season of joy! The ‘real’ good news isn’t weather related, but God related!
Now there were in the same
country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by
night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to
them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. “For there
is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
“And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling
cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And
on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:8-14)
Join
me in allowing the Holy Spirit to make the ‘good tidings’ of Christ’s coming be
renewed in our hearts and minds, resulting in ‘great joy’!
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (Gen 12:2)
As God spoke these words, He announced a dual objective: “I want to make your name great,” and “You shall be a blessing.” God’s promise to make Abraham’s name great was not a promise of fame, but a guarantee He would shape great character in him.
God is not so interested in ‘notoriety’ as He is in the development of the inner qualities of character. The biblical concept of “fame” focuses on the quality of the person’s trustworthiness, integrity and spiritual weight.
That’s important to remember, since today we live in a society which mocks its own habit for “making people famous for nothing more than merely being well known.”
Thus fame today may be acquired through scandal as quickly as through accomplishment.
But Abraham’s name became great through learning a walk of worship and a pathway of persistent pursuit of God’s will. That’s kingdom character! It’s the path to which God calls His people to walk. Greatness in the kingdom of God is very different from greatness as the world around us determines…Jesus said, "whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” (Mat 20:26)
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold. (Prov 22:1)
After
receiving the news that all his livestock was stolen or killed, his servants
and his sons and daughters had been killed… Job responded…
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he
fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came
from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the
LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not
sin nor charge God with wrong (Job 1:20-22)
The scripture records…
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your
integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the
foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not
accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips (Job 2:9-10)
Because Your lovingkindness is
better than life, My lips shall praise You (Psalm 63:3).
Psalm 46:10 reads, “Be still and
know that I am God.”
‘Still’ meaning no distractions,
no television, no radio, no iPod, no internet, no texting, no phone
conversation, no books, nothing… just being still, in a quiet place, alone.
Many people pride themselves on
their ability to multitask, that is, to handle more than one task at the same
time. I see it often… people driving and… eating, talking on the phone,
texting, and yes I’ve even seen people reading a book while driving down the
highway!
Whether you are a multitasker or
not, our lives can be very busy and overflowing with responsibilities and
activity. Stillness and solitude, well, we just don’t have the time.
Psalm 46 doesn’t say that we should be still, if we have the time…
but that we should make time to be still, and focus our thoughts and prayers on
God.
Personally, the time I spend in
stillness and solitude with God is my most valuable and rewarding time. As the
psalm says, it is a time of knowing God, a time of growing in relationship with
Him, a time of listening and hearing His still small voice speak into our
lives.
If we will develop this pattern of
life, we will be in good company, not only in patterns of life we see in the
Bible, but we’ll also be in the company of a good and wonderful God.
And when He had sent the
multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when
evening came, He was alone there (Mat 14:23).
Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)
1John 4:12 tells us that 'No one has seen God at any time.'
John,
in his Gospel, makes a similar statement but expands on it: It reads, No one has seen God at any time. The only
begotten Son, who is with the Father, He has declared Him (John 1:18) The
expanded understanding comes as he tells us that Jesus has made the Father
known.
John recorded Jesus’
words when He said, He who has seen Me
has see the Father (God) (John 14:8-9)
Also,
Paul in Colossians and in Hebrews says that ‘Jesus
is the image of the invisible God’ and ‘He
is the express image of God’s person’ (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3).
From these texts, we can conclude
that if we had lived 2000 years ago and been able to personally see Jesus
Christ during His earthly ministry, that would have been the closest we could
come to actually ‘seeing God.’
But wait… we can ‘see’ God… but not
with our natural, mortal eyes, that’s not possible… but there is a way that we
can be assured that we have a true knowledge of Him, and that is, by evidence
that we love one another, and by the presence of His Spirit in our hearts and
lives. We cannot see Him by sight, but we may by love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. Though we cannot see
him, yet there is a way by which we may be assured that He is near us, and that
He even dwells in us. That way is the way of love.
I am not at all disappointed that I can’t see God with my natural eyes, but that I can see Him in the lives of others and we love and serve one another in His Name. Oh how much grander is the truth that God abides in us… in can be true, if we love one another! (v.12)
