"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephesians 1:7-10)
The apostle Paul tells us in a couple of places (in his letter to the Ephesians above, and in Galatians) that Jesus was born "in the fullness of time." That is, Jesus was born at the exact time that He was supposed to be born, not as a response -- God playing defense and making changes in reaction to events that took an unexpected turn. God, the Author of life, wrote the incarnation into His story before the beginning of time; and then in the fullness of time, entered the stage.
I find it helpful to think of God, and His moving through history, as a story. A story that begins in God Himself, in the mystery of His mind, and moves through creation, the Old Testament, the New Testament, up and through the 20th Century when we enter into the story. His story has a genesis before time and a fulfillment past time, in His plan and purposes. All human beings are invited to live -- through Jesus and after His pattern -- in God's story. Every morning we get up into the middle of something that is already going on. Jesus is not only relevant to the things we read in the newspaper, He and His kingdom are reality, breaking in -- through us, through the Church -- into the competing kingdoms and stories that are distorted shadows of reality. We are called to be on mission, to break in like Jesus did, wherever we are. With this awareness, it is amazing how often you will see glimpses of the splendor all around you and opportunities to join in and partner with God in His story, to break the power of the mundane, break the power of the grey.
When Jesus was on earth, in human body, He accomplished many, many things. One of these was to demonstrate what it looks like for humans to live fully within God's story. He gave us the pattern for how we deal with things like loneliness, busyness, disappointment, accusation, judgmentalism, legalism, and sickness. The list could go on and on. We are called to follow His pattern, we are to uniquely live in the pattern or manner of Jesus in our own setting. When we do this, we fit naturally into God's story. As Jesus' modern-day disciples, we are called to live our lives the way Jesus would live our lives if He were us.
Think of some mundane area of your life. How would Jesus deal with that if He were you? How would Jesus act as a student, or teacher, boss, or employee, parent or child? How would Jesus live your life if He were you? You see, being a Christian is not a question of merely being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to enter into an amazing story. Isn't that something you could get excited about? Isn't that something you want to invite others to join you in?
God bless!
Peace, Hope and Love,
Doug
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment