Identity – Destiny – Defining Moments – Part 3 – Jesus’ Biggest Defining Moment

It’s Good Friday and my thoughts turn toward Jesus and the events of Calvary. I cringe and draw back from the violence of that day. It’s too easy to gloss over Friday and fast forward to Easter Sunday and the resurrection. But today I let myself ponder as I reread the story in the Gospels. I’m sure Jesus never cherished the thought of the cross, except for the solution to sin that it would usher in. His love propelled him on through that dreadful Friday.

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I’ve been thinking over the past few weeks about defining moments in Jesus’ life, and there was none more important than the incident in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night of his betrayal. On this Good Friday it is appropriate that we take time to think about it and ask the question; What if Jesus actually decided to call those legions of angels to set him free?

Christmas Time is Miracle Time

Re-reading the Christmas accounts recently I was alerted to two miracle birth stores that are foundational to the event we call Christmas. The whole story is actually one huge miracle that has impacted our world like no other. The Son of God – The Word, who spoke our universe into existence – became flesh and entered this world as a tiny babe via the womb of a teenage virgin. We read in the Gospels about Mary and her cousin Elizabeth and the miraculous birth of their boys.

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  Photo by Friar Sergio Serrano from Pexels

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  Photo by *Vintage Fairytale* on Foter.com / CC BY

Just two ordinary women, going about their daily lives, suddenly interrupted in their routines with the startling angelic message that they would bear significant sons.  One boy, John, was destined to pave the way for the other, Jesus, who would change the course of history. 

Creation declares God’s glory

Well I’m back after a month or so to continue our series on finding out about God from his creation. My focus has been elsewhere, and I’ve been busy, but now I’m ready again to continue blogging.

Order & Interdependency (connectedness) 

Just as God created the galactic worlds to be ordered and connected and to work harmoniously, so also he has created interdependence among life on earth.  Everything flows in an ordered manner. Order occurs when everything is in its correct and appropriate place. Sustained order is needed so that the whole of God’s creation flows and works together in a balanced manner.

Ecosystems are communities of living and non-living things that work together.  An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or a lake or as small as a tree or a puddle.  The water, water temperature, plants, animals, air, light and soil all work together. If there isn’t enough light or water or if the soil doesn’t have the right nutrients, the plants will die. If the plants die, animals that depend on them will die. If the animals that depend on the plants die, any animals that depend on those animals as a food source will die.  All the parts work together to make a balanced system!

When Life Gets You Down – Look Up

The Heavens Declare:  God’s grace and favour and faithfulness 

When life’s big questions puzzle us; when life gets us down and we can’t make sense of our circumstances; it helps to pause and look up.   Literally.  Look up to the sky above. 

We are taking time over several blogs to look up and around us; to contemplate God’s creative work. For in his handiwork we see his splendour and majesty, and gain glimpses of the nature and character of God himself.

The Psalmist David found this helpful and wrote about the inspiration he saw there.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words;  no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,  their words to the ends of the world  (Psalm 19:1-4)

We have looked at how BIG God is by considering how vast is his universe. Then we considered his constant and DEPENDABLE nature revealed in the heavens and his awesome POWER. Today we shall ponder how this big dependable and powerful God is also gracious and faithful to all his creation.

When Life gets you Down – Look Up

The Heavens declare:  God is exceedingly powerful

When life’s big questions puzzle us; when life gets us down and we can’t make sense of our circumstances; it helps to pause and look up.   Literally.  Look up to the sky above. 

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We are taking time over several blogs to look up and around us; to contemplate God’s creative work. For in his handiwork we see his splendour and majesty, and gain glimpses of the nature and character of God himself.

The Psalmist David found this helpful and wrote about the inspiration he saw there.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words;  no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,  their words to the ends of the world  (Psalm 19:1-4)

We have looked at how BIG God is by considering how vast is his universe. Then we considered his constant and dependable nature revealed in the heavens. Today we shall ponder his awesome power.

When Life gets you Down – Look Up

The Heavens declare:  God’s unchangeableness (Immutability)

Malachi 3:6  I, the Lord, do not change.

We are taking time over several blogs to look up and around us; to contemplate God’s creative work. For in his handiwork we see his splendour and majesty, and gain glimpses of the nature and character of God himself.

When life’s big questions puzzle us; when life gets us down and we can’t make sense of our circumstances; it helps to pause and look up.   Literally.  Look up to the sky above. 

The Psalmist David found this helpful and wrote about the inspiration he saw there.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words;  no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,  their words to the ends of the world  (Psalm 19:1-4)

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Last blog we looked at how BIG God is by considering how vast is his universe. Today we will consider his constant and dependable nature revealed in the heavens.

That still place in a shaky world

Fear is spreading its ugly tentacles right around the world once again.  And hitting the panic button seems to be the response.

This particular time its coronavirus.  In the past 20 years, there have been regular “scares” – things predicted to radically wipe out large percentages of humanity.  I remember the panic of the Y2K bug at the turn of the century.  This has been followed by bird flu and swine flu and Ebola virus to say nothing of the alarm from terror attacks and predicted economic downturns.  Couple these with natural disasters and fear seems to be the thing that sits just below the surface of people’s lives.

It is actually fear that is killing us.

Yes, there is a cause for concern and precaution regarding coronavirus.  However, the reaction is out of proportion and way over the top.  Panic buying is out of control.  Where can one buy toilet paper or hand sanitiser this past week?

Fear-based actions reveal the ugly heart of individuals as they trample over others in order to self-preserve.

I understand that people who have no belief in God and his goodness; people who have nowhere to place their faith except in themselves;  have probable cause to fear and dread what may (or may not) happen in the world.

Scripture tells us that fear has torment.  It also says that perfect love will cast out fear (1 John 4:18).  God’s loving companionship, if we are experiencing it, will keep our hearts and minds at peace as we face the circumstances of life.

Mary, Did You Know?

It was a hauntingly beautiful rendition of my favourite Christmas song, Mary did you know. The atmosphere in our Sunday church service was charged with the pleasure that music and beautifully harmonising voices produce.  Yet it was more than that.  It was God himself gracing us with his presence.  I’ve come to recognise and treasure those tangible moments when heaven reaches down to touch us. 

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?……
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God…

The powerful crescendoing climax gave me goosebumps:-

Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
That sleeping child you’re holding… is the great I AM.

The music lingered and I enjoyed the moments of silence that followed.  We could not applaud because we all held the bread and cup of communion in our hands.

With my eyes closed and my mind on the sentiment of the song, our pastor’s voice seemed rather loud and jolted me back to reality as he emphatically said:  “The song asks the question, and the answer is yes, Mary did know.”

You’ve invited God into your life…Is that really what it’s all about!

I remember as a child asking Jesus to “come into my heart”.  We used to sing the song in Sunday School “Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart Lord Jesus. Come in today, come in to stay. Come into my heart Lord Jesus.”

I lived very contentedly knowing that Jesus was in my life and I had peace and contentment with that awareness.  It wasn’t till years later that I begun to realise what a very limited view this is of what had actually occurred that day I invited Jesus into my life. 

With this concept,  I am the focal character and God comes into my life. I open my heart’s door to God’s knocking. I add God to my life. 

How very gracious of me!!!  It almost sounds like I am doing God a favour.   He is there to meet my needs and save me – it is all about me.  

I adopt God.

But the truth is much more exciting, much more incredible, much more mystifying.

Why we Christians celebrate Easter.

Photo by The Church of Almighty God on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND a caption

As Easter approaches many people will ask Christians why we celebrate the Easter story. Is it still significant today?  Can people really have an encounter with God?  Is it important?  The short answer is yes, yes and yes.

People love to tell the story of how they met God and what God means to them, and I love hearing them.  Each individual story is significant and important and holy.  Each is unique, for God interacts with us at the level of our understanding; of our worldview; of our emotional state (messy or stable).  Your story is important, but it is only one of many millions of little stories within the larger story of God’s interaction with humanity.  I want to summarise all our stories by telling you two stories.

The first one is about Adam and Eve and God. The second story is of You and Me and God.  They are basically mirror images – the same story but reversed.  

And the Easter story – the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection is at the centre. 

The mirror, as it were, that reverses the stories…………