The two of us were reading a part of the Bible.
It wasn’t a large part at all. A couple of small paragraphs. It launched a conversation that took well over an hour. Why it took so long was the desire to enjoy the riches in those short paragraphs. T was such a stimulating conversation as we shared what we saw in that section of God’s Word.
Among the other big deals to emerge from the conversation was a greater appreciation that a great base to move from in our walk with Jesus is the basis of seeing who Jesus is. When we take on who Jesus is – the One who loves us, the One who rescued us from sin, the Ruler of the kings of the earth, the faithful witness, the Bread of Heaven, the Way, Truth and Life, the Resurrection and the Life, the True Vine, the Teacher, the Lamb of God, the Lord to name just a few ways in which He reveals Himself. When we have a glimpse of that, we see that He doesn’t want us to see Him just as someone convenient for an immediate need, but Someone who is so great, brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary, marvellous and gracious that He is worth knowing and celebrating in Himself.
That’s a great basis from which movement takes place. At the start of every day. At the beginning of every opportunity. In the middle of every conversation. Two thirds of the way through every celebration. A quarter of the way through every struggle. At every point, frome every angle, it is great to have the basis of an intimate knowing of who Jesus is as He reveals Himself in His Word, through His Spirit in the variety of ways in which He shows who He is.
That is not something that ever grows old or tired, or worn. It is not something that we can afford to take for granted as though we’ve exhausted it. This basis is renewed with ongoing committed reflection. He is not just a list of words to read as rote. In each description is a world of life, victory, consolation, strength, peace and hope that is so essential for us. He is the only way we can be assured of enduring and reaching the finish line. Not just flopping over the line in relief, but being carried across in joyous delight and victory, because He has won us the victory as we place our faith in Him.
Those kind of conversations with people as they open the Word of life and evokes the Spirit of life in us can make all the difference in the world. It means we don’t have to be eaten up with anxiety, bitterness or cynicism about the way things are. It meas we don’t have to be resigned to things the way they appear. It means we don’t have to accommodate and accclimatise to things as they are presented. It means we can lift our eyes to the hills from where our help comes from. It means we cal lift our hearts to the One who has defeated death itself forevermore. It means we can lift our voice in praise and lift our hands in action and we lift our feet to move on that sound basis to do the good works for which we were created.
Oh to have those conversations all the time.
(Photo by Alex Plesovskich on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 