Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A Chrstmas Reflection for the Whole Year
I do have one problem with the liturgical calendar and that is that we often hear certain important messages at only that time of year. And so, I saved this advent post at "Godspace" for now:
It is time we stopped waiting for God to act and acted like He already has.
You see, the amazing thing is this - God allows us to stand in the way of His great work. Sadly, we do on a very regular basis, and one of the ways we do that is by expecting miracles instead of acting like they are done. You see, you now have the power to be the person God created you to be - you just have to get out of the way of the transformation he wished to loose in you.
After the first temple is built by Solomon and on the day of it’s dedication by him, Solomon declares, ‘Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built.’ (1 Kings 8:27). The absurdity that God could fit into the universe let alone a temple is immediately revealed.I love the switch from beginning to end there, that we move from finding space for Jesus in our lives to putting our lives in His. In the context of Advent, it got me thinking. We keep waiting for God to fix us. But the fact of the matter is , His miracles are down - He HAS incarnated - He WAS crucified - He IS resurrected.
Yet the Advent hope of Christmas is that God has located himself in relationship and proximity to us, such that (John 1:14) ‘The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood’.
If you are anything like me, I find that my life doesn’t fit into my own life, let alone the creator of the universe moving in. Too often He is crowded out and left to fit in when I remember Him, need something from him, am in trouble or worried about others. But most of the time, it seems He is squeezed out of my life and neighbourhood.
[...]
So this Advent, I am going to stop waiting for Jesus to fit into my life, and ask and move to fit mine into his. (John 14:23) ‘If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighbourhood!’
As I look at my emotional bandwidth, work commitments, family challenges, insecurities and worries, I see I need that more than ever this Advent.
It is time we stopped waiting for God to act and acted like He already has.
You see, the amazing thing is this - God allows us to stand in the way of His great work. Sadly, we do on a very regular basis, and one of the ways we do that is by expecting miracles instead of acting like they are done. You see, you now have the power to be the person God created you to be - you just have to get out of the way of the transformation he wished to loose in you.
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