Greetings to you – chosen, redeemed, forgiven, Holy Spirit filled in the beautiful, wonderful, and powerful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! Have you thanked God yet…for a day that He made for you – for a day that He gave life to you – for a day that is filled with promise, for a day to rejoice in – for a day to be glad in – for a day to share with family and friends – for a day to enjoy the life God has given you? I trust that you have had a good week and that you are ready for the weekend. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to release the gift of the second week of Advent…peace – ‘shalom’ peace!
This week I got caught in a parking lot conversation with an individual who was sharing his views on just about everything from government to covid19 to politics and church and God. Later, as I reflected on this ‘divine appointment’ and what I should have but didn’t say…I heard a line from one of our favourite Christmas songs – that surprises you – “Long lay the world in sin and error pining” …and I wondered if God thought I should have sung him the song, but “no” was the next thought. Now, I did what I would tell you to do…don’t try to figure it out, just let it ‘percolate’ a bit.
So this morning I am doing an Advent reading from a new author and he introduces this idea: one of the dark character qualities of sin that we don’t recognize as much as we should is unwillingness…so here’s what the Christmas story is all about: a willing Savior is born to rescue unwilling people from themselves because there is no other way. – Paul David Tripp. This deserves to be pondered and talked about…so I will leave that with you. However, one of the lessons that we need to learn in our journey as a Christ-follower is one of “vocabulary” . We need to learn to change our “can and cannot” to “will and will not” – as we suffer from the plague of “unwllingness”.
Perhaps we need to rewrite the lyrics…Long lay the world in unwillingness and error pining. We do need to remember to give thanks to a Savior who was “willing” on that night long ago…and continues to be willing – to do everything necessary to feed, guide, sustain, and protect you unyil eternity is your final home – Paul David Tripp.
Something to ponder – have a blessed day!