What a morning this has been to concentrate on the beauty of Christ. We arrived in Cape Girardeau last night in order to attend tonight's IMB commissioning service where my sister and brother-in-law will be appointed to full-time service in Tanzania. The service is in conjunction with the Missouri Baptist Convention, and so the Cape is full of folks. There is no room in the inn. We have had several rooms reserved for quite sometime, but, since we were the last to check-in, they had given all but one of our rooms to others. (What is, by the way, the definition of reservation? And why, may I ask, would someone overbook a hotel, and then give away reserved rooms even when the reservee has called in our late arrival time?) Anyway, the night was eventful as me, Rachelle, Hannah, and Isaac--along with my mom, dad, and 2 nephews--had a little slumber party in the same room. Needless to say it was a short night. I got up at 5 for my study time--along with everyone else. So, a quiet time I have not had.
However, I did get a few minutes with our passage this morning--which, by the way, is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. THE description of Christ. I hope you'll take a moment to meditate on it, and then comment on your own observation of Christ's beauty. A few thoughts...
Jesus is the pre-eminent Creator who created all things for Himself. He sovereignly holds all things together as His Kingdom--the church over which He is Head--is developed. He is God come to man and THE vessel through which all things are reconciled. The horror of the cross is also the good news of peace to all.
That really is good news for us. That really is, this morning, a wonderful reminder of the beauty of Christ. Lest we forget, verse 21-22 reminds us that we, too, desperately needed that peace of the cross. Only by and through His death are we reconciled. And that reconciliation is for one reason: that you and I might be presented holy and blameless and above reproach before Him--that is, before the Creator who created us for Himself.
There is one qualification: verse 23 says, "if indeed you continue in the faith" standing firm in the single hope of the gospel--the Kingdom of Heaven at hand.
There is beauty. The reason for the reconciliation is that we become holy, blameless, and above reproach. The qualification is that we are always continuing toward this end. The beauty is in the process. King Jesus is pleased with the process. We are always "Becoming" for the glory of Christ. He who died for our reconciliation doesn't sit on His throne waiting for us to become holy and perfect, but is with us through the process, molding us and developing us into His bride by His Holy Spirit (Remember Abraham's servant going and seeking a bride for his son and the journey they embarked upon before she was presented to Isaac?).
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21
May we find peace in the cross as we continue to become a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his own possession.
