This is a reprint from an article I wrote for the J103 (www.j103.com) online newsletter. Enjoy!
Life is a series of clashes or interruptions we would call collisions. When humans collide it can produce immense pain; and sometimes even destruction. But when our collision is with God, it is always an attempt by God to bring His solution into our darkness. When God sends Himself into chaos, creation is inevitable.
History's greatest collision between the infinite and the finite is described in Matthew 4:16: "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (NIV).
It is in this amazing and sometimes dreadful journey that God reveals Himself; and that revelation always includes light to chase away darkness. C.S. Lewis described this life as an "astonishing cataract of bears, babies, and bananas; this immoderate deluge of atoms, orchids, oranges, cancers, canaries, fleas, gases, tornadoes, and roads." Then he pointed out that this is the place in which God chooses to reveal Himself to us. "When the biblical faith affirms that God actually uses history to reveal Himself to us, it is saying that God is to be found in that immoderate deluge. God is involved in the mess; and even more remarkable, the mess can actually constitute revelation" (italics mine).
Here are a few biblical examples of history-making collisions in which God reveals Himself:
Genesis 1:3: God's Word, "Let there be light," collides with chaos, order comes, and "it is good."
Genesis 3: God collides with a serpent that has deceived Adam and Eve and sets in motion the reality of Christmas ("He [Jesus] shall bruise your head").
John 1:5: "The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out" (CEV).
Judges 6: The Angel of the Lord collides with a hiding, fearful Gideon to reveal the truth of his strength and might. Victory is won by a very small number.
1 Samuel 16: A shepherd boy who knows God collides with a giant Philistine champion, cuts off his head, gains riches, wins the daughter of the king, and God's people are freed from the bondage of intimidation.
2 Kings 4: God's Word, through Elisha, collides with a widow, and all her needs are met in a time of financial distress.
Luke 1:29: The Word of God delivered to Mary by the angel Gabriel collides with the rhythm of her life. She and the world are forever changed.
Mathew 9:10-13: Jesus collides with the religious crowd because He spends time with the
"un-churched." He tells them His call is not to the well but those who are sick.
Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus collides with the forces of darkness when He bestows His very
life-giving power to His disciples.
Matthew 5:13-15: Jesus announces that we are the light of the world, thus revealing our collision course with the darkness that cannot stop His light-life in us.
Luke 10:19: Jesus reveals our part in this collision, granting us authority over all the forces of darkness.
2 Corinthians 3:2: "Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it-not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives..." (MSG).
The story written and read in our lives shows forth God's truth colliding with the lives of those
we touch.
And this is The Christmas Experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment