GREATNESS

GREATNESS

                The highest and most exalted position that a person can attain to in this life is to be where God wants you too be, doing what He has called you to do.

                The highest destiny that a person can reach for in this life is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

                “For whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the first-born among many brethren and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified He also glorified.” Romans 8:29, 30

                As we can see from this text, it is all done by the Lord:

1.       He foreknew

2.       He predestined

3.       He called

4.        He justified

5.       He glorified

                I find these truths so breathtaking that I can’t stop looking at them. I can’t stop wondering. I can’t stop marveling. I can’t stop falling at His feet.

                Lord God… what is this that You have planned? What kind of God would create beings in His own image and then predestine them to share in His glory?

                And just as the Almighty Son of God came into the human family through the womb of a young virgin to become both our substitute and our example… just so He knocks on the door of our heart and asks us if we have room in the inn. Do we have room for Him? Have we embraced His agenda for foreknowing, for predestining, for calling, for justifying, for glorifying? Has His plan become our priority?

                We spend time arguing about the date of Jesus birth and I can tell you the exact date when He was born. He was conceived and born in you the day that you received Him as your Savior and Lord. And if you will grow up with Him…if you will live by His power instead of your own…If you will put your faith in Him   and stick with it, He will bring you to maturity through His Word and through His Holy Spirit and you will indeed be caught up into His royal family to reign with Him forever.

                I thought of something just a little comical this week. In thinking about faith, I decided that walking by faith is like walking on a tightrope… only there is no rope.

                Jesus never called us to do a balancing act. He wants to come inside of us. He wants to become our new life. There is no balance to it at all. We die to one kingdom and we are born into another and in this kingdom He is Lord of all or He isn’t Lord at all.

                We may start out this new life by adding a little bit of Jesus to our already busy schedules; but if we are maturing in Him then He is ever increasing and we are ever decreasing until Jesus has become our all in all.

                We may have invited Jesus in as the Babe of Bethlehem, but He is growing up inside of us. He has become a servant in us, but He doesn’t stop there for His agenda for us includes going all the way to the throne… to be seated with Him in heavenly places… to rule the nations with Him… to become the sons of God for whom all of creation has been waiting. Rom. 8:19

                In being set free from Satan’s grasp and in putting behind us the power of sin and death; we will soon share in the administration of His kingdom and its increase forever.

                At this time of year, people hustle and bustle through store after store where “ Oh Holy Night” shares air time with ”Jingle bells” and “Here Comes Santa Claus” But worse than all of that is that so few of those shoppers have any room for Jesus in their hearts. In fact they are busy pushing His name out of the celebration altogether. They are pushing for a totally secular Christmas and in fact the only reason stores play songs about Jesus at Christmas is because it sells. It still warms the heart… it still inspires people to give something to others in light of the greatest gift ever given to mankind.

                Someone looking in a store window at a manger scene was heard by someone else saying:” Why do Churches have to horn in on everything?” Hmmm. Did they ever stop to think that Jesus was born in a manger over 30 years before the church even existed? It is not we, but non-Christians that have horned in… and like everything else the Devil does; they have put their own pagan twist on it.

                However, it may be of some interest to you to find out that it wasn’t the church that first came up with December 25 as a birth date for Christ. It was actually Jewish sages writing in the Talmud that a true Messiah must be born on December 25. They counted forward from conception on the Feast of Tabernacles 9 months to the birth and they decided that a true Prophet or Messiah must be born on or around December 25^th.

                This coincided of course with the pagan thought of new beginnings as the light of day begins to overtake the darkness of night once again. However, they were all wrong.

                If we study the Bible we find that shepherds were in the fields with their flocks overnight and this is something that never happened in the winter time. Sheep only give birth in the early spring. Unlike people who can give birth any time, sheep only give birth in the early spring. So the reason shepherds were in the fields at that particular time was because the lambs were being born and as such they were very vulnerable to predators. Therefore, The Bethlehem shepherds were out in the fields with their flocks, protecting them as the lambs were being born.

                Jesus, the true Lamb of God was born in Bethlehem at the time when lambs were being born that would grow up to become temple sacrifices in Jerusalem. These lambs were born to die for the sins of Israel, just as Jesus was born to die for the sins of the whole world.

                I titled this article “Greatness” because I can’t think of anything greater than God’s plans for us, or the infinite precision and timing with which the events took place as well as the exhaustless storehouse of wisdom packed into everything that God does. All of this world’s combined wisdom is only a faint shadow of the greatness and wisdom of God.

                When we first come to Christ, He may seem like a small part of our lives. We wonder how to include Him. He doesn’t seem to fit into large portions of our life. So we separate the sacred from the secular and we put Jesus in a once a week box called “religion.” Some even narrow His involvement         down to Christmas and Easter. “Surely God will be satisfied with that.”

                But in the beginning of our walk with Jesus, we have no idea how great His plans are for us. We have no concept of just how impossible it would be for us to accomplish even one step in this journey towards being conformed to the image of God’s Son.

                Here I remind you of my quip about the walk of faith being like walking on a tightrope only without the rope. Well it is true. We can’t do any of it… and the more we realize it, the more we begin to cling to Him for everything. After all, falling short of the glory of God is an infinite fall. When are you going to hit bottom so that you can jump back into His glory? It will never happen.

                This is why Jesus came into our world. This is why He comes into human hearts. He comes to give us His Spirit. He comes to give us His power so that we can grow up into His life and purpose.

                We have not been left as orphans: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba Father.” Romans 8:15.

                “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, “Abba Father.” Gal.4:6.

                The greatest gift that we can ever receive in this season is to receive the Son of God into our hearts… dying to this dark kingdom of Satan and being born afresh into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!