After a long layoff I thought of writing something for all who have been following my blog in the recent past. It is the beginning of the year and I waited before the Lord for a word concerning His leading and guidance for me and for everyone else involved in the Community of the Risen Lord.
The word given to us at the beginning of this year is;
2Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
The second part of verse 3 opens us to a great answer not understood by many people. St. Peter says that the Divine power that is necessary to meet all our needs comes from the knowledge of Him who called us. Him who called us is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself!
First of all Jesus is risen from the dead and is alive. Second we can have, and grow in a relationship with the Living Christ in such a way that the divine life necessary for life and godliness will flow into us. How does this happen in practical terms?
I remember as a small child the impact that adults and other senior boys had on our lives. We saw them as larger than life and studied every move they made in reverent awe! We began to dress like them, walk like them and even talk like them. Seeing them and associating with them changed the way we live, sometimes even to be bad. But there is no question of the impact they had on us.
Even in the spiritual life we look at other people for inspiration. We are encouraged by great preaching and miracle working. We are also encouraged by great acts of sacrifice for the sake of our Lord and the Kingdom. We try to become like them and our inspired to inner responses by them. Yet often as we walk in the journey of the Kingdom with others, their limitations and their humanness begins to have an effect on us. We tend to measure the ceiling and limits of God by what is happening in their lives and what they believe. Their limitations become our excuse to slacken our own commitment to God. Quietly we become just like the ones we gaze upon! When we realize that it has affected our own journey we judge them for it and they become now not an inspiration but a hindrance to our journey with God!
But Peter invites us to go beyond others in the reading given to us this year. He invites us to fix our gaze on Jesus first and foremost. But how do we fix our eyes on Him. In verse 4 Peter reveals the way. Focus upon the great promises given by the Lord to us. As we gaze upon, claim and hold on to the great promises of Jesus, in our prayer and worship, the Holy Spirit makes them alive and real in our heart. It is then that we will go beyond our own limitation and the limitations of others. As one author put it so beautifully, it is like “marching to the tune of a different drum”. Yes we are all in the same parade through History, but the drum we march to, is the drum beat of the heart of Jesus, made audible to us through His promises while so many others march to the beat of the world around them.
Isaiah captures it beautifully in His heart cry;
Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
Isaiah 60:2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Isaiah says that as darkness covers the earth and the people, the Lord will rise upon them who belong to Him. Those who belong to Him are those who have a relationship by living by the light of the promises of Jesus and gazing upon Him in worship. As the light shines into our hearts and radiates within us it will reflect God’s glory which will attract others who walk in darkness. That gives meaning to the beautiful insight of Isaiah when he says
Isaiah 60:3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn
This is truly our call in the year 2010. This is my prayer for each one of you as well.
“Lord lead us beyond our selves and beyond others to yourself alone. Give us the grace to gaze upon you and hear your voice in and through your promises brought alive in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Lord empower us to inner responses in spite of our own weaknesses and limitations. Lord let not the darkness in others dim the light in my life, but rather let the light of your life in me be light to the world”.
