Ordinary No More
I remember when I lived in the Northeast, there was this tree that blended in with all of the rest ... until Fall came. That's when it would become the most brilliant and the most beautiful of all the trees in our area.
Seeing that beautiful tree always made me think of the resurrection when some pretty ordinary people will literally burst forth and shine with differing degrees of glory, depending only upon their love for God.
Amazing stuff is coming people!
"The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:41-42).
A Picture of Pure Love
Have you ever watched a child when she receives a brand new puppy? I don't know who's happier, the puppy or the child. There is a mutual affection that has a purity and a simplicity to it, even though the relationship remains to be developed.
It's similar to when a person begins a relationship with our loving God. It's thrilling and all-encompassing. It's the beginning of a wonderful journey, one in which the love never ends and the relationship never stops growing and maturing.
"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The Incredible Seashell Rooster
As a family in ministry, we often didn't get a lot of quality family time during the holidays. So we had a tradition of taking a post-Christmas family road trip to sunny Florida. Along with a few gifts, each of our kids was given some cash and the opportunity, along the way, to pick out a few things for themselves. Inevitably, during these trips, we would end up in a south Florida gift shop.
It was during one of those gift shop stops that my youngest son, probably 6 or 7 years old at the time, first spotted an amazing rooster designed almost entirely out of seashells. He was completely enamored by it. He was also convinced that I would love it as much as he did.
So he took the seashell rooster to the man at the register to find out how much it would cost him. After completely emptying his pockets of what was supposed to be his Christmas money, and some negotiation over the difference, he was so proud to walk away with that amazing seashell rooster for me, his father.
From a practical point of view, I have never been given a more worthless gift. But when measured in terms of the sacrifice involved, I have never been given a more meaningful gift. In fact, of all of the gifts I've received over the years, the seashell rooster is still on my mantle. And its value to me only grows with time.
Although it serves no practical purpose, that rooster will always remind me of the time when my son completely forgot about himself, sacrificing all the money he had, in order to bless me. For that reason, it will always be one of my most valued possessions.
Something similar happened two-thousand years ago when God forgot about Himself in order to bless us. But the gift of God's Son, sacrificed for us, would prove to be anything but impractical. Once received, it would pay for our sins, restore us to right fellowship with God, assure us of our true worth, bestow the promise of the resurrection, and grant us eternal citizenship in God's Kingdom. Receiving Jesus literally satisfies all of our deepest longings and all of our most essential needs.
And when this gift is measured in terms of the sacrifice involved, we see how profoundly wonderful it really is, for it represents the highest price that has ever been paid for anything. God was willing to make the greatest of all sacrifices for the joy of loving us.
You will never be offered a more meaningful gift. May the value that you place on this gift, and the joy that you find in Jesus, only grow in time.
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).
"Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross ..." (Hebrews 12:2).