Yes, this is a series. Why? Because I was told that my postings (which average about 500 words) were too long for the average person to follow on any type of social media.
Seriously, I don’t give a tweet what anyone has to say about the lengths of my meanderings. I tend the follow the principle given to me by Mrs. Peterson, my first grade teacher. She had a wonderful knack of inspiring kids. “Mike,” she said to me, “face the book and learn to read. I’m not going to tell you again.” She was so far ahead in her ability to see the future of social media. Imagine if the founding fathers of our nation had social media when drafting the Declaration of Independence. I’m certain that a group selfie extending a hand gesture to the good king George would have sufficed instead of, “We hold these truths to be self evident…” And that is all I’m going to say about that.
In this series I’m going to point out some things that I’ve come across in my studies on this very important topic of grace. It might be familiar to some of you but sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. This is not a subject that we can just pass off as “…Oh, I already know that.” We need to be reminded of our heritage regularly, so that is what I hope this will do. So today here is what I want you to consider in the grace of…
There is a passage in the book of Jeremiah where God tells Jeremiah that He knew him before he was formed in the belly and before Jeremiah came out He set him apart from everyone else. This statement of God’s involvement in the life of a prophet truly applies to all of us. This claim blows the minds of many people who see God as some distant celestial being who cares very little about the goings on of us mere humans. However, this is not what I want you to consider.
Consider this: One day during a teaching in the synagogue a young boy hears the rabbi read this passage out of the book of Jeremiah. He has heard it before typically around the same time of the year, but today, something deep within him suddenly shifts. Looking down at his hands and then to his feet, he begins to sense that feeling that Jeremiah might have felt when God spoke this to him.
As he continues looking at his hands and feet an eerie thought of how these appendages were created begins to run through his mind. He begins to recall bits and pieces of how toes are made and designed to stabilize and secure balance; he remembers why his thumbs are located so far from his fingers; even the reason for the nails…the nails…the nails. What is it about the nails he thought.
Little by little in that moment he regains an insight into the original creation of mankind and how deliberate each movement upon the dust was to insure that the entire package reflected the image of his maker. Then a small voice echoes through him, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Suddenly an image of a child being born wafts through his thoughts. In that instant he recognizes the child as himself and realizes that God knew him before that moment, not only knew him, but determined his purpose.
Scanning the room he could see others patiently attending to the words the rabbi was speaking, but yet, it was his mother that stopped his gaze. She intently was focused on him. Somehow he knew that she understood what he was thinking. Ever so slightly he raised his hand and witnessed her eyes grow wider and the lips of her mouth subtly tighten as she lightly nodded her head in acknowledgment. As he lowered his hand, he watched her relax and a small smile form on her face.
At that moment, a nudge came from his side. “Jesus, pay attention!” came a firm whisper. “This is important.” “Yes,” he responded as he turned his head back towards the rabbi. “What my Father has done is very important,” he whispered as a broad smile crossed his face.
Many people live under the belief that Jesus knew from the moment he was born that he was God and man. However the scriptures tell us that Jesus grew in favor, or grace, with God and man. As a young boy, he had to experience the same revelation of his Father as every born again believer does today. While you may disagree with me in this matter you might want to reconsider based one point: Paul declared that Jesus was the last Adam. This identity clearly makes him the last human born under the lineage of Adam.
This creates a whole series of consequences that bring the grace gift of Jesus to a whole other level. But that is for another post because this one is almost too…
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