Happy Birthday

 "For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you." Psalm 71: 5-6

    Today is my friend's birthday. We have been friends for about sixty years so I love celebrating her today. She has been such a blessing to many.

    Right after I texted a happy birthday greeting to her, I smiled as I read the above verse. Imagine God in scrubs, reassuring the laboring mother as her child is delivered into His strong and capable hands. In great joy, the Lord cleanses the wee one of blood and water before He gently hands the babe over to Mom with a broad smile. It truly is a happy birthday.

    Going through life holding the hand of the Lord is a storied and beautiful journey. Blessed is the person whose "time is in Your hands" (Psalm 31:15). Like a little child He leads us, even through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4), driving away our fears. He defends the weak and the fatherless, upholding the cause of the poor and oppressed (Psalm 82:3), silencing our foes and bullies. 

    "No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." That is a promise from Jesus. (John 10:29)  In fact, nothing, "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 38-39) I would never want to live outside of His Presence.

    Go back to that scene in the delivery room: He, who knit me together in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13), will be there to escort me home when my eyes shall close in death, "from life's first cry to final breath."  He will be there when the sheet is pulled over my face, preparing my body for its temporary rest. And the Holy Spirit, who used that body for His temple, will take me home to be with Him forever, to a mansion on the hilltop, in that bright land where we'll never grow old. (John 14:3)

    To get there, we need to be born again. I heard it said, "Born once, die twice; Born twice, die once." In other words, our soul needs to be reborn spiritually because we were born into sin. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:3) We must be children born of God. 

    That's why Jesus came to die and rise again so we may have life in His Name. It's a transfer of trust from ourselves to the One who made us, believing in Christ. "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God...for everyone born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5: 1-4)

    Now that's a happy birthday!

"Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come." Psalm 71: 17-18 

    

One of Us, Only Better

 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4: 15-16

    Yesterday, I took our cat, Kiwi, to the vet for his annual vaccination and check-up. From the moment I put him in the carrying case, he vociferously objected to the entire outing. Pupils enlarged by fear, he was bent on forming some route of escape, becoming increasingly anxious when his plans came to naught. Though this outing was for his own good, no amount of soothing or cajoling from me, his loving keeper, could quiet him.

    When we returned home, it took him a while to calm down. As I stroked him and spoke reassurance to him, it occurred to me how this scenario represented our relationship with God. 

    God is Spirit, eternal, divine, omniscient and holy. We are dependent creatures of his, sinful and needy sheep who do not know what will happen next. Warm-blooded and finite, willful and stubborn, we often do not know what is best for us. After our Fall into sin, we were at enmity with our God, with whom Adam had once walked in easy fellowship. 

    Now what? How could this chasm between two very different entities be forged? We are as different as a cat is to a person.

    Enter Jesus, the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). He did not come into the world to condemn us, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17). He became as one of us, yet without sin, to show us the love of the Father, and to show us the way home. He "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-8)

    As I pondered this, song lyrics came to mind:

One of Us

What if God was one of us,

Just a slob like one of us,

Just a stranger on a bus

Tryin' to make his way home?

If God had a face,

What would it look like? 

And would you want to see,

If seeing meant that you would have to believe

In things like heaven and in Jesus

and the saints and all the prophets?

    The questions posed within this song have all been answered in Jesus. He had a face, was heard and seen, he hungered, thirsted and slept like any one of us. He lived, died and rose from the grave! One of us, only better! Much better.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." 1 John 1: 1-4