Wednesday, June 8, 2011

"Look!"


 
    "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" (Romans 1:20).
 
     "In Him, we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
 
    Despite the fact that we are as fish that swim in the ocean that is God, even the most devout and godly among us miss so much of the "clearly seen" reality of the Maker and Sustainer of our being.
 
     It says much about the weakness of our humanity that our Lord could give to us "life and breath and all things," and yet we still "see through a glass darkly" (Acts 17:25; I Corinthians 13:12).  The existence of sin in the human race brought death in countless forms, but none more pronounced than the burial shroud that blankets the eyes of unbelievers, and often still hinders the vision of God's trusting children in the Lord Jesus Christ.  "They seeing, see not" declared the Savior in His indictment of unbelieving Israel (Matthew 13:13).  Too often the same can be said even of believers, and let us bow grateful hearts in this moment for the gracious patience of our Heavenly Father in being merciful to His sheep who too often do not open their eyes wide enough.    
 
      "Look!"  I think the best response of the flock to its shared tendency to overlook the glory of its Shepherd is the frequent encouragement among ourselves to open our eyes and see.  The Apostle Paul taught that believers are "able to admonish (put in mind) one another" (Romans 15:14).  Thus, we can remind each other to behold our Lord by faith, "as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).  This involves both encouragement and challenge because sometimes a gentle nudge is all that is required to motivate the opening of our eyes to reality.  At other times, however, we require a brother or sister to be firm with us in the admonition to look and live.  Whichever may be the case, let us faithfully keep the word moving among the flock.  Our great and good and chief Shepherd is in our midst, and we are in His midst.  "Look!"
 
"Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God."
(Psalm 123:2)

No comments: