On a trip to Europe last
year, our youngest daughter Emmie purchased a bottle of sublime Italian olive
oil for me (Cassiano Chianti Classico, if you ever have the blessed opportunity
to obtain some).
Last week, our eldest
daughter Marie, while on a trip to New York City with Emmie, returned with a
loaf of wonderful rustic bread from a bakery considered by many to be the best
bread purveyor in the nation (Amy’s, in Greenwich Village).
By themselves, the oil and
bread are both so good that one could consume them by themselves (yes, the oil
is of such quality you can actually drink it! Emmie says that some Italians actually
do this, and I fully understand).
Together, however, they create a glorious amalgam for which I literally
have no words. Indeed, before the
loaf was finished, I ran out of the oil, an almost traumatic experience!
This blessed union of
bread and oil reminds me of another and far more wondrous bond produced by the
union of two components.
“Great is the mystery
of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh” (I Timothy 3:16).
Perfect God and
perfect man unite in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is wonderful as either, but Divinity
and humanity joined in one glorious Person creates a “mystery of godliness”
beyond full understanding and comprehension. Indeed, in both Heaven and on the earth,
there is no one like the Lord Jesus.
He is the chief delight of God, and He should be the chief delight of
humanity. When, in trusting hearts,
both God and man together rejoice in the Son of God, glorious joys ensue.
Our Heavenly
Father would have us share His pleasure in the Lord Jesus. Indeed, the Christian life involves
increasing awareness of how the Father views the person and work of the Lord
Jesus on our behalf, and our increasing determination to share His
perspective. The more our opinion
of Christ coincides with that of our Father, the more we will avail ourselves of
the “spiritual blessings in Christ”
given freely to those who believe (Ephesians 1:3). Faith, godliness, and a life that is
actually the risen life of our Savior will flow unto, within, and from us in
God-pleasing and man-fulfilling measure
A long eternity will
not suffice in revealing the wonders of the God who is man, and the man who is
God. Heaven and earth unite in the
Lord Jesus, producing a singular Being of wonder, fascination, and most of all,
belovedness by both Divinity and humanity…
“This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:17)
“Jesus Christ: whom having not
seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
(I Peter 1:7-8)
No comments:
Post a Comment