The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"A Manger and A Cross"
"Our Heavenly Father still directs our gaze largely toward mangers and crosses. He works in ways unexpected to reveal the Christ who continues to wear the garb of the unlikely."
"Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger… They crucified Him" (Luke 2:12; 23:33).
The Lord Jesus Christ began His earthly lifetime in the feeding trough of animals, and ended it on a cross for the condemned.
Little wonder that to know Him as He was required divine revelation:
"No man knoweth the Son, but the Father… Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven" (Matthew 11:7).
The necessity continues unto the present day for God's personal illumination to bear witness to the Lord Jesus as the Savior of all who will receive Him, and the very life of all who have received Him.
"The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Corinthians 2:11-12).
Thankfully, the Spirit of God works through the Word of God, the church of God, the creation of God, and the personal presence and involvement of God to reveal the Lord Jesus as He is. We must believe He works accordingly, humbling ourselves to acknowledge that we ever require God's illumination in order to see a Savior who hides from pride, while rushing quickly to trusting humility. "Though the LORD be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knoweth afar off" (Psalm 138:6). Indeed, the next ray of light we require to shine upon us in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus requires God's faithful unveiling, and our trusting humility to behold such glory.
Our Heavenly Father still directs our gaze largely toward mangers and crosses. He works in ways unexpected to reveal the Christ who continues to wear the garb of the unlikely. We may miss Him if we do not expect such a display of the Lord Jesus in circumstances, conditions, and situations where it seems He could not be. A manger? A cross? Long ago, most missed Him because the Savior entered the world, lived therein, and departed in a beautiful display of humility recognized only by the meek and the lowly. The present day wherein "we walk by faith, not by sight" involves the same humble expectation that God desires to reveal His Son, but in ways we may miss if we forget how He long ago came to the world, and how He still presently abides therein.
"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
(John 7:24)
Weekly Memory Verse
When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
(Psalm 27:8)
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