The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Better Than Everything"
The writer of Hebrews chronicles twelve administrations of God's grace and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ that are "better" than the "holy and just and good" law of Moses (references listed below - Romans 7:12).
Of course, the truth of the matter is that the Lord Jesus is better than everything. Our Father thinks so, as does the Holy Spirit:
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" (Matthew 17:5).
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me."
(John 16:13-14).
The hymnwriter joins in the exultation focused on so good and great a Son and a Savior: "I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today." God has given a Lord to dwell with and within us as the very Life of our lives. We could lose everything, but if Christ remains, we would lose nothing of that which fills and fulfills our hearts. "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). In fact, the Apostle Paul declares the Lord Jesus as the Gift of every bestowal of grace given by our Lord:
"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19; emphasis added).
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32 - emphasis added).
In some wondrous manner beyond our comprehension, Christ comes with God's provision of all things. We waste no time attempting to understand what such a glory means, but rather embrace the truth of our Savior as the blessedness of every blessing. Our Father's "eternal purpose" is "in Christ Jesus," meaning that everything He does revolves around the exaltation of His Son, and the revelation of the Lord Jesus as "from everlasting to everlasting" theme of Heaven and earth. "Unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever" (Ephesians 3:11; Hebrews 1:8).
Such an emphasis by our Father and the Holy Spirit may well - among countless other reasons - proceed from the sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus to fulfill God's purpose in all things. To leave a glorious Heaven for a sin-ravaged world, to live a life of constant challenge in that dark realm, and to die in sorrow, pain, forsakenness, and death surely moves the heart of the Father and the working of the Holy Spirit to exalt the One so devoted to God and to us. Moreover, our Father involves believers in the ardent determination - "ye also shall bear witness" (John 15:27). We exist for such a Christ-glorifying purpose, and our hearts find their truest reason for being only when we devote ourselves to Christ only, Christ always, Christ forever.
We will know this truth far better in Heaven, where the Savior's glory will glimmer along every golden street, upon gates of translucent pearl, and in the countenance of the faces of the redeemed. Presently, we seek to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18). To whatever degree we know Him as the heart and the theme of God's purpose, and as the very Life of our lives, we will "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). Yes, our hearts were made for this sublime purpose of honoring the One affirmed by the Father, the Spirit, and the Scriptures as better than everything…
Thou art the Life of our lives,
the joy of our hearts,
the peace of our spirits.
As the years fly,
a Voice speaks by Your Word.
We more and more hear it.
To live is Christ, it declares, nothing else is,
We kneel to draw near
in the grace of Thy Spirit…
Thou art the Life, the Life of our lives.
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:5-11)
"Better" in Hebrews: 1:4; 6:9; 7:19; 7:22; 8:6(2); 9:23; 1024; 11:16; 35; 40; 12:24.
Weekly Memory Verse
"We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place."
(Psalm 66:12)
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