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In this is loveTuesday, January 5, 2016
1 John 4:9-10 I forget that as Philip Britts says, "All our human goodness is relative; there is nothing in us immune from evil." I think I'm good. And because I think I'm good, I also think I'm a good giver. That motivates me to use some of my power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate. But the Christmas story depicts us as receivers. Here is how William Willamon puts it: "God wanted to do something for us so strange, so utterly beyond the bounds of human imagination, so foreign to human projection, that God had to resort to angels, pregnant virgins, and stars in the sky to get it done. We didn't think of it, understand it, or approve it. All we could do, at Bethlehem, was receive it. A gift from a God we hardly even knew." Rather than solving the mysteries of Jesus' birth, or ignoring them, I am simply called to say, "Yes." Thank you, Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy word. When the mysteries swirl around us and songs touch our tongues, and the beauty of the earth becomes the beauty of the Lord becomes the beauty of all things, it is then I am receiving. Not in power but in poverty. God's endless riches, his cattle on a thousand hills, his trees of the field clapping their hands, are all given if I can just receive. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son. Your atoning sacrifice, Lord, requires such a simple thing of us: that we know ourselves as sinners and even then, let you love us into your holy homeland, where we were always born to live. So beautiful, Jesus. So simple and so fine, made with us in mind, your love reigns and rains and reaches into all our souls. |
Why do bad things happen to good people? That begs the question, "Are there any good people?" Even Jesus asked, "Why do you call me good? There is no good but God."