I wonder what it must have been like to have an angel tell you that you are beautiful to God? God had seen Mary's heart and believed that she would be the best person to hold the promise of the world within her womb. Wow! God is so amazing. I have read that story hundreds of times and never got that truth. Mary was a beautiful person.
So what does a beautiful person look like? I know what your thinking. Could she grace the cover of a fashion magazine? If she was walking down a crowded street would every head turn to get a second look? I believe that Mary was a beautiful person but not in the way she looked on the outside. We are pressed in a mold everyday we breath on this earth with what true beauty looks like. In America men and women are rated on their looks. There are television shows and movies where the women and men look like about 1% of the population. We must remember God is never impressed with our outsides. He looks into our hearts and reacts accordingly. Mary was a beautiful young woman who held the glance of heaven because of her love for God and His creation. I hope I hold the glance of heaven. I need to. Just a thought.
In the book of Matthew we are given an incredible statement of truth. A truth that has been a stumbling block to every generation of humankind for both the intellectual and the common everyday person. I guess I should back up a few books and a lot of years. In the book of Isaiah chapter 7:14 God is speaking through Isaiah to Ahaz. What appears as a moment of frustration with human doubt, God speaks of a day when God would come and appear, as he had never done in human history.
Is.7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you [c] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and [d] will call him Immanuel.
This verse is repeated in Mt. 1:22-23
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d]—which means, "God with us."
God was making a promise to mankind that He would fulfill many years latter. So why do we as humans still stumble over this spiritual reality? Why can’t we realize that God, the creator of the universe, chose to dwell with us? Was it because it didn’t fit the imagination of humankind? There was no visible blast of cosmic essence that would rival a scene from the opening of the Lord of the Rings movie such as the one where the ring was cut from the hand of the dark Lord Sauron. If you’re not familiar with the movie it was a powerful scene where the essence of evil took a mighty blow.
I personally think the whole stumbling block thing is because of one main reason. God chose to reveal himself in such a way that it would destroy every human paradigm that mankind would or could ever dream of. God tells us in the his word in Isaiah 55
Isaiah 55 8-7
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God is simply saying that He is God and we are not. So in light of that it would be a good idea to trust Him with our future. You see that is where the whole break down happens. The creation rebels against the creator and believes that it knows best. It kind of reminds me of certain discussions I have had with my 3-year-old son. He is a very bright young boy; he takes it from his mother, who is quick as a lightening. However he will argue with me about whether or not to properly dress himself for cold weather or buckle-up in his car seat. Things that will protect him and help him seem to not make any sense when I first try to explain it.
So let’s enter the scene 2000 years ago and an angel repeats the words of God to Ahaz to Joseph. The human paradigm is broken and the cosmic explosion takes place but there were no expensive HD cameras rolling to capture the reeling effects of God with us. My thought is that they wouldn’t have captured anything anyhow. It is a higher technology than man could never ever create. The promise was fulfilled and humankind would set forth on a generational struggle to believe it.
So now, if you would, please allow me to introduce another wrinkle into the mix. Why is it that a small child, like my son, would believe that God did this, but a 28-year-old person looks at it like the very idea was conceived by Pixar Animation studios and brought to life via Apple computers? It comes down to one thing…you want to know what it is?
Faith.
Faith that provides security, that propels, that cries out against the mind of humankind and says yes you can believe that the creator of the universe chose to dwell with us. He chose to give us another chance. Just like I choose to love my son and chase him down to get dressed so he won’t freeze in the cold because he only wants to wear his superman underpants or buckle him up in the car seat so just in case we get into a wreck he will not fly through the windshield.
A child can come to faith so much faster than an adult. Why? It’s because of their hearts. The mortar of doubt has not hardened them. They can be chased down. They can believe because they will eventually believe us because they trust us.
God chased us down 2000 years ago. He caught up with us when he caught up with Joseph. The stumbling block became the chief cornerstone. Immanuel is the primary thing, which can hold us up when the world comes crashing down. A promise is a promise, is a promise. God promised us that he would dwell with us and he did that very thing. Will you choose to believe? Or will you keep running with your ideals and distorted beliefs that were created in the mind of a rebellious world. I guess God is greater and his ways are higher than our ways. So why not catch the cosmic blast and set your spiritual sails and fly with Him.
"The Holy Spirit is a divine person, sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer, and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment."Divine Person:(A Dove?) Through out much of my early childhood I thought the Holy Spirit was a being who actually looked like a dove. This belief most likely stemmed from my Sunday school flannel-graph lessons of Jesus' baptism recorded in Matthew 3:16 and in Luke 3:23 where the Holy Spirit appeared in physical form having the appearance and characteristics of a dove. As I grew older and eventually came to faith the Holy Spirit took on significance in my experience with baptism. The words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" were spoken over me. As I grew older I began to understand the relationship that the Holy Spirit had with God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit was and is real having personal as well as collective characteristics of God the Father and Jesus.
Indwell:(On the inside) Guide:(GPS)Teach:(An Aha Moment) Empower the Believer:(Super Powers) Convince the world of Sin, Righteousness, Judgement:(That voice you hear)
What is it about worry that "worries"us so much?! I must admit in my brief time here on this earth I have only met a handful of people who don't worry. I believe that as an expert in the field of "worry" I can comment on the matter with the utmost confidence.
We worry for many reasons but here are a few. 1. Control: We realize that in life we can only control a few things and most of the control centers around things that matter the most to us. 2. Un-forgiveness: We say things we sometimes mean and "don't mean" which end up hurting the ones we love or are in the process of befriending. We also have had things said to us which float in the same "river" which ultimately bring us to a place of anger and frustration which will lead us back to worry. 3. Self-Love/Confidence: We live our lives believing that society or other "important people" that we are not measuring up to the "best" people out there. Whatever that means?! This causes us to worry about how we will ever meet the demands which are placed on out shoulders. A new house, car, love, you fill in the blank.
Now these are only three things that can bring worry knocking on our door of our minds. Minds...yes that's it! We worry because we let our minds lose the war against the lies of the world. Now I must interject there are times that we worry for "real" reasons but that kind of worry should be short-lived and replaced by peace. Now back to the "mind thing," how can we win the battle of worry in our minds?
The Bible is God's words to us to combat all that this life will throw at us. So here are a few helpful versus.
Matthew 6:25-27(NLT) “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?26Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?27Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
Phillipians 4:6-7(NLT) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
These are only two of many places in the Bible where God addresses worry. The reason worry is so destructive is because it takes our eyes from God and places them on ourselves. We will never have the resources that God has in dealing with life. According to the Bible God has already prepared us for this life a long time ago.
So what do you say? Can we lay it down and let God help us chip away at worry? I am going to try. How about you? God loves you guys and longs to see us live as sons of God!
Your Beautiful...
