Today is Boxing Day. Normally, when it doesn't fall on a Sunday, we (me and Megs) lie around in our jammies and watch films all day long. The goal is to recuperate from the incredibly difficult work of eating a huge Christmas meal and opening so many gifts the day before. But today being the Lord's Day, I got to go worship with the saints at God's house, and afterwards go to the minister's family for lunch and then build a gingerbread house! I do really enjoy a day of being refreshed in soul, and not having responsibilities to work or even walk. I did a miniature amount of walking (from the church to the manse and back, I think, is about it), but right now it's a time to sit back and rest and meditate on the sermon, which was absolutely excellent. The story was of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and I have always felt that some of the most amazing (and difficult, for us) verses in the Bible are in John 11.5-6: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was." Jesus' ways are so inscrutable at times. But His goal is not to make us happy or please us or make all our trouble go away, right away. His goal is the glory of God revealed in us. And often that means that instead of nice, tidy, simple, incremental steps of growth, He uses something so powerful and so difficult and so heart-wrenching that we must grow swiftly, suddenly, shatteringly.
And the result is more amazing that we can imagine.
Enjoy your rest and meditation on God today.
No comments:
Post a Comment