Now through the end of December, a chance to re-examine the gifts of Advent, the arrival of a Savior, and the epiphany of Epiphany.
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends….
Like a golden thread running through the life of Jesus – from the manger, to the cross, to the resurrection, and into the very throne room of God – runs the revelation that God desires relationship, even friendship, with us.
In the advent of Christ, God becomes flesh, reaching out to us in a way we can understand; signing a peace treaty with us that we did nothing to earn, negotiate, or win. In Christ’s death, he tears the curtain from heaven downward to signal his accessibility. The resurrection brings an end to the power of sin and death to stop our relationship with the Holy; and Jesus, who is given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), chooses to use his power, how? By interceding. Pleading on behalf of his friends!
The incredible gift of God’s friendship gripped me when I was at my lowest, a story I tell in Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations After the Fall.* I pray that you, too, can allow the truth of it to penetrate the hardest edges of your story, to the place where shame and fear taunt, or pride pushes you to work for approval. This offer of friendship must work two ways: we must lay down insecurity and self-reliance to receive what we cannot deserve.
Prayer: Giver of good gifts, the advent of Jesus, who calls us friends, is perhaps the greatest gift of all. Overwhelm us with the reality that heaven has touched earth; Holy has touched unholy with a message of grace too sweet for our love-starved hearts to ignore.
*available December 22. More details to come.
asipoblog.com 