SCRIPTURE: The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. John 1:9-10 NIV
The first advent of Jesus brought a lot of light into the world, but many people missed it. Light is helpful, even miraculous the way it exposes everything — from the beautiful, to the mundane, to the downright evil. Journey with author and blogger Amy Clemens as she explores the advent of one who said he was the light of the world…a light that shines in darkness…that exposes. A light that will make a second advent, with a power and glory no one will miss.
THOUGHT: This fight we are in is the fight in which humankind has always found itself. Do spiritual laws supersede the law of the jungle, the laws of motion, the laws of matter, physics, mathematics, the United States or some other country, the laws of religion, and etcetera ad nauseum, or is it the other way around? In fact, to put it even more concisely, does God and the life and light he always brings rule, or do humans?
The race is on in ever more egregious ways for humans to set God aside in the equation to achieve immortality through transhumanism, defined as “a class of philosophies of life that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.” (from https://whatistranshumanism.org/)
Humans, made by God, who don’t recognize their design. Kind of like artificial intelligence that gets ahead of itself, only humans aren’t programed to do that. Consider these words of Paul: We have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:16-17). This is intelligent design, where the created must eventually agree to the spiritual rule of God or chose to live apart from God. In that world, “guided by life-promoting principles and values,” who gets to decide which values win and how these technologies will be distributed? And who deserves to live and who just doesn’t matter or qualify?
Jesus, we are told, came to fulfill a law that was harsh and unattainable. God’s spiritual law in Jesus was severe mercy, more severe for Jesus who bore the brunt, more merciful for us, who are hidden in him, freed from measuring up on the day judgement is rendered.
PRAYER: O God, my heart hurts for people so burdened by perfectionism that they build their own set of rules or obey another’s set rather than hide themselves in Christ, where grace rules and freedom from perfectionism rings. The pain of acknowledging that You rule only lasts the time it takes to bow a knee, but the pain of figuring that out on the day the book of life is read will last for eternity.
Dear Reader,
I’m glad you’re along and I pray you will be blessed, challenged, and encouraged in your faith by something you read here.
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ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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