SCRIPTURE: Jesus wept. John 11:35 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: Miraculous is the advent of God, veiled in flesh. Mundane is a December funeral.
Many of you have been to such an event in recent weeks and I will be going to one today. To sorrow over a life lost too soon. To honor someone’s memory. To inform living by considering how another I loved lived and died.
Solomon said it’s better to go to a funeral than a party because death is the destiny of everyone, and the living should take it to heart (Ecc. 7:2) – but talk about a smashup between the now and the not yet. Just as Jesus wept at the death of his friend, Lazarus, we weep at loss. We know of heaven but can feel joyless and abandoned in the presence of death. It seems, temporarily, that death has won the battle.
I heard a saying in my childhood that has stuck with me, “you can be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.” It’s tempting to cling so hard to the miraculous that we feel disappointment every time we wake up to another ordinary day. But the miraculous will come when the time is right, and until then, we’ve been given assignments, just as Jesus was. Assignments to do “earthly good,” weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice (Rom. 12:15), ready to share the reason for the hope within us, but sometimes simply listening without saying a word.
PRAYER: Inform my living as I weep with those who weep, oh Lord. Remind us that we do not mourn as those who have no hope.
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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