Morning Stillness

Good morning, dear friends! I finished work this morning (Sunday) at 7:00 a.m. and took my time coming home. It was such a still, quiet morning. A misty fog covered much of the city of Peterborough as I drove home.

The sun hadn't risen yet but I could tell that it would be spectacular sunrise. I had my trusty SONY with me so I captured some of the morning beauty. Check out some of the pictures on PILGRIM SCRIBBLINGS.

The stillness gave me a quietness in my spirit as I slowly took the long way home. Normally it's about a 20-25 minute drive but I took the back roads. After the sun had risen I could see its reflection on the snow and on other buildings.

The verse that came to mind was Hebrews 1:3. I love the King James Version rendering of this passage. The writer penned these words, "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:3)

I remember some of the "saints of old" who would stand up in our "breaking of bread" service and reflect on the first few verses of the Hebrew epistle. A word they often used which I have never forgotten is "effulgence". This morning I checked again on its meaning. Effulgence means "radiant splendor" or "shining forth".

Jesus was the "express image" of the Father. He was God, manifest in the flesh or "shining forth" in the flesh. He was and is the "radiant splendor" of all that God the Father is. He was and is "very God" and "very man". God incarnate!

This morning I was capitivated by the sun in all its glory. More important, I reveled in God's Son, who created and upholds all things by the Word of His power. Rejoice in Him today, this Lord's day. Rejoice that He is now enthroned at God's right hand, a Prince and a Savior.

Be encouraged today! The Son has risen and lives for evermore. He inhabits the praises of His people. Give Him praise today!

Winning Words

On the heels of my previous post I've been reminded of the words that should be part of every Christian believer's vocabulary. The list is certainly not definitive in any way. Just a few words to came to mind as I thought about the Incarnation. Could you define these glorious words and the accompanying truths if asked?

A partial list:

Redemption
Justification
Salvation
Humiliation
Incarnation
Propitiation
Substitutionary Atonement
Vicarious Suffering

"Redeemed how I love to proclaim it,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb."

"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" - Ephesians 1:7 (KJV)

Be encouraged today! God has done mighty things to accomplish our salvation without one iota of help from us. It's all of Him! It's all by grace! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The Incarnation

Happy New Year, dear friends!

On the evening of our Christmas banquet with the Peterborough Petes one of the players admitted that he didn't know what one of the words in a poem I read really meant. The word was "Incarnate"! With the enabling of the Spirit of God I gave an explanation that my friend seemed satisfied with. St. Augustine penned the following words that give us deep meaning to the "wonder of the incarnation":

The Wonder of the Incarnation

He so loved us that, for our sake,
He was made man in time,
although through Him all times were made.
He was made man, who made man.
He was created of a mother whom He created.
He was carried by hands that He formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy,
He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.

-Augustine, Sermon 188, 2

Can you grasp that profound truth? Oh the wonder... May we never forget these truths that are foundational to our Christian faith!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." - John 1:14 (KJV)

Moving In

A friend sent along this excellent piece of writing. It has profound meaning! Enjoy and rejoice that the God of Heaven would choose to take up residence in our hearts and lives.

Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: "Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place"?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, "Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here-- in this place."

- Leslie Leyland Fields

We marvel that God incarnate would choose a lowly manger to make His entrance to "our world. The greater "astonishment" should be that He would choose to inhabit frail, broken, marred creatures like us. Yet He did, He does and He will. Amazing grace!

Be encouraged today, dear friends! God did not pass us by when looking for a residence for His Son! In spite of the dirty surroundings, He has "moved in" and we will never be the same again!

- David W. Fisher