It's a process… a journey… “It’s like you have that new car smell, but it never wears off…” That’s what I told Tamiko on Thursday. We were collaborating on ideas for advent and how to explain what it means to be MADE NEW in Christ. “Or so I’ve heard. Since I’ve never actually had a new car I wouldn’t know,” I said. For a minute I was afraid I had been insensitive to my friend who drives her car for a living and whosetransmission had quit working. Friday morning, she messaged me from her unexpected purchase of a brand new car, describing what new cars smell like. She said “I just don’t deserve this.” Well yeah, that’s basically the definition of God’s grace right there. God does that sometimes, surprises us with unexpected blessings.
I’m glad to have a friend like Tamiko. We are both pastor’s daughters and passionate about ministry. She’s about 10 years younger than me so I get to tell her not to make the same dumb mistakes I did. When I was younger it was a big deal that people recognized I was a woman and I was called to the ministry. Literally, in 5th grade I would get into arguments with my more conservative classmates about how I was going to be a pastor when I grew up. Even still, when I was in college I really felt like I needed to prove myself. Now, more than a few years later, I really don’t care what people think about me or women in ministry. What gets me out of bed in the morning? I long to see people respond to God. That’s it. This advent season is different for me than in years past. I want you to know the story of Jesus birth, but more than anything, I want you to know Jesus. Even as I write this my first thought is, yes! I really want to know Jesus. There is a depth of intimacy that comes over time in any relationship. And whether you’ve known God for a few weeks or a few decades you’ve probably only just begun. Below is one of my favorite passages of scripture. “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ… I want to know Christ.” This week I’ll be exploring what it means to be MADE NEW, and it starts with knowing Christ. Please feel free to leave me a comment on what that means to you. Philippians 3.1-14 [NIV] Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
2 Comments
Linda Beck
12/19/2016 07:08:02 am
Thank you for reminding me of our purpose in Christ.
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Sharon
12/19/2016 10:04:53 am
Love you mom
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AuthorThe Pastors of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church Archives
July 2017
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