A thought by Max Lucado (2011-05-02)
from his book, Cure for the Common Life (p. 65). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to
go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Max says, “Lonely people
fight feelings of insignificance. What do you do with such thoughts? No one
knows me. No one’s near me. No one needs me. How do you cope with such cries
for significance? Some stay busy; others stay drunk. Some buy pets; others buy
lovers. Some seek therapy. And a few seek God.”
He continues, “He invites us
all to. God’s treatment for insignificance won’t lead you to a bar or dating
service, a spouse or social club. God’s ultimate cure for the common life takes
you to a manger. The babe of Bethlehem. Immanuel. Remember the promise of the
angel? ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’ (Matt. 1:23).”
He goes on, “For thousands of
years, God gave us his voice. Prior to Bethlehem, he gave his messengers, his
teachers, his words. But in the manger, God gave us himself. Many people have
trouble with such a teaching. Islam sees God as one who sends others. He sends
angels, prophets, books, but God is too holy to come to us himself. For God to
touch the earth would be called a ‘shirk.’ People who claim that God has
touched the earth shirk God’s holiness; they make him gross. They blaspheme
him. Christianity, by contrast, celebrates God’s surprising descent. His nature
does not trap him in heaven, but leads him to earth. In God’s great gospel, he
not only sends, he becomes; he not only looks down, he lives among; he not only
talks to us, he lives with us as one of us.”
“Get the word out. God is
with us; we are not alone.”
That is such good news isn’t
it?
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