'Tis the Season to Pause

In the midst of the mania that seems to invade our lives in the early days of December, it is good to hold on to the practice of pausing …

… to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season

… to regularly ask “What would Jesus do?”

… to ponder how God would want us to act

… to contemplate how to replicate God’s grace to us by acting graciously towards others

… to imagine how to act graciously to people in ways that are unseen, unheralded and largely underappreciated – even by those to whom that grace is extended

… to consider how to love the unlovable

… to make plans to surprise with generosity

… to set a course for your own future and that of those around you that places God in the right place

… to visualise how it would be when grace abounds, love is unrestrained and relationships are reconciled, redeemed and thriving.

When Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem, God sent Him to earth to take on human form because He loved us – even though He knew everything that there is to know about us. Being who we are, we were cut off from relationship with our perfect God, creator and sustainer of all of us.

God acted in grace – totally undeserved favour in our direction.

He called us to a life that reflected that gift to us – a complete reconciling of our relationship with Him; redemption of our behaviour amongst one another, because God acts in our life.

God wants us to become more Christ-like with every passing day. 

He wants us to break the paradigms that seek normality, secularity and humanity in prime position.

Christ modelled that for us, in life and in death.

He conquered it – once, completely and for all. 

It started with a birth.

It was interrupted by a death.

It is completed in a resurrection.

It will be absolutely fulfilled at the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth.

The call on us in the midst of our busyness is to give those around us the glimpse of all God has in store for His people.

Shalom.