Epiphany 6.1.19 Response
Epiphany can be understood as our response to God’s
initiative in coming to us at Christmas.
God started something when He took on human nature and dwelt
with us.
Now it is up to us how to respond.
Our response can come in two parts: the first is we must
believe in these events. The second is we must take that belief out to the
whole world, all the nations.
His coming has meant so much – enabling us to be saved from
our sins, to reach Heaven; and many blessings for this life as well.
But being essentially an offer, the Incarnation has to be
accepted to take full effect.
Each one of us is asked: will you be My disciple, or Will
you walk away?
It is easy to reject Christ through denial, or indifference,
or delay.
We want to say Yes to Him; we want to mean it, and to stay
with that answer till the end.
He entered the process fully; so must we.
He committed to us in becoming Man, and going even as far as
the Cross.
He has put action where his words went. Love songs say that
we would climb any mountain, swim any ocean etc. Maybe we would but we know we
are never going to have to put those ideals into practice.
God says He would do that kind of thing for us; He would
even die for our sins – and He does exactly that.
He was not just words, impressive as they were. He practised
what He preached without any loss in translation.
He wants to give us a chance to prove our love for Him, so
that we are not just words or theory.
We say we would be prepared to suffer for Him, so He lets us
prove that.
That is one reason why so many things go wrong for us. We
are being tested; not in a cruel way but to help us to fulfil our potential, to
grow to the stature which God intends us to have.
If we can get through these difficulties it will bring us to
a deeper love for Him.
It is easy to be a part-time or half-baked disciple. We can say all the right
things, as they are written into our prayers, such as: I will not sin again.
He will put steel in to us, enable us to make genuine change
in our lives.
Whatever He gives us to do, He will enable, by giving our
humanity a share of His, which is perfect.
If we give Him our attention, give Him time; let Him work on
us, we will get better at this.
The second part of our response is to take it to the
nations. (The wise men from foreign parts represent the rest of humanity,
besides the Jews.)
Everyone needs to know the scope of what is being offered to
them.
The Christian faith is not just theory; it is the way to
live. It takes in every aspect of life.
To possess this faith and to live by it is the happiest we
can be in this life.
We are privileged to know what we know; we share in the great
commission to make Him known to the ends of the world
There is much resistance but His ‘word does not return
empty’ (Is 55,11).
We can do ourselves and everyone else a favour by picking up
our share of the Cross, and proving (in practice) that our words of love are
not empty.
Lord, make us strong enough for this!
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