Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

What A Privilege!

JOHN 20:11-17-But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

In the last verse of the forty-eighth Psalm, we read: That this God, our God, forever and ever. He will guide us forever (Psalm 48:14). Now go back to the scripture of the day and read its last verse. What links the two? What do we find common in both? It is the possessive proclamation by the Psalmist and the Lord Jesus of God. In both references is identified the greatest privilege a human being may ever know and experience–the God who created all things, the God who is transcendent, the God who is incomprehensible, majestic, and glorious, is the God who says,“ I am your God. I am willing and desirous for you to claim Me as Your own.” Let that sink in for a moment but do so through the narrow lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If we come to Christ, broken and desperate, knowing our sinful separation from the One True God and throwing ourselves upon His mercy in the redemptive work of His Son, then the unknown God becomes the known God and we may rightly shout, “This God is my God and my Father.” And with that established, let’s ponder two applications for daily living.

As God being our God, our personal God, we have all the resources–power and grace–to endure all trials, all difficulties, and all overwhelming circumstances in life. The Apostle Paul affirms the sufficiency found in the relationship with the living God – Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).

A second heart-warming and worship-producing application of God being our God is heaven is our home. We are headed to a literal family reunion beyond description! And this truth anchors our souls in the raging seas of an unstable world. Because God is our God, we look beyond the now to the then and our dwelling with our God and His people. Here is a glimpse of that glorious time in the not too far off future – Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away”(Revelation 21:1-4).

What a privilege to call God “our God, our Father.” Don’t take it for granted but stay in awe of such a privilege!

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for enabling me to call You, ‘My Father, my God.’”
QUOTE: “The Gospel is the power of salvation and relationship-God becomes personal.”

Because of Him,

Pastor Jim