December 14, 2008
The Shepherd’s Journal
(This was originally a sermon preached by me to Family Bible Fellowship on the above date.)
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
Never before have I been more certain of the truth which God has revealed. Nor have I ever been more amazed at its power to free men from darkness and bondage.
Today’s meditation is on the word bless. Bless is the third and final word of the worship trinity of thanksgiving, praise, and blessing. Simply stated, we thank Him for what He has done in the past, we praise Him for who He is in the present, and we bless Him for where He will lead us in the future.
It is extremely difficult for us to wrap our heads around thoughts of the future, since we are imprisoned in these bodies of clay, and wrapped in the chains of the here and now. But just as certain as the truth that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, is the truth that God owns time, past, present, and future. He gives it back to us, one day at a time, as a gift. Because time limits and weakens us, it is also a path littered and strewn with beauty.
I have often teased the brother of an attractive sister. I would point out how God would use the same features on both of them. I would then observe that it was amazing how those same features would look so delightful on her, and so homely on him.
There is a deep truth that I was touching on when I was harassing a friend in this way. There is a unique beauty in weakness. Take a unique set of features and soften them in the visage of a woman, and they become beautiful. Observe a frail older couple, still deeply in love, and you see beauty. Observe your genetic mirror in a child or grandchild, and you are in awe at the beauty you see.
The most awesome thought pertaining to weakness and beauty is how often God uses this combination to defeat great opponents. David in his youth was a bible version of Hannah Montana. He was a pretty boy, a musician, a poet, a performer that God used to defeat a giant mercenary.
Jesus shed all of His glory as the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father, and became a single cell implanted in the womb of Mary. He walked a path just like ours, bound in the chains of the here and now. He allowed Himself to be murdered in the most barbaric method ever devised. In that weakened and beautiful state He defeated all of the forces of Hell and purchased our redemption.
This brings us to you, and blessing. God will defeat every enemy. He will use you to do it. He will not use a reformed, scrubbed up, 3.1 version of you. He will use the flawed, weak now version of you. It will be beautiful!
Mary blessed God, and released His power to work in the remainder of her life as the mother of the Savior. There would be suffering, but also joy, and fellowship.
Bless God and you will release Him to work through you to defeat His greatest enemies. He will use your weakness to weave a tapestry of beauty.
