My twelve year-old son won a toy car recently. Not just any cheap thing, this was a model NASCAR racer, ten years old already and a limited edition. The person who gave it to him assessed the vehicle at around seventy dollars—if my son keeps it in the box and shelves it away somewhere; otherwise, it would become just another three dollar garage sale item. I reiterated this to him on our way home, reminding him that we could ebay the car for significant cash, or put it safely on a shelf in the basement and let its value continue to increase. Well, as you probably guessed, my wise words were to no avail. That racer was out of its box by the time we returned home, and my son had a wonderful time imagining himself as a racecar driver inside it. This little story reminds me about God’s choice to become a man over two thousand years ago. He could have simply remained shelved in Heaven for eternity, all pristine and pain-free, but he gave up his throne to be born into a cold, cruel world. During his days on Earth, He could have elected to live confined in a plushy palace, staying distant from the common person and their daily messes. But he chose instead to daily reach out to hoodlums and hookers, derelicts and deformed lepers. If sacrifice was essential, he could have chosen a quick beheading or a painless push off a cliff. Instead, he chose whips that would rip him to shreds, nails thrust into his hands and feet, and a cruel manner of death from which we render the word “excruciating.” He chose all of this, because God has never had an intention to ever stay “in the box.” Rather than simply being shelved away in our minds to forever appear pristine but never practical, He wants to be brought into our daily lives and played with regularly. He wants to go with us to work and be a part of the pain we must endure called “the daily grind.” He wants to sit next to us at the kitchen table as we anxiously sweat over how this month’s bills will be paid. He wants to get shoved with us into the subway, jeered with us at school, and stay up with us when we endure a sleepless night. He wants His love to be used, His patience applied, and His peace constantly experienced. Today, do not reduce God’s value to some solitary heirloom shelved away in your mind that is admired but never used. Tear Him out of the box you’ve made and bring Him with you everywhere you go; You will find that with Christ, the more He is used, the more beautiful and priceless He becomes! “Let us approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrew 4:16
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 11:23:44 +0000
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