Kairos Advent Devotional 2010 22nd Dec

22 December 2010

John 1 v. 10-14

‘The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.’

 The story of much religious activity is man’s attempt to climb up to God, and a lot of time, effort and resource is put into its pursuit. For some, it describes the character of their Christian walk, the effort they put in to try and connect with God: ‘If only I could read the Bible more, pray more, do more, be a better person – then I would find God.’ And so the way to heaven becomes littered with discouraged and disillusioned people.

The Christian Gospel actually offers something quite different. Jewish history tells of the passionate desire of the Lord to live among His people², and how He came and filled first the Tabernacle, and then the Temple, with His glory. Then we read in this passage that God actually became incarnate and made his dwelling (literally ‘tabernacled’) among us. The Good News is that God has come down to us to meet us where we are.

There are several challenges in this for us.

The first is to take stock. How much do we try and reach God through our performance? All we need to do is acknowledge our own helplessness, and receive Him and believe in His name.

The second challenge is to trust in His word, and delight in His Presence, to believe He has come, and is living among us.

And the third is to see His Presence touch the people around us. One of the requirements of the Old Testament priesthood was that they carried the Ark of the Covenant -a representation of the Presence of God. We, as a royal priesthood¹ likewise have the incredible privilege of carrying the Presence of God to our world.

God is the one who has come to us, to be with us where we are.  What if we prayed just one thing today: Welcome Lord - I welcome you to my day, fill my heart, my home, my workplace with your presence.  What if I welcomed him to my world today - simple words?  God wants us to live a life worthy of our calling. This is not the demand of Law but rather the offer of Grace – he wants to come himself and work it in us.  And in him is everything we need

Prayer

Lord, there is nothing I can do to climb up into Your Presence.

Thank you, Jesus, that You have come, to meet me where I am.

Welcome Lord. Welcome to my day.

Fill my heart, my home, my workplace with your Presence.

I welcome You to my world today.

¹1Peter

²Exodus 29 v.45, 46