Rise & Shine
& Give God the Glory, Glory
Today’s passage, Psalm 128, is subtitled “A Song of
Ascents”.
The word, ascend, invokes happy thoughts of walking, rising,
raising, and elevating. However, we must
remember; in order to ascend, we must rise up over something.
Jesus ascended several times in His final days on Earth. He
ascended on the journey to the cross up the Via Dolorosa to Calvary. He
ascended on the cross for our sins. Ultimately, He ascended into Heaven.
His ascensions would not have happened without descending.
First He descended from Heaven to be with the people He loved on Earth to show
them God’s love and the way to live. After His crucifixion, he descended into
Hell to conquer death.
These two important factors show us the way to follow Jesus.
We must labor with our hands and walk in the way. We must lift up others and
allow our egos to descend. Jesus’ way was not easy, and the way in which we
follow Him should not be easy. In order for us to be fruitful, wonderfully, and
fearfully made creations, we must labor with our hands, feet and voices for the
glory of God, not our own glory. Then,
and only then, will we raise up God’s will in our lives and our community.
It will not be easy, but it is most assuredly a happy
way. We know how this ends. We have the
assurance of God’s everlasting love…”in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”
We do not live in fear of God. We are simultaneously happy
and fearful of our Lord who is Creator, Sustainer, Lover, Ruler, Healer and Conqueror.
The Easter story is a story of happiness borne out of
selfless sacrifice. Easter and Tony
Compolo remind us that, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.”
No comments:
Post a Comment