Category Archives: Faith and Practice

Covered with Snow

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Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)

Bear with me this morning; I am trying to find a silver lining to all this snow.  I used to dream of a white Christmas, whistling along with Bing on the radio; then I moved to Iowa.  After clearing the driveway twice yesterday, and knowing I’ll have to do it again today, I’m struggling to find my happy place when it comes to all this snow.

I do love to see the joy on my children’s faces when it snows (but I wonder if they are more excited about school being cancelled).  Getting everyone bundled up and out in the snow was a blast.  Watching them roll and dive in the snow transported me back to a carefree time when there were no worries in the world. 

Still, as I watched the snow fall last night, I was filled with a sense of peace and comfort that didn’t come from the sound of frolicking children.  Little by little the snow came down and covered everything around me.  The leaves that I never got out to rake this fall, the yellow pinstripe on the back of my car that I got while backing into the babysitter’s truck, the dirt and muck that was kicked up by the plow as it came down the street; all of it was covered by a clean white blanket of new fallen snow.

I then saw the snow in a new way: this is how God sees me in Jesus Christ.  I know this may come as a surprise to most of you, but I am not a perfect guy.  Far from it.  If the truth be known, there are days when I should be the one in the pews not the pulpit.  Even on my best days my righteous works of service and sacrifice are tainted by motives of self-promotion and vain-glory.  Like my yard around me, there are stains and dirt polluting my life, scars from my past offences, evidences of work left undone.  But God, in His grace and love, has covered me with the righteousness of Christ, so that all He sees when He looks at me is the perfection and purity of His Son.  The righteousness of Christ has covered me – it doesn’t change the fact that His Spirit will continue to work in me to produce the fruits of righteousness, cleansing and overcoming the effects of sin in my life.  Even still, as I stand before the throne of God, I am reckoned righteous because of Jesus my Savior.

O what confidence and joy I can have now to live my life in the grace of Jesus Christ.  I am covered by His righteousness.  I strive to live my life now in a way that will bring honor to His name, giving thanks for His love and righteousness which saves me.  But I also know that, though I will not reach perfection in this life, because of Jesus, I have been declared right with God. 

There’s a lot of snow out there, I’ll probably have a foot or two to clear this afternoon.  As heavy as the blanket of snow might be, it is nothing in comparison to the grace of God which covers us in the righteousness of Christ.  May this thought bring you true joy and peace!

Grace and peace,

SDG

The Coming of Jesus into Our Midst

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This is the second week of Advent: a time to prepare ourselves for the Return of the King.  Are you ready?  A couple of years ago I came across this letter by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Enjoy!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

When early Christianity spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus, they thought of a great day of judgment. Even though this thought may appear to us to be so unlike Christmas, it is original Christianity and to be taken extremely seriously. When we hear Jesus knocking, our conscience first of all pricks us: Are we rightly prepared? Is our heart capable of becoming God’s dwelling place? Thus Advent becomes a time of self-examination. “Put the desires of your heart in order, O human beings!” (Valentin Thilo), as the old song sings.

“Our whole life is an Advent, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people will be brothers and sisters.”

It is very remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the day of God, whereas the world fell into trembling when Jesus Christ walked over the earth. That is why we find it so strange when we see the marks of God in the world so often together with the marks of human suffering, with the marks of the cross on Golgotha.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.

Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.

God wants to always be with us, wherever we may be – in our sin, in our suffering and death. We are no longer alone; God is with us. We are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved unto us. Therefore we adults can rejoice deeply within our hearts under the Christmas tree, perhaps much more than the children are able. We know that God’s goodness will once again draw near. We think of all of God’s goodness that came our way last year and sense something of this marvelous home. Jesus comes in judgment and grace: “Behold I stand at the door!  Open wide the gates!” (Ps. 24:7)?

One day, at the last judgment, he will separate the sheep and the goats and will say to those on his right: “Come, you blessed?  I was hungry and you fed me?” (Matt. 25:34).  To the astonished question of when and where, he answered: “What you did to the least of these, you have done to me?” (Matt. 25:40).

With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality.  He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing.  He confronts you in every person that you meet.  Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people.  He walks on the earth as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you and makes his demands.  That is the greatest seriousness and the greatest blessedness of the Advent message.  Christ stands at the door.  He lives in the form of the person in our midst.  Will you keep the door locked or open it to him?

Christ is still knocking.  It is not yet Christmas.  But it is also not the great final Advent, the final coming of Christ.  Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate goes the longing for the final Advent, where it says: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

Advent is a time of waiting.  Our whole life, however, is Advent – that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: “On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.”  Learn to wait, because he has promised to come.  “I stand at the door?”  We however call to him: “Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!”  Amen.

(Reprinted from Watch for the Light)

SDG