Home Again

There are few things more pleasant than taking a walk on a cool September evening past this farm across the street from our house. How good it is to be back in peaceful Lancaster for a few days... Not to mention the benefit of Mom's cooking! (and of course the company of both of my parents!)

This morning's convocation at Westminster was given by R. Elliott Greene. His goal was to "provoke" us onward in the service of Christ who is the "image of the invisible God," through whom and for whom" everything, - even the beauty of the summer's night, the horses, the serenity, the cool air, the green grass - was created.

How much fuller and richer the colors become, how much sweeter and aromatic the late summer air, how much more majestic the horses and the fields when we see that they are His. When the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ spills out upon our consciencness, all is changed.

"When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all."

Christ humbled himself in the dust of this world, the frailty of humanity, and the shame of the cross. Yet, unbeknownst to the "powers of this age" he came not only as a servant, but as a covert warrior and conquering king, waging savage warfare against the powers of sin and death. Like Isaiah prophesied in the deliverance of Israel, " the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones...And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambouringes and lyres. Battling with brandishd arm, he will fight with them."
That is our King Jesus. His victory is sealed. Who can stand against Him? There is coming a day when he shall be revealed fully. There is coming day when he will make all things new. There is coming a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He will stand in utter glory, shown to be The God and shown to be The Man. He is the first and the last, the I AM. Imagination cannot capture the awe of that day, when all things, redeemed and made new will be given to Jesus Christ. And on that day, God the Son will bow to God the Father in an expression of love and submission that is beyond the mind of man, that "God may be all in all."

God purposes all of creation to this end, to this day of glory and revelation that all creation longs for. Every breath on our lips, every summer evening, yes and even every sorrow - for He subjected creation to futility and ruin - in HOPE. All things are Christ's, for God put "all things under his feet."

Pray and press on that we may see this world with eyes of faith. Look at beauty, and revel in Christ. Look forward to the day of the Lord when we'll see that every day of our lives was designed to prepare us for that magnificent day of worship that will span eternity, long after this brief prelude has faded away. But oh, take a hold of him today in faith and trust, that he might be your friend, and not your enemy.

"He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

Remember Christ on beautiful evenings.