His image…

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (Malachi 3:1-4, NRSV)

This is one of my favorite verses!

God will purify us in a fire and refine us like gold and silver.

God is going to put us in the fire and heat us up and get all the impurities out of us.

It sounds hot and not very much fun.

But the fun comes in the process with which we will be refined, like silver!

And in order to refine silver, the one refining has to sit and watch it all time. You can not remove it too soon, or allow it to sit in the fire too long, either will not make the silver the best it can be.

And how does the refiner know when the silver is done? When they can see their reflection in the silver!

God knows you are refined and ready when He can see His reflection in you!

So Take the heat, for God is making you just like Him!

level

Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock. For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:4-9, NRSV)

Have you ever dealt with a counter or a desk that wasn’t level?

It is horrible! nothing stays in the place you set it, because it all seeks the place of no motion…

And our lives can be out of synch, or rough.

But the way of righteousness is level. And if we can trust in God and follow where He is leading us and do what He has commanded, our lives will be level.

And while this does not mea we will not have problems or issues or complete smooth sailing, we know that God will be with us to help us maintain balance in the waves of life!

The beginning…

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:1-8, NRSV)

Here we see the story of John the Baptist, one who was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. To help the people prepare for the coming Messiah.

But if all we come away with here is a weird guy wearing camel hides and eating bugs was shouting at people, I think we have misses the boat, or the point…

The gospel of Mark ends with the woman running from the empty tomb, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mark 16:8) Not a really good ending to the story, but it actually isn’t the end…

You see Mark gives us the beginning. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ! And today you continue the story!

We are still writing the story of the good news of Jesus Christ by living our lives as the beacon of hope and spreading His love!

footstool

The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth. He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head. (Psalm 110, NRSV)

God says to the Messianic King, who is the Lord of David, Sit here on the throne at my right hand, until I subject all of the world to you!

You will rule over all and people will willingly offer themselves to you. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.

The image of the footstool of the enemies is what sticks out to me in the passage. Can you imagine using your enemies as your footstool? It is great imagery! And a wonderful thought. It shows complete surrender to the will of the other. And this is not only something that God wants for the enemies of Christ, but for all of us! To be so fully committed to following and trusting the Lord that we will do whatever we need to do to move forward the mission and ministry of Christ in the world!

So follow and trust. He will never leave you nor forsake you and He will rule all!

Rest

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” (Revelation 14:13, NRSV)

Do you ever feel like you never get a break?

Like you are constantly running?

Going to this meeting…

Going to that party…

Always working or running to make the next meet/game/concert/event for a kid…

Sometimes it seems like our work is never done, and we will never get any rest.

And in some things that is true, but you see we need to make the rest.

We have to take the time to slow ourselves down and see the world around us and see what God wants us to see with His eyes!

We need to do His labor and know that we will have rest. When we follow and trust Him, when we rest eternally we will be blessed and have rest in the Lord.

So slow down this season and look for what God is showing you, and trust that He is always with us!