Dec 20, 2018
You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been
revealed. Rev 15:4
How dumb to think we
can tell a holy God what should be acceptable to Him.
The Nativity is an incredible story – beyond the creativity
and skills of the best playwrights of history.
Nobody would have come up with that idea for the Messiah’s entrance! Just imagine:
a virgin girl pregnant, a respectable carpenter willing to take the
sordid reputation, born in a cattle manger, in a small insignificant village,
on the run from the king, visited only by angels, shepherds, and traveling
astrologers. What a crazy script!
If you were the author of the Messiah birth story, you
wouldn’t likely have a King of Kings come to earth that way. In fact, you probably wouldn’t have him born
at all. Maybe He would have been Mr.
Incredible, in a palace, with everyone knowing and following His orders. Or you might have other variations. I believe you and I would re-write the story
completely.
You say: wait – I wouldn’t rewrite God’s story! I
would never do that – it’s a fantastic story.
Before you quit reading further, let’s own up to the fact
that we like to rewrite God’s story ALL THE TIME. God tells us through His Word how to do
things, and we want to tell Him (or tell others FOR Him) that things should be
different. Here’s just a few examples I’ve
heard recently:
-
Good people go to heaven… if you tried to be a
good person, that’s good enough
-
Sex and marriage are defined by society … we
decide what is valid for relationships
-
Giving is optional … I don’t have to give to God
as a Christian
-
God wants me to be happy… He doesn’t want me to
deny things that I like for myself
-
I prayed the prayer (or got baptized) … so I’m
saved no matter how I live my life
While each of these are deeper topics to discuss, the fact
is we all like to rewrite Scripture to say what WE want it to say. How utterly arrogant! When did we start becoming the authority of
life? What righteous act(s) made us the
experts on what is proper? Where did
God say it was okay to change the script (or for that matter, the practice, the
behavior, the expectation, etc.)?
Sometimes we need a little dose of reality, and Revelation
shows it in the picture of heaven & earth battling at the end times. All of our rewrites will become slaughtered
by the holiness of God. Does that make
you shutter a little? (I know it makes
my bones rattle.)
Pray this with me: Forgive
us, Father, for thinking we know how to run things and tell you how you should
be. I am embarrassed and ruined by my own
critique. You alone are holy. Your Word is truth, and NEVER should be
changed. I am the one that needs to be
changed. Help me become a true
worshipper of You, and make you fully King of my heart. Give me courage to live out your Word EXACTLY
the way you intended it.
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