A Closer Walk
During the month of December, and some years, like this year, also the last Sunday in November, which we call the Advent Season, we remember and celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ laying aside His Godly privileges and leaving His rightful home in Heaven to come to earth and be born of a woman. He grew into a man and lived a perfect sinless life which culminated in Him being falsely charged and arrested, falsely tried and convicted, and falsely punished by being nailed to a cross for sins He had not committed. He took our place on the cross and died for the sins of all mankind past, present, and future.
There were times when Jesus chose to tell us why He came. “...For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost,” Luke 19:9-10 NASB. In another place He gives us another reason why He came to earth. "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life; and might have it abundantly," John 10:10 NASB. Jesus says He came so that we could have life and have it abundantly. We have eternal life because He paid the penalty for our sins. Therefore we no longer live under the penalty of sin as vessels of God's wrath. We have instead been reconciled to God as those that have been Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, which we are. “Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed, redeemed, His child, and forever, I am,” words, Fanny Jane Crosby, 1820-1915; music, William James Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921. A wonderful hymn, by the way.
We have life abundantly because of the grace and mercy of our God. Look where we were born and where we live. And not just in these United States, but in our beloved Concordia, Kansas. This is a wonderful, friendly town and a blessing to those who choose to live here. We have life abundantly because our God has granted us the ability to turn the sweat of our brow into an income. In other countries this is not necessarily so. A friend who was an instructor at the college befriended a girl from Romania one year. As the spring semester was ending the friend asked the girl if she was going home for the summer. She replied, “Home? What for?” To which the friend responded, “To visit your family and get a job.” The girl answered, “A job? There are no jobs!” We take our prosperity for granted.
Prosperity comes from God. “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you the power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day,” Deuteronomy 8:18 NASB. “ 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,' says the lord of hosts, 'if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,' says the Lord of hosts,” Malachi 3:10-11 NASB.
Jesus tells us that one of the reasons He came to earth was so that we might have life, and have it abundantly. We have that abundant life right here in Concordia, Kansas. We have everything we need, so long as the delivery trucks keep rolling and the electricity stays on. The businesses and facilities we have here provide our food, our healthcare, our education, and so on. We are blessed indeed. The blessing overflows.
“All hail the power of Jesus name Let angels prostrate fall Bring forth the royal diadem And crown Him Lord of all Bring forth the royal diadem And crown Him Lord of all,” Edward Perronet, 1726-1792.