Failures of the Past
Failures of the Past
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
I remember when I was young of being anxious for a special event or time. It would be hard to sleep and that thing was constantly on my mind. I can only imagine the prophets and those chosen by God to hear of the coming Messiah. They must have been so excited about finally getting a deliverer to save them from their anguish.
When Jesus finally arrived, you would expect a huge and glorious welcome. In the same way the angels sang to the shepherds is how they should have embraced Jesus. He was everything that is good and holy. His words carried untold wisdom and his heart overflowed with love. Someone like that should have been quickly embraced. He carried with him the glory of the Father. What more could people ask for?
And yet we know the story. There was a disconnect as to who the Messiah would be. The people didn’t want love or wisdom. No. The people wanted power and might. They wanted a warrior and fighter. Soft kind words should have been angry war cries. Had Jesus come like that, he would have been accepted and worshiped.
It begs the question, how could a people whose whole existence was being sons of God miss the mark so widely? How could people so sure of God and His will be so wrong? Can we, people today who also claim to be children of God and who know God more than anyone else also fall into that trap?
Do we carry the same arrogant thoughts? Are we as sure as the Jews of Jesus’ day? Are we worshiping a form of God who isn’t actually found in the Bible?
How can we know and be sure that we are seeking the right character and image of God?
It is only through honest study of the Bible, guided by the Holy Spirit. We cannot rely on traditional thoughts. That is what the Jews did. We cannot take passages for granted or avoid ideas of passages that we don’t like or understand. If it’s in the Bible, we should study and wrestle with these passages and ideas. We must be completely open and willing to the Holy Spirit. Only then can we be safe from falling into the same mistakes of the past.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto