Prayer Pointers:
For God’s light of truth to shine
To not be dismayed in the face of suffering
Today’s text: Mark 10:32-45
WE ARE APPROACHING the end of Epiphany, the season of light, of God’s self-revealing, of uncovering truth, both about God and ourselves. It is only honest to admit that God’s light, when it shines on our lives, is not always “pleasant,” even when it is salvific. Like the surgeon who must “hurt” us in order to heal, God activity in our lives cuts away the disease of sin and makes us whole, even if we are now limping through life because of what God did (Genesis 32:24-31).
Do not turn away from what God is doing in your life! So much American Christianity is of the James and John variety, glad that Jesus is paying the cost, glad to be alongside to catch some of that reflected glory, glad to be a part of the crew that rides in Jesus the ur-celebrity’s limo. The truth is different. “You will receive the same baptism as I,” which means that living a life for Christ in this world will, as Paul says, result in persecution and suffering. We are not relaxing in borrowed glory, living rich off another’s line of credit: we are being shaped, refashioned, remade, so that ultimately, we can resemble the Lord himself; limps, scars and all.
May your day be grace-filled ~ Pr. Dave Brooks