He's Looking for You!
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Monday, December 10, 2012 • Randy Kilgore • Knowing God
Just as I am - though toss'd about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
-O Lamb of God, I come!
...For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."---Luke 19:10
For most of us, the search
for the "Christmas spirit" begins shortly after we clear the Thanksgiving
dishes. Some search for it in malls,
where they hope the perfect gift will evoke perfect warmth, restoring broken
relationships or taking loving ones to the next level. Others look for it in
acts of kindness, hoping against hope to see a hint that something they did
made a difference in someone else's life.
Others search for "that feeling" in nostalgia, where a favorite movie or
a special box of decorations calls to mind a tender time or a better day when
loved ones now gone were still present, or where estranged family members were
not so estranged.
Many look to their faith, confident that
the reason for the season will awaken
in them the warm glow they once felt as a child, when Christmas plays were big
family events and Christmas candlelight services overwhelmed their childlike
senses. Mixed in with the faith crowd
are the ritual and tradition folks, those who cling lovingly to the "way we've
always done Christmas" to rejuvenate the damage done by overzealous marketing
campaigns and over-the-top gift demands.
Some are so busy they never realize the
holiday is upon them until it's too late to "feel it." Others are too lonely or too worried or too
sick or too sad, and for these, the Christmas tunes make promises their hearts
are convinced just can't be kept.
In fact, most of us are like the shepherds
sitting in darkness on that hillside long ago; we need a host of angels to shake
the dust from our souls such that we're left with only this thought:
I
need to see Jesus!
But where to find Him? Here's the good news:
He's...looking...for...you!
---Are
you the broken Christian, whose journey has taken you away from God, leaving
you feeling unworthy again? Like the
younger son in the Prodigal Son account, He wants to remind you that nothing can separate you from His love! He's watching for you right now. ---Are
you the Christian trying so hard to obey His Word that you're angry with those
who aren't? Has your outrage at the disrespect others are showing your Savior
disrupted your loving-kindness, as it did the older brother in that same
Prodigal Son account? God loves your
respect for His word---and your obedience---but He wants you to have peace of
mind. Jesus is looking for you, so He
can tell you to let Him (Jesus) judge
others; let Him change them: You be His angels this Christmas,
finding new ways to break up the darkness around unbelievers with the good news
that God is With Us! ---Are you angry Christians aren't what they
should be? Jesus is looking for you,
too, eager to let you discover He's everything
you're looking for when you look at Christians. He's eager to show you His
love, and to teach you that anger at others only punishes you. Expecting Christians to be perfect pressures many of them to
try too hard to be good (Martha) instead of learning to be in the presence of God, who teaches and shapes us for service.(Mary) ---Are
you the lonely single parent left to raise your family alone? The alcoholic
who's failed so often even you don't want to be with you? The meth addict whose body has sold your
heart out, robbing you of the strength to even cry out to God? Jesus wants you to know He sees you made
whole---some here and some not until
heaven---but He wants you to know He sees you with eyes of love and not
words of reproof. ---Are
you the child whose parents are gone, or have rejected you, leaving you
bewildered and stunned? Jesus wants you
to know He is with you right now. He
does not want you to feel abandoned; He wants you to rest your head on Him. ---Are
you broken in hidden ways, desperately afraid someone will discover your secret
struggles? Are those struggles making
you ashamed to meet Jesus because you know He knows? He wants you to know you are fully known and
still fully loved!
Wherever you are in your spiritual trek,
Jesus waits to break through the darkness to shout "A Savior is Born!" as long and as loud as it takes to get you to
decide to go look. For no one who
approached the manger that first Christmas day, and no one who met Jesus on any
day thereafter, ever came away the same.
Let we who call Him Savior be harbingers
of the hope that once brought us profound relief; and may we be found by Jesus
tending even the worst of the wounded when He first hears them call out for
Him.
He always shows up. Always.
That's the real buzz of Christmas; and it
has been since a bunch of shepherds got startled by an army of angels 2000
years ago.
---Randy Kilgore
---www.madetomatter.org
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Friday, November 11, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Knowing God
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Knowing God
Let this sink in for a minute: If you were the only person in the world to accept Jesus Christ as Savior-the only one out of the billions who have lived-Jesus would still have submitted Himself to the humiliation of the Cross. Why? And why, when God created humans, did He give them-us-free will? Adam and Eve could choose complete obedience with its' obvious rewards in the Garden, or they could choose disobedience, and with it rebellion and destruction. Why give them-us-that choice?
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