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 Advent 2 Meditation on the Word

Words from a hymn this morning, “When Jesus spoke the truth was known. When Jesus walked, the way was shown.”

As followers of Jesus Christ, those who believe Him and have received eternal life from Him and the Holy Spirit’s power to live that life, our lives are meant to point beyond ourselves to the Lord, Himself. The Apostle John writes in 1 John:2:5-6 “This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”

Jesus Christ is not only the Truth, what is eternally right, He is the Way, the only direction bringing us into intimacy with God. And He is the Life, the only way of truly “doing” that flows directly from “being” made new creations by the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist’s message was the same message delivered by the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. It was, “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand!” A true encounter with Jesus will result in a life of repentance, a continuous and continual turning from the world, the flesh, and the devil (the normative way life is motivated when directed apart from God) and turning to follow Jesus Christ. That following is neither motivated by human initiative nor accomplished by human effort. The Life Christians have been given is either lived in and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, or it is not lived at all.

The Lord Jesus is returning once again, bringing time to an end, bringing judgement upon all iniquity, wrong-doing, and upon all who have refused to love the Truth of His Good News. For those who have encountered the Lord Jesus, who lives have been forever changed by His grace, His Second Coming brings ultimate deliverance, redemption and the fullness of the Salvation that has been promised to all who will believe Him.

A life of repentance continually moves the follower of Jesus out of any degree of darkness into His greater and greater Light, from one degree of glory to another by the Holy Spirit. That life of following Jesus moves us out of the death that is sins wage into an ever-increasing experience of the Life being lived in the believer by the Holy Spirit. We are walking toward Jesus, keeping our eyes fixed on Him as we run the race set before us, walking away from the world and self-centeredness.

We can walk this way, can live a life of joy-filled repentance because, as John the Baptist prophesied, those who believe will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We have been soaked in and indelibly saturated with the Life of Jesus Christ. The call upon the believer is to a life and mission that is infinitely beyond our mere human ability. Jesus empowers us to follow Him in a supernatural mission where we find “the serpent’s head crushed” and the demonic poisonous lie that we need something more than God provides neutralized by God’s Word of Truth.

The world is watching to see if the Word and deed match in us. The human impossibility of that ever happening with any regularity is swallowed up by the Life of the One Who has called us, redeemed us, and empowered us to follow Him. He will continue to transform our lives in time and, being His “show & tell” before others, cause them to see that there is Hope for them as well. That they can encounter the Risen and returning Lord Jesus and begin to live New Life, empowered to follow Him, too.



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