The Joy of Glory

1 John 3:1-3 (click here)
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

Reflection
Christians are strange.

I mean…let’s just be honest about it. Our values, our way of thinking, our worldview is very odd to the culture at large. We think the pursuit of happiness through wealth, fame, and sex is folly. We base our lives on a book that is over 2000 years old. We even see death as gain!

Not to mention we believe that God took on flesh, lived, died, and rose again.

I mean…we are just a little bit strange and even increasingly so in our modern western culture. Secularism has been on the rise for generations and culture Christianity in America has all but met its demise.

And this is good news.

We are strangers and exiles in this world, and now we look like it. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know [Jesus].” Our western world once thought it understood and even liked Jesus, but now recognizes that they don’t recognize him.

A world that once would have said, “oh yeah, we know Jesus,” is now ready to declare the opposite. And this is good news. The lost know that they are lost… and we have a Gospel to give! We have good news that the Father has given his love to us by making us his children through Jesus…and he does this to all who believe in Jesus!

We have news that is finally heard as news! Whether people in our culture accept it or reject it is one thing, but at least they can finally hear it! At least they finally recognize that they don’t recognize us or Jesus!

It’s good news that we, Christians, are finally seen for what we are… strange.

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

2 Peter 1:16-21 (click here)
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts… (2 Peter 1:16 and 19)

Reflection
Historical fact.

Do we feel the weight that our faith is grounded in historical fact?

We don’t follow clever stories with nice morals because they make life more bearable. We don’t look to a mythical figure known as Jesus to inspire us to be better people. No. We truly believe Jesus was/is God in the flesh, that he entered into history, lived, died, and rose again.

Historical fact.

Our faith is based on the accounts of eyewitnesses to events…people so convinced of what they had seen that they gave their very lives rather than deny what they knew to be true.

Historical fact.

Yet, even those eyewitnesses believed there was something more sure than their own testimony. Peter points us to the prophetic word of God which has been confirmed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This, he says, is a light of truth shining into our dark world…pay attention to the Word and you will see the truth of Jesus!

And… just as sure as Jesus life is a historical reality confirmed by eyewitnesses and Scripture… we can know that so also will his second coming be a historical reality. It too will be confirmed by eyewitnesses and the proving of prophecy.

When the day of Christ’s return dawns and he rises like the morning star in our hearts, then the reality of our faith will give way to sight! Jesus will come again and that will be…

Historical fact.

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Reflection
How can we make sense of the world?

If we ever pause for long enough to simply breathe and think…then the deepest questions of life will rise from the depths of our soul crying out for answers…

Why is there something rather than nothing? Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is my purpose? What is THE purpose?

How can one even begin to answer such questions?

Scripture declares to us the reality that we CANNOT answer these questions…at least not on our own…for, we were never created to be on our own. Our creator is the only one who can answer these questions because he is the very one who designed the answers… and he has made himself known to us in Jesus Christ, and Jesus is made known to us through God’s Word… Scripture.

It is only through knowing Jesus a revealed in the Bible that we can know TRUTH and make sense of the world, life, others, and meaning. Christ came to give us understanding… that we might know the truth… he is the truth… and it is only through him that we can see all of reality rightly.

How can we make sense of the world?… only through Jesus… only through God’s Word.

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.