A New Journey
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
This past week, we have celebrated the arrival of the Promised One. We have seen and worshipped him. And because of him, our lives are now and forever changed.
But, as we have spent time in Bethlehem, pondering this great event, we must now start out on a new journey. A journey that will ultimately lead us to Jerusalem. For here, Jesus will complete the task for which he was born. In Jerusalem, on the hill of the skull, the real surprise of God’s great rescue plan will be revealed. Here, the Promised One will die and rise again. Sin, loss, the grave, and the enemy will all be defeated. God will have won the victory and death will have been swallowed up, bringing new life to us all!
And with this new life comes a new season of anticipation. We live now in expectation of Jesus’s second coming. We wait and hope for his arrival once more to our world to fully and totally restore it—completely remaking it so that it is once again good.
It is in this very time that we find ourselves today. We are looking forward to the complete fulfillment of God’s promises. But, our looking forward is not an idle activity. It is work. We are called by God, in our waiting and anticipating, to “do good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10).
We are representatives of God and we are to bring his presence into every space and relationship we find ourselves in. The time we spend with friends and family takes new shape. It becomes an opportunity to demonstrate love, humility, and joy. It becomes a place where we can bring about reconciliation and healing. Our work also takes on new meaning. We can now view our work and our creating as a means of being a blessing to the world we serve. Our work becomes an arena in which we display truth, honor, beauty, and creativity. Our relationships and our work become areas in which we model what life in God’s Kingdom looks like.
