Wednesday, December 23, 2015
For we were not making up clever stories when we told
you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when
he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said
to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
We ourselves heard that
voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even
greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they
wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day
dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must
realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own
understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit,
and they spoke from God.
2 Peter
1:16-21(NLT)
My Dad told me about the time
when he was dating the young girl who would become my Mom; she lived way across
town, and it was a long walk home if you missed the bus. At one point on the route you had a choice to
walk an extra half-mile, or cut through the cemetery. A young man in love isn’t afraid of much, so,
even in the darkness, Dad would scramble over the eight-foot iron bar fence and
save 15 minutes. One particularly dark
night, he was whistling through the cemetery (because whistling seems to keep the
gremlins and demons at bay), and when he was almost to the other side, a huge man
carrying a shovel popped out from behind a tombstone and growled, what
are you doing here? Dad said his
feet never touched the ground until he arrived home; he cleared that eight-foot
fence like an Olympic high-jumper.
Peter wrote to encourage and
set those Christians straight who may have interpreted the darkness as a sign
that the skeptics were right.
Faith in God has always been
mocked by those who sit in darkness.
And, truth be told, none of us is above whistling in the dark. The dark can appear really big and ugly when
you’re trying to have faith; the dark is fearsome.
But Peter tells of two
lights that illumined his faith for the long haul. The first, I’m sure he heard directly from
the lips of Mary, who had treasured in her heart the miraculous events
surrounding the birth of her child, Jesus.
It was the promise fulfilled of a virgin-born Savior.
Mary had a front row seat for that one!
The second was on the Mount
of Transfiguration, as the voice from heaven proclaimed the smile of light from
the Heavenly Father upon his dearly loved Son.
Peter pointed back to these
personal faith events in his own life, as well as the prophets, who, in faith,
and at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed that the Morning Star,
Christ the resurrected Savior could arise and shine the darkness right out of
our hearts.
We all have as much
opportunity to trust the darkness as to embrace the light. When it comes down to it, which one you move
towards will be your choice of faith.
For You Today
Has God shined that kind of
light in your heart? If not, perhaps it’s
because He’s still waiting for you to hand Him the flashlight of your faith.
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