Yes, the Reality of Christmas is better, much better than anything we can
Photoshop in or Photoshop out of it.
The Reality is also worse, much worse than we are often willing
to admit.
Take, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, for example.
Good man. Religious
professional. Faithful, untarnished by
scandal, both he and his wife. If
anybody ‘deserves’ to be treated by God with special favor, it’s this
couple.
There is one thing they want more than anything
else. They give it their own best shot and it doesn't work. But that's O.K. They have a backup. Clearly, it’s in God’s power to grant this little request. So they pray. Month after month, year after
year, they pray and hope and wait; and they hope and wait and pray.
Nothing.
Yet, they continue in their
faithfulness, following the rules, doing the job.
One foot in front of the
other. Persevering in what is right, and good, and true. Not only
studying and knowing God’s Word, but actually doing what it says. How often do you and I come across people like that??
Do they ever wonder, Why bother? Why keep on while carrying this ache, this sometimes piercing sometimes dull pain…Enduring the shame and the stigma as if…?
While Zacharias is meticulously performing
all his religious duties, what is going on inside his mind and heart?
Does he even notice when his hope
turns into skepticism? When expectation turns into cynicism to prevent further
pain because it is simply unbearable?
And yet, when all hope is gone, God sends His angel
to the dutiful yet hardened religious professional.
Hi, Zach, it's a good day for you. God has heard your prayers.
The baby is on the way! And it's just the beginning...
Yea, right. You expect me to believe this?!!! Thanks, but no thanks. It's way too late for us.
But, God knows that sometimes it’s the faithful but disillusioned religious professional with a deep wound in his heart who needs to hear the good news the most.
3 comments:
Amen to your last line:
God knows that sometimes it’s the faithful but disillusioned religious professional with a deep wound in his heart who needs to hear the good news the most.
<3<3
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