KingdomCome
Don Follis
God continues revealing himself
Be watching for him...
send Don feedback at editor@urbana.org
When I was 9 the perfect Christmas gift was a BB gun from my Grandfather. I went from being a boy to man in 10 seconds. When I was in high school the perfect gift was a cream-colored pair of fuzzy corduroy bell-bottoms, a pink shirt with puffy sleeves and a white belt -- totally groovy. When I was in college the perfect Christmas gift was dishes for my unfurnished apartment. And now the perfect gift is a book and a box of chocolate covered cherries.
In the mind of noted Southern Baptist pastor Charles Stanley, the perfect Christmas gift should ensure that each recipient would develop a deep, intimate relationship with God in the New Year. But as Stanley says, no man-made gift could ever do that.
During the Christmas season, many people wonder if there really is an opportunity to have a living relationship with God himself. If the Christmas story is true, God must really want to know us humans. I believe God continues showing himself to us in four distinct ways.
One of my favorite Psalms says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." (Psalms 19:1-2)
Through the grandeur of the mountains, the blazing sun, the driving rain, an unstoppable tornado or a stunning sunset, God reveals himself through nature. The seasons change on cue, and the earth spins on its axis at a perfect rate of speed.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that we are without excuse."
To me, the only reasonable explanation for the material universe is a power greater than the universe. There is a master designer with the power to render his perfect plan.
The second way God shows his hand was evident to me not long ago when I encountered some angry graduate students upset about a fellow international student from their country who had cheated on his wife. “This is horribly wrong,” one of them protested.
I always have been intrigued with how the Bible speaks about the conscience given to every human. The book of Romans explains that even those who never have known God still have an inner voice indicating to them what is right and what is wrong. The international students I encountered are not Christians. They certainly didn’t need a Bible to know that some things are undeniably wrong.
Having a Bible, however, can lead to the third way we know God. God initiated the writing of the Bible by empowering and inspiring people to record His thoughts. The writers used their own words and style, and yet God’s Spirit somehow led them to produce the Bible we now have.
Christians around the world believe and pattern their lives on the truth that the Bible is God’s continued revelation to humankind. The Bible provides the truth about God that just could not be received in any other way. Philosophers across the globe have tried to uncover its message. But God’s revelation in the Bible remains truly understandable only to a heart illuminated by the Spirit of God.
The final way God made himself known is what Christmas really is all about. He invaded the earth, undressing himself and appearing in his birthday suit. God’s crowning revelation was not a mighty warrior. No, Jesus of Bethlehem was a fragile baby that any person could easily have crushed with a human hand.
The book of Hebrews says it like this: “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.” (Hebrews 1:1-3)
The Gospel of John begins with these words, “In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God.” Jesus the Messiah was with God the creator before the creation of the world.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary and lived among us. And this Christmas season the Son is willing to enter the heart of any person desperate for hope.
Copyright December 5, 2003 by the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Champaign, IL.
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