All Dressed Up For Something Big!
Years ago, I had the funeral service for the watchman of a brick yards. He had no family, no relatives. He lived in the yards, in a shack that had a dirt floor. On the way to the cemetery, I asked "How are the expenses of this service to be cared for?" The undertaker replied: "From the estate. This man had over $11,000 tucked away in savings."(buried in the floor of his shack) Since this was back in 1955, such an amount was more sizable than it seems now.
In Ring Lardner's book, "Big Town Story", Mr. Big comments on his expensive hotel life by saying, "Everybody puts on their evening clothes, like something big was going to happen, but it don't." And in some respects, this is a picture of the Church. We are all dressed up for something big. We have all the trimmings, beautiful buildings, expensive equipment. We are all ready for big business, as though some great saving force were going to be unleashed upon this old world, and then, we go into our dull routine! Nothing ever happens even remotely suggesting what was said about the earlier Church in Acts, "the place where they prayed was shaken."
And yet we say, "The cross is the very power of God to those who are being saved." Somehow in that cross we believe that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. And here, in that humble and lowly Nazarene, early Christians began to see the fullness of the God‑head.
In this man, they found one who walked in perfect trust that long and narrow road. In this man, they found the perfect pattern for their own lives, and ever since, people have been driven to the Gospels to try to imitate him. They have tried to walk in his truths, to live with his compassion, and to embrace that which he embraced. Upon this man among men, we as Christians have said, "God voted His approval." Yes, God cast His ballot in the primaries and in the election. He made his "X" mark upon a hill, and we too must declare ourselves...either for or against, and in so doing, find either our salvation or damnation. It is Jesus, who makes the difference, when day after day, we expose ourselves to him. Then, it is that something tremendous happens.
The cross of Jesus Christ has set up shock waves that have girdled the globe. It continues to do so, to move people, to change people. In some respects, it is more powerful than any nuclear bomb. The problem is that we are so inconceivably, and diabolically clever in making ourselves impervious to the strong significance of that thing that happened at Calvary.
I'm all dressed up for something big! Lord, help me shake loose, and go for it!
Sometimes, I feel this is the condition of some Christians. They have all the power of God at their disposal, and yet they live as though life had gotten the best of them! They live as orphans in poverty, while in reality, they are children of the God who owns and operates the universe.
In Ring Lardner's book, "Big Town Story", Mr. Big comments on his expensive hotel life by saying, "Everybody puts on their evening clothes, like something big was going to happen, but it don't." And in some respects, this is a picture of the Church. We are all dressed up for something big. We have all the trimmings, beautiful buildings, expensive equipment. We are all ready for big business, as though some great saving force were going to be unleashed upon this old world, and then, we go into our dull routine! Nothing ever happens even remotely suggesting what was said about the earlier Church in Acts, "the place where they prayed was shaken."
And yet we say, "The cross is the very power of God to those who are being saved." Somehow in that cross we believe that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. And here, in that humble and lowly Nazarene, early Christians began to see the fullness of the God‑head.
In this man, they found one who walked in perfect trust that long and narrow road. In this man, they found the perfect pattern for their own lives, and ever since, people have been driven to the Gospels to try to imitate him. They have tried to walk in his truths, to live with his compassion, and to embrace that which he embraced. Upon this man among men, we as Christians have said, "God voted His approval." Yes, God cast His ballot in the primaries and in the election. He made his "X" mark upon a hill, and we too must declare ourselves...either for or against, and in so doing, find either our salvation or damnation. It is Jesus, who makes the difference, when day after day, we expose ourselves to him. Then, it is that something tremendous happens.
The cross of Jesus Christ has set up shock waves that have girdled the globe. It continues to do so, to move people, to change people. In some respects, it is more powerful than any nuclear bomb. The problem is that we are so inconceivably, and diabolically clever in making ourselves impervious to the strong significance of that thing that happened at Calvary.
I'm all dressed up for something big! Lord, help me shake loose, and go for it!
posted by Francis Geo. Guither at 8:56 AM
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