Good Morning
All,
1 Peter 3:18; “For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh
but made alive in the spirit,”
It is a very simple phrase;
yet it can strike fear in the hearts of parents everywhere, especially at
Christmas time. We try and watch for it
but sometimes it just slips by us. When
the little ones open the package, that phrase is there as big as life; some
assembly required! That is a phrase to
make most shudder. First, the
instructions are always in six different languages; none are English. I am never sure if it is a flap or a
slot. Sometimes I don’t have enough
parts; usually I have parts left over.
In fact, I have a whole drawer full of “essential” parts some are almost
thirty years old.
It is when you try to “quick
fix” it. This is where you “sort of” put
it together so the kids can play with it.
The problem is that once assembled; slot “A” doesn’t always pull back
from flap “B”. Sometimes it sticks
together even if it is wrong.
Because of sin we are in the
situation of “some assembly required.”
Because of sin, we are broken and we need to be re-assembled. If we try it on our own, we will either come
up short pieces or have pieces left that we don’t know what to do with
them. Either way, we still don’t “work”
right. We are still broken and
non-operational. We are still dead
before God.
That is why God sent Jesus to
die for us. He makes us right. He assembles us properly and puts our
brokenness aright. Jesus picks up the
broken pieces and heals us. He does this
out of love. We can go forward as a new
piece, a new creation. All the assembly
is complete.
The devil will try to
disassemble us. He will try and take us
apart and pull us from God and his grace.
The devil will try to make you feel empty, like you are missing some
pieces of your life. He will want you to
feel separated from God and his family.
At other times the devil will want you to feel like there are pieces
left over, that your life is so complicated and overwhelming. He wants you to drown in the mess of
confusion and pain.
Yet we don’t have to struggle
with these fears. God has made us whole
and complete. He has taken the
brokenness that our sinful life was and recreated it to the newness of life
that He desires for us. It is this
newness, the required assembly that gives us hope. We are saved through His grace. We are put together by his mercy. We may face some battles but we don’t have to
fall apart; we don’t have to let the devil disassemble us. God and his mercy will hold us together.
Father of all goodness, we
give you thanks that you have made us new and made us whole. Give us the
certainty of the knowledge of your love.
Give us the strength to withstand the devil’s assaults. We especially pray for those who are being
attacked at this time. Give them the
constancy of your Spirit that they may withstand and prevail. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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