Snow: the great equalizer

 

All week long the television newspeople had been informing us that at 7 am on Thursday the storm would cover Nashville with 1-3" of pure white snow. As a result, on Wednesday most schools had already closed for the rest of the week. 

Overnight into Friday the thermometer was scheduled to drop to 11 degrees Fahrenheit (-11 all over the rest of the world). And later on Saturday the freezing point would be in our rear-view mirror and we could see the snow melting all over the neighbourhood. But for now, the snow was hushing the sounds of cars. The bus did not pass in the front. Few walked over to the restaurants on the corner. The streets and footpaths were silent. Everywhere the city was stalled.  Fog rolled in and visibility in the air for the airplanes and on the ground for drivers caused everyone to continue more gingerly.

We watched the television to confirm that the meteorologists were right, the highways were indeed treacherous, and all the schools were seriously shut. The scenes were the same in East Nashville, in Dickson, down in Murfreesboro and the entire Middle Tennessee area. Nowhere had escaped the 3-8" that actually fell, and everywhere was calm. 

Accidents lined the highways; rescues happened with First Responders arriving and sorting out the problems. Triage led to solutions and the world was good again.

Snow: the great equaliser.

Just about 13 days ago (I know that because yesterday was Epiphany= Twelfth Day/Night) Christmas songs and carols were finishing their months-long tirade. Included in those concerts were "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" by which the author meant it looked like this photo from last night. Irving Berlin, a Jewish man, wrote "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" and 13 other songs for "Holiday Inn" When I was a kid, Christmas movies included stories in black and white with Bing Crosby like the Bells of St Mary, White Christmas, the aforementioned Holiday Inn and no doubt others. They were all lovely and full of song and heartfelt pleasures. Oh, there was "It's a wonderful life" with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. "Miracle on 34th Street" which introduced me to NYC long before we moved there in 1980.

It's strange that in my lifetime Christmas movies have morphed into endless comedic and slapstick entries like "Elf" and "Home Alone" (any of the 1, 2, or 3) and "National Lampoon..." Even though Santa was seriously featured in the earlier black and whites, and silliness and 'family' is magnified in the latest entries, none of them talk deeply about the real story. That is, if you have heard the story, whether it actually took place in December or not. 

I'm not fussed about Christmas being the story of the birth of Jesus. It could be the merging of pagan holidays with Christianity hundreds of years ago. That's fine; that's the "film industry" of a millennium ago. The issue for me is that the birth of Jesus actually did take place. December, June, September-- any of those is fine with me.  And then even more important, what was the reason for that birth?

I believe it's the great equaliser of its day. Not that we all agree -- yet-- about the system it exposes.

The Bible teaches us that we are equally in trouble ("All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each of us to his own way") Sin has levelled each of us into a category of neediness.  Fascinating since the Bible also demonstrates that we are all loved equally by the Almighty. "For God so loved the world!..." and "the Lord your God loves you." This produces a conundrum in that the Holy God loves us and yet we are sinful and thus prevented from being in his presence. 

How can we solve that? If it were up to us, we would create some religion to make our way back to the Lord. Oh, wait, we've done that. If it were up to God, then he would solve it another way. And thus he sent his Son to the world, and had him born on what we call "Christmas." In other languages, Noel or Navidad or Natale (birth!) The story is not about a fat gift-giver named Nicolas; it's not about trees all a-glitter. The story is one of RESCUE.

The world and my world particularly was needy, lost without hope, caught in a fog of inability. We couldn't find our way to the Lord and he did all he had to do to make access ours. That is awesome. 

No one is outside his love; no one is unable to get to him. He is the Great Equaliser. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that WHOEVER believes in HIM should not perish, but have eternal life." 

That includes you! That includes your neighbour. That includes me. We are all able to access the love of God and the forgiveness that he extends. Not only on Epiphany or Christmas, but today. And each day. 

Won't you receive his good love just now?

Pondering God: Part 27

27 May. Continuing our ponderings on God. Who is He? He is Saviour. This idea of rescue may not be something everyone is keen to consider. To admit a Saviour is necessary is to admit one needs salvation. To admit we need salvation is to admit there are problems beyond our human capabilities to solve. I've been there. I wonder if you've been there?

The biggest problem issue we have to sort is the problem of sin. Don't let me lose you here. Sin isn't about how many comic books you stole from the news agent when you were 10, or what movies you watched last week in the hotel room when you thought you were alone. It's much bigger than that. It's the continual inability you have to stand up for righteousness, your inability to control every aspect of your life and bring it under the surrendered control of God. It's selfishness in every sense of the word. It's "I'm first!" rather than how can I love my neighbor. It's when it's all about you.

That sin nature will produce sins like the stolen book or the pornographic movie, but sin is deeper than all that. It's your continual resistance to the plans of the Almighty. 

When you see how far you have veered from God's plans, and how desperate you are to get into His good graces, then you will see your need for Salvation. Only then will "God is your Saviour" make sense to you. Only when a person is overboard off the deck of the cruise liner does he reach for a life saver. Only when you smell the smoke in your burning apartment, only then do you ring EMERGENCY 9.1.1. or 000 or here in Israel 100. Only then do you run outside and grab the garden hose and try to save what is dying. 

Isaiah used that word Savior over and over in his prophecy.
For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior " (43.3) and again, "I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me. " (43.11) and again, "Surely, they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior." (63.8) (Do read chapter 63 in context. You will be amazed that the very God who spilled his own lifeblood on the earth for us [sound familiar as in crucifixion?] is our Savior and we as Jewish people would reject Him)

The abundance of Newer Testament references will be useful to the student reading this. I will supply them at the end. 

But for you who are just learning along with me this month as I unpack the nature and character of God, let this be the summary: We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. (from 1 John 4.14). 

Receive Him as your Savior today. Say this prayer, "Lord save me. I admit my sins and I admit my sin nature. I need saving. I want to live like you want me to live. Forgive me. Change me. Make me into the person you want me to be."

He will do it. Let me know if you did that. Thanks.

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Now for those serious students who want to read more about the Savior Yeshua: 

Hos. 13.4 ¶ Yet I have been the LORD your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know any god except Me,
For there is no savior besides Me.
Luke 1.47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Luke 2.11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
John 4.42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Acts 5.31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Acts 13.23 “from the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,
Eph. 5.23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
Phil. 3.20 For our 1citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
1Tim. 1.1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of bChrist Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,
1Tim. 2.3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
1Tim. 4.10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
2Tim. 1.10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Titus 1.3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
Titus 1.4 ¶ To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 2.10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of aGod our Savior in every respect.
Titus 2.13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
Titus 3.4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
Titus 3.6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
2Pet. 1.1 ¶ Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, ¶ To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2Pet. 1.11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
2Pet. 2.20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
2Pet. 3.2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.
2Pet. 3.18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
1John 4.14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Jude 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.