He will go before the Lord in spirit
and power like Elijah. He will make peace between parents and their children
and will bring those who are not obeying God back to the right way of thinking,
to make a people ready for the coming of the Lord."
He will herald God's arrival in the
style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and
kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics - he'll get the people
ready for God."
It is that time for me to dive into the Christmas story to gain a new insight for this time of the year. I have been doing this for awhile to center me in the whirlwind of this holiday. I go to Luke...every year and in the first chapter and 17th verse I had my first,' I wonder what this means' moment.
I love the interaction between Zachariah and Gabriel and have written about those 2 in the past but this year what struck me is what John was supposed to do to prepare the way for Jesus. We know he would bring delight to his parents, be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth...but his job was to prepare the way for Jesus. Have you ever wondered how he was supposed to do that? What are you supposed to do to get people ready for the savior, messiah..coming King. What can you say?
Well, we know...he was to soften, turn, make peace between parents and their children, fathers and their son, mothers and their daughters AND kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics. Have you ever tried to make peace between family members? Have you ever heard anyone who is preparing the way for the gospel...the good news, emphasize family relationships?
I know one missionary whose main gospel message for the whole ministry is calling the family back to its central role. Scott and Heidi, who work with education in the highlands of Papua make it their goal to be John the Baptist's for the gospel. They work really hard to make peace between the parents and their growing children.
I wonder in the many orphanages supported by US churches, if we maybe should work as hard and invest our moneys in helping families care for their own rather then having them be raised in the 'orphanage'. If this was how John was to help prepare the way for Jesus, could not that also be how every 'ministry' should work? Every church's mission in every land and every culture? Are we not all John the Baptist preparing the way for the gospel?
We seem to be quite good at the apologetic of our faith...the second part of his calling;
"kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics - he'll get the people ready for God". Maybe we should be doing both.
On the other hand,
Jesus also says that when we follow him, the gospel message will divide the family. John the Baptist brings the family together to prepare for Jesus, then Jesus comes and breaks it apart? Go figure this one out :).
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