Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12, ESV
Age means little in the Kingdom of God. We are all called to seek God, study His Word, live righteously in the power of the Holy Spirit, and bring others along in Christ.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Psalm 27:4, ESV
This world has many answers for happiness and truths, but the greatest truth and joy is found in God.
Pray that God reveals Himself to you in amazing ways, that you may spend time seeking His wisdom and beauty faithfully.
They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Matthew 22:21, ESV
We like to handle things ourselves, using government and special programs (none of them necessarily bad) to manage everything, when we should be loving God by loving people.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55:6-7, ESV
When our focus is on God, it leads others to possibly seek Him in this life while they can, turning from sin to God because of His light in us.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:1-3, ESV
At Advent, we look back at why Jesus had to come, that He came, and then that He will come again.
Jesus came to live amongst us, teaching the truths of God and proving them with miracles, signs, and wonders.
Even the religious elite could see it.
The Messiah had come! It must be the Prophet that Moses spoke of (Deuteronomy 18:15-22), the one who would restore Israel!
Yet, God came to us, showing us how little we understand, that we need to be different.
The Savior had indeed finally come, but He was not what was expected.
To follow Him, to be saved, means becoming a new – renewed – person.
Jesus said we must be born again, but even one of the great teachers of Israel could not comprehend it.
Salvation is simultaneously so simple to grasp yet so difficult to understand.
Like Nicodemus, we must be wise enough to seek the Savior and to understand His teachings.
Christ has come, but we must seek Him and ask for wisdom. (Matthew 6:33; James 1:5)
May we seek the Lord who has offered us His wisdom and salvation.
Do we truly love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? Maybe I can help with the mind part, at least! This is Daniel M. Klem, apparent poet, reluctant yet passionate Disciple (Peter?), and foolish man attempting to understand theology!