Alone

Mike Messerli — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 13:59:27 +0000

One of the grim realities of life is that we are alone. In the middle of a busy city with others all around we are alone.

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This “aloneness” is one of the results of the fall, but is mostly ignored by writers. We simply don’t talk about it. Man, designed to be in constant relationship with God who made him is now thrust into the world empty, alone, isolated. Even with thousands around us we all have sensed this truth…we are alone.

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In God’s amazing plan of redemption his intentions were to deal with more than one problem in the cross. Clearly the Christian world knows about his resolution of the sin issue. Without a doubt we all know about God’s redemption accomplished by Christ, the forgiveness of sin, the restored relationship, the promise of eternity, but what we don’t talk about is the resolution of man’s isolation problem.

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Part of God’s plan in redemption was to bring us back into a relationship with him. We use those words so easily, but don’t realize what they mean. One of our major problems caused by sin is our isolation. We are alone! God’s plans included the restoration of how he designed us to be. His plans included the repair of this breach. Here is what Jesus says about this plan,

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John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.’ 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’ 23 Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

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“We will come to him and make our home with him.” Did you see that? In God’s amazing plan of salvation he also plans to resolve our aloneness. He resolves it by coming to us and living with us. Suddenly, we are no longer alone. In a moment of time the great ache of the heart is resolved. Human beings, designed to be in constant fellowship with God, through Christ, are restored to that relationship. God with us, living in us, our hope of glory. This truth is profound and immensely important. If we miss this we miss all that God has done. No longer alone….what an amazing and wonderful part of God’s redemptive work.

The post Alone first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

Anticipating Christmas

Mike Messerli — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:18:33 +0000

Christmas is less than two weeks away! It’s come so quickly this year that it has caught us unprepared. We don’t have a tree up yet. Few decorations are on the walls. It feels a little like a humbug Christmas because it’s not all about the trees, the lights and the decor…it’s about Christ.

I know he probably wasn’t born on this date. That’s not important. What’s important is the remembering of the birth of God on planet earth. The entrance of the king. The breach of time and space that brought God’s solution to our problem into reality. That’s the meaning of Christmas! And for that birth, for that King, for that invasion of humanity by God himself I’m most thankful. I do wish I better understood how amazing this event really is. God becoming man. How could we possibly understand such an amazing plan as this?

The post Anticipating Christmas first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

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Alone

Anticipating Christmas