Ready For The Real Thing | Genesis 1:2-4
Ready For The Real Thing | Genesis 1:2-4
Sounds like an advertising slogan. I intended to use it for the title of a sermon. Not sure about it now.
But, it does capture a bit of what I feel the Lord is working in, with and around me.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
God wanted the earth to have light. He wanted whatever and whoever that was earthly to have light.
Why?
Because light reveals what's real.
Darkness hides what's real. Shadows distort and confuse. The black of night overwhelms color and form.
Gloom depresses.
God wants me to see the real thing.
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
God is the real thing. Everything else is his creation, his reflection. The realness of God is glory, strength and holiness.
I sit in a library, near a window. Opposite me, about ten feet away sits someone else.
Is that person real?
My eyes detect light reflected off their body. The light changes form as the person shifts position, turns a page, swipes a screen.
My ears detect vibration in the air as the person coughs, scrapes shoes against carpet, sets a cup on the table.
None of this is real...it's all a reflection, an echo, a suggestion.
What is real? God.
God created the air that vibrates, the light that reflects, the eyes and ears that respond. We are created to respond to God.
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you've been baptized in John's baptism, you're ready now for the real thing, for Jesus.
John's life was an echo, a trumpet sound from a watch tower, a reflection of something greater...something more real.
My life - when I'm acting as if there is no God, when I'm acting as if I am God - is lived according to a shallow, dimly lit, obscured and tiny definition of "real". This small definition of "real" consists of what time should I get up in the morning so I don't get in trouble with other people? What can I do today so that I don't get in trouble with other people? What can I do so I don't feel bored, useless, worthless and small? What can I do today that will make me feel happy but not take much time or thought? What can I do to avoid getting hurt, lost, shamed, confused, depressed - or worse, uncomfortable?
Some days my life feels without form and void, with darkness covering everything.
Thank God for Light!
Light allows me to see my life when it's covered in darkness. Light allows me to see the greatness of the One Who created, sustains, sees and satisfies me. Light brings me out of my shell of dark boredom and smallness and joins my soul once again with the Real Purpose, the Real Person, the Only Real Person.
Thank God for Light!
Now, this moment at least, I am ready for the Real.
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