The Great Physician

Advent is here! We are in fact in the middle of Advent. And what is Advent? Advent is a time of anticipation; anticipating the great promise of the Christ Child! This is the season of remembering the promise. Remembering what the promise of Jesus means! And we are to teach this to our children. Our children naturally love this season! It is a happy one. It is one filled with presents, good food and family. But we must pass on the good news to them as well as the gifts that we give them. And what is the good news? The world needed to be saved. We were estranged from God and at war with his creation. We were far away from Him and his people. His bride was a mess and in need of a new dress because hers had been torn and spoiled by her reckless sin. Families were at war because their hearts were far from the One who gives peace. And in this mess God sent the Word. And the Word came and dwelt with God's people. The word came to heal, to bring peace, to give new life to dry bones, to take away the dirty rags and make new ones as white as snow. To speak peace where there was no peace, to fill what was empty, to bring near what was far away. And this miracle, this babe born in Bethlehem to God's handmaiden, was promised in the garden. And it was he who was promised through every age of Israels childhood throughout the old Testament. And it is he who has given us what we have today. And Hebrews tells us that we live in a more blessed time then the saints that lived before the promise humbled himself and took on flesh. And what have we done with it? Have we been faithful with what was given to us? Have we lived in a way that is worthy of our calling? What have we told our children about this promise in the things we say and they way act towards them?
We will meditate on one aspect of Advent and try to become imitators of Jesus in our homes this Advent season. Jesus is called the great physician. He constantly heals the sick, gives sight to the blind and mends broken spirits. And this man who was born of the virgin came to heal the broken. The word came to heal: as mothers we are constantly taking care of brokenness. This brokenness may be fixed up with a band aid but more often we are talking about a broken spirit that needs mending. Jesus came to heal, to set was broken and make it whole again. The world was broken. Fellowship with God was broken, and because of this, mankind was broken. But Jesus the great physician came to heal. So how do we imitate this in our homes? Think of it like this: Your home is a tiny picture of the world. The little people in your home are your responsibility; you are the "Lord" so to speak. Sin is the great enemy that comes to destroy the ones in your home. What will you do? What did God do is always the place we should start with. God sent Jesus. And it was this Jesus who came to heal our brokenness by having his body broken! So the pattern is, sin comes and brings brokenness, the great healer comes to be broken so that we can be made whole again. The main thing to note here is that there is no wholeness without brokenness. And who is the one that was broken, JESUS! You get to imitate him in your little world. You are to be Jesus in this way to your family. When your child sins, something is broken. Now sin brings brokenness, first it severs the one sinning from God, and secondly it seperates the one who has sinned from the one the offense was against. Often our children sin against us or a sibling. So when this happens, it is our responsibility to take on the role of Christ as he took on flesh to heal our brokenness. We should be joyful imitatators of grace because of the grace we have so freely recieved! If you really understand what you have been given, then you will take great delight in giving the same gift. If you do not give grace readily and cheerfully, it is because you do not understand what has been given to you. And if you are in this place, then you need to ask God in this special time of Advent, to open your eyes and make you deeply thankful for the gift of Jesus. And remember that you did not in any way deserve this gift. If you got what you deserved, you would stay broken and estranged forever. But grace does not give what is deserved but rather transforms by giving what is not deserved! So when your little one sins, be Jesus to them. Be Jesus to them because of what He has done for you. Act in a spirit of thankfulness! Act in a spirit of self-denial, treating your child as more important then yourself. And this is what Jesus did when he took on flesh. He humbled himself, he gave himself, he healed and all so that we could be made whole again! And we are made whole so that we can have sweet fellowship with God and serve him faithfully with thanksgiving and joy in our hearts! Go forth then imitating Jesus in your homes in this awesome season of Advent!

Happy Sweeping!

I think that motherhood is easily compared to sweeping. The floor is always dirty! You sweep one mess to prepare for the next. This should not astonish or dismay us, it is just the way it is. It is so silly when we stomp our feet and demand the children eat, play, live without spilling any crumbs on our precious floor. Now not only the floor is dirty but the atmosphere as well. We are called to be good at cleaning up messes- this is our calling! So why the surprise at the mess? I think that we forget how the world works. We are given a home and little ones to guide and we are to do this in imitating the creator of the World. Our homes can be likened to the world. God is creator of the world and he governs it in a certain way. We are in charge of our homes and how they run. And we are to imitate God in how we do things in our home. When we make messes in the world, what does God do about it? Well from the very beginning he cleans up the mess. And isn't this the story that is told over and over again in the Scriptures? We make messes, God cleans them up. But how he does the cleaning is also to be exemplified. Does he do it in exasperation and a hot temper? No! He covers our sins and leads us into righteousness. With Adam and Eve he killed an animal and made them clothes to wear. He did all of the work! And he replaced their clothes of leaves with an atoning outfit that not only covered their shame of nakedness but their dirty hearts with the blood of Jesus. He then banned them from the garden. But why did he do this? Again, it was for their good. And he sent them forth with a promise and hope that the mess they made was and is going to work out for good. Wow! What do we do when our kids make "messes?" Does it look like this? Our we faithfully representing the world God made or are we acting as tyrannical dictators in our homes?

So what do we do? Well, we get to know God and his parenting so that we can mimic him in all we do! He is our Father. What kind of Father is He? From the creation story we learn so much of what kind of Father he is. So we copy in faith relying on His grace for all things. We do not demand too much of our kids. In the garden their was one "no," how many do you have in your home? God made a beautiful garden for Adam to govern. He walked him through the garden and let him name all of the animals. He made for him a beautiful helper. And he gave him a day of rest. Our homes should be beautiful places, run efficiently, with our families good in mind in all we do. It should be a refuge from the troubles that are in the world. And their should be a weekly rest.

But sin. What do we do when messes come into our homes? Again we mimic God in this. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. God came to them. They had sinned and because so, had made a break in fellowship with their maker. But God comes to them! He finds them! He asks them why they are hiding. In this he gives them an opportunity to confess their sins. Adam and Eve take the opportunity to blame God's creation rather then taking responsibility for their sin, furthering the mess that they are already in. So God stomps his foot and tells them he has had it! Thankfully this is not true! He brings clarity into their dark mess! He shows them the truth of the situation, after listening to them. This whole scene really is like a court scene. God is judge and he gives both Adam and Eve opportunity to come clean on their crime. But they deny that the fault is theirs. So the judge explains the situation and declares his judgment. It is important to note at this point that God told Adam very clearly what would happen if he disobeyed. And it is important to notice that when Adam disobeyed God still had Adams good in mind! Adam did not "die." But rather God made a way for Adam and the rest of the world to be rescued from the mess! And who is the one that will be sacrificed for Adams offense? It is Jesus, Gods beloved Son! Another important point to remember is that there where immediate consequences to Adams disobedience. They where kicked out of the garden. Adams labor would become tremendously difficult. Eve would have a fruitful womb but it would come through great pain and anguish. And the nasty serpent would go forth crawling on his belly to be shamed of all beasts! After this declaration of judgment, grace comes. Clothes are made, an atonement is administered and the promise of eternal life is given!

Your home is to be like the garden. And when messes come into this garden, you are called to "sweep" them up faithfully. Pray for wisdom, pray for selfcontrol, pray for the grace to be gracious the way the Father is gracious to you. Read your bible, know it, love it, imitate it! Be like God in all things. And pray that God would make your children love and know him through your good works!

It is a big task to imitate God. So big in fact that without his help you will fail! If Jesus needed to seek God in prayer, how much more do we. Jesus knew that the cross, hell, judment for the world, would be excruciating to bear. So what did he do but seek God in honest prayer followed by submission to God's will!!

May we be found faithful in our homes with the children that God has given us! I pray that we would faithfully represent our Father to our children by how we "handle" them!

Blessings to you this week as you imitate God in your daily "sweeping.