The Mystery of the Truly Awesome

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I believe First Timothy 3:16 is a text which should be read before any reading of the Gospels. No matter what facet of Jesus’ life and ministry we study we ought to let the Spirit remind us that we are dealing with a mystery which should bring thoughts and actions of awe (godliness) to our lives – thoughts and actions which mimic the footprint of the King whom we serve now in hostile territory and in whose Kingdom we will serve “when the dark night has ended, and the storms come no more.”

The text tells us that the mystery of godliness is nothing less than the incarnation of Christ. Here are the first three categories of that awe inspiring mystery.

God manifest in the flesh.

In some respects I fear that people who reject this truth have a better grasp of it than those of us who believe it. They understand its ramifications on their lives and hate it. They grasp the “impossibility” of it apart from an act of God and they scorn it for that very reason. We, on the other hand, seem to treat it as an oh-yeah-that part of our faith and, for eleven months of the year, live our lives woefully unconcerned with the spine-tingling, miraculous wow-factors which surround it. 

God justified in the Spirit

The biographies of Jesus' walk among us reveal that the Father, through the Holy Spirit, orchestrated every aspect of his earthly pilgrimage so that his identity and his authoritative claims were thoroughly authenticated and declared to be right and righteous. This is vital to the peace which belongs to those of us who are justified by faith in him, and it is the basic reason for this series of devotionals.

God seen by angels

This can refer to the fact that Jesus’ authenticity was witnessed in both the natural and supernatural realm; and, also, because angellos (angel) can refer to human messengers who bring good news (eu-angellion), it can also refer to the many witnesses who observed his life and gave testimony to its authenticity even to the point of laying down their lives. 

God, give us grace to stand at the threshold of such a panorama of mystery with such awe that we step back in stunned wonder and step forward with a longing to explore it deeply.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FIRST-ROAD ARTICLES

SERIES INDEX:  The Mysterious Footprint of Godliness

PREVIOUS: When the Footprint Meets the Foot

NEXT:  And There's More - Come Farther Into the Mystery 

When the Footprint Meets the Foot

Tom Brown, in The Tracker, describes a desperate, wilderness search for a lost boy. Through footprints he became acquainted with the boy long before he found him. Then came that dramatic moment when footprint met foot and Tom ran across the open field to embrace him. In that case the trail was made by the one who needed to be rescued. In the case of Jesus, the footprint is the one who can rescue us! In both cases the meeting of the footprint and person who made it is overwhelming. When the footprint is of the Rescuer, the response of the rescued one is captured in the word godliness.

As with so many biblical qualities of the heart, godliness has been imprisoned in a list of stuff. Once the lost soul has met his Rescuer we set about showing him the proper way to bow and shake hands, the look of inappropriate enthusiasm, and the official way to speak.

However, the term for godliness is not that how-to oriented. It is linked, rather, to an attitude rising spontaneously when the lost soul meets, with breathtaking force, the mystery of godliness who is the embodiment of the footprint. That imagery of godliness carries the force of being awed by that which is truly awesome.

Interestingly, in some texts godliness is linked to the matter of economics. It makes sense. We tend to reveal what truly awes us by where we spend our “discretionary” money and for what we bind ourselves to long-term indebtedness.

This word brings us to our own response to the record of Jesus’ walk on our planet, and the response created in the lost souls who found in him forgiveness, life, and hope. It presses on me the question: does my life spring from a well of overwhelmed awe for who he is and what he has done?

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FIRST-ROAD ARTICLES

SERIES INDEX:  The Mysterious Footprint of Godliness

PREVIOUS: What About the Materially Poor?

NEXT:  The Mystery of the Truly Awesome

What About the Materially Poor?

Lighthouse Ministries, Lakeland, FL

Some would read the previous devotional and disagree. They would argue that to identify poverty in terms of a poverty of spirit side-steps the issue of those who are trapped in real, circumstantial poverty.

The complaint is valid. Jesus’ half-brother scolded believers for catering to the better off folks in their group. Jesus’ disciples had a fund for relieving people who were materially poor. The Old Testament prophets hammered out warnings to kings and judges (shepherds) who misused the poor. The Law itself insisted on provision for the poor, whether Jew or alien. It is most likely, therefore, the King’s footprint statement about preaching the gospel to the poor included and may even have focused on this group of people.

In a fallen and rebellious world there will always be poverty, and it is not always because people are "lazy.” Weather, pests, and plagues take their toll. Greed, politics, power, and injustice (I know that sounds redundant) ride on the backs of people who have no means of appeal.

When the Holy Spirit began Christ’s Church he brought in many poor; but he also brought in those gifted with wealth and positions of power. The design was for a mutual and willing sharing. In so doing, the gospel of forgiveness and Kingdom destiny, also contained the atmosphere of a Kingdom koinonia (fellowship) while living in enemy territory. But even in that feature, the matter of forgiveness and destiny has reigned supreme; for there have been times when rich and poor alike have been impoverished by persecution. Alas, sometimes it happened, and it will happen again, under the delusion that by such harassment God is being done a favor.  

This brings us to the overarching theme of Jesus’ footprint. It led to him! And the encounter overwhelmed those who followed him with hope wrapped in jaw dropping mystery. 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FIRST-ROAD ARTICLES

SERIES INDEX:  The Mysterious Footprint of Godliness

PREVIOUS: What’s the Use of Preaching? Its Audience

NEXT:  When the Footprint Meets the Foot