Faith Through the Journey

The Birth of a Future King

For the past several days, the attention of the world has been focused on the birth of the royal baby in Great Britain. This little boy is now third in line for the throne of England, after his grandfather and his father. The entire country was caught up in the celebration, and indeed the world has followed this story and anticipated the arrival of this child from the day his existence was announced by his excited parents.

I couldn’t help but think of the birth of another King, this one much less heralded but infinitely more important than this future king of England. This King, however, wasn’t born in a private hospital with the best medical care available. He was born in a barn, surrounded by animals, with only His earthly parents in attendance. The only visitors He had were some shepherds who had been contacted by angels and told of His birth. No earthly fanfare, no wild celebrations greeted the King of Kings. There were eventually visitors who were guided by a bright star to see and indeed to worship this King.

The tiny new prince in England will be protected by strong earthly guards, those who would give their lives in order to protect him from any sort of threat. The King born over 2000 years ago had to flee His home country and hide from a vengeful king who felt threatened by His presence, one who wanted to make sure He could present  no threat to his own earthly power. He was protected by His earthly parents, and unknown to the rest of the world, His Heavenly Father as well. The only crown this King would ever wear on this earth was one made of long, sharp thorns which pierced His brow as He was mocked and crucified.

Only those who are citizens of the United Kingdom are subject to the ruler who sits on the throne of that kingdom. The King who lived His earthly life in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire will one day take His rightful place as  Ruler of the entire universe. Philippians 2:10 & 11 says: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Trying to imagine exactly what that day will be like is beyond our human comprehension, and yet it is rather exciting to try to anticipate how it will come to pass. It’s exciting for those who acknowledge Jesus as King now, but it’s also a sobering thought for those who do not choose Him as their King in this life. The Bible clearly says that ALL will bow before King Jesus, voluntarily or involuntarily. How much better to make Jesus the King of our lives NOW so that our love and worship of Him is joyful and spontaneous on the day when He appears to take His eternal throne.

A Crash-Proof Hard Drive

For the past few weeks, it seems that every time I think about writing, the daily events of life tend to get in the way. I see that it’s been over a month since I posted on this blog! Travel, the NBA Finals, and a hard drive crash have all occurred within that time period, so that finding a time when I could get to a computer to write anything was extraordinarily difficult. I also find it strange that the hard drive crash occurred shortly after my beloved San Antonio Spurs lost game 7 of the NBA Finals. Could the computer sense our disappontment and tried to wipe out all memory of the event by crashing?? I think I’m finally convinced that I need some sort of external memory so that this catastrophic wiping out of everything on my computer doesn’t happen again!

I am SO thankful that God’s “hard drive” will never crash! He doesn’t need a backup system to save all His data so that it isn’t wiped out by some invading cyber fiend! In Isaiah 49:15 & 16, God says, “I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on My hand.” God doesn’t need anything other than Himself to remember me; my name is written on His hand. And God is powerful enough to FORGET my sins! Hebrews 10:17 says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” It is completely beyond my understanding how God can REMEMBER everything but choose to FORGET my sin, once it has been covered by the blood of Jesus. That is why He is God–and I am not!

“Thank You, God, for always remembering me, and for choosing to forget my sins because of Jesus’ shed blood!”