Monday, February 15, 2016

In our last visit we reflected on how Jesus maintained divine clarity about His mission while living in the midst of the ambiguity and ambivalence around Him. The way He did this was by maintaining a close relationship with His heavenly Father. He made time for prayer no matter how busy His life became, getting up before dawn or even spending the night in prayer when necessary. Many of His major decisions were made following such extended times of prayer. Another way He maintained divine clarity was by ordering His life in the light of God’s Word. One of the most common phrases sprinkled throughout the Gospels is this: He did this or He said this or He went to a certain place “in order that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets…” He knew what had been predicted by the prophets about His life and He judiciously went about fulfilling those predictions. Even while hanging on the cross in excruciating pain He uttered the words, “I thirst,” so that a prediction regarding this would be fulfilled. The anguish, ambiguity and ambivalence around the cross was overwhelming, but He remained focused with diving clarity until the last detail was fulfilled. Then He cried out, “It is finished,” and gave up His life to the Father. What a dramatic demonstration of the impact thought: God wants me to walk, work and worship with divine clarity while living in the midst of human ambiguity and ambivalence. Now He calls on us to follow His example.