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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection viii
Worthy to receive ...
Tuesday, July 12, 2016. Our church youth group has what they call “housing week” - they sleep in the church with about 30 young people between 13 and 20 for one week, and go to school from there, meet there after school and have a lot of fun. They also invite someone each evening to give some spiritual input - they sing together and pray together.
VIP Very Important Person …
The whole week has a topic: very important person VIP. This refers to each and everyone of the participants - they are loved by God and they are very valuable and important persons. It also refers to Christ Jesus - who is the very important person for all of us.
It was my role yesterday to talk about Christ - and why he is a very important person. I remembered an event in my past - where a conductor of our state youth orchestra was a very well-known conductor from Hungary. But the most impressive thing about him was not that he was well-known, but on some occasion when an instrument was not working properly, he layed down and repaired it himself. He did not have any special ideas of him being great - he just was. And he solved the problems we had.
I compared this experience with what Jesus did. He was God. His majesty was unparalleled. But he became human. With a humble mind he lived with us - and died at the cross. He died to open the door to God, to pay for our sin - for all the distance to the truthfulness and faithfulness of the holy God.
What makes him great …
Jesus is great not because of his power, but because he gave up his power to come and live with us and save us. He is great because of his truthfulness and his love. He is great because he has a great mind and a great character. The biblical book of the Revelation summarizes this in a fantastic scene, where someone worthy is searched, someone to open the book of life:
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5, 11-12)
It is good to know this lamb - Jesus Christ. It is good to know him, and to invite him into our life, and to live with him. It is good to have his power in our heart, his hope and endurance in our life. And it is good to know: it is him, it is not us, who saves, and who has the power to calm the storm. But when we are linked to him and hope on him, everything is possible. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts