Day 19 of 40 Days to Celebrate the King: Highpoint
Read Psalm 138 and John 1:6-34
Tomorrow read Psalm 138 and Mark 1:1-8
Sunday, Philippians 1:1-11, Psalm 126, and Luke 3:1-6
“Oh God, Our Father, who sent Your Son to be King of Kings and Prince of Peace, Grant that all the kingdoms of this world may become the Kingdom of Christ and learn from Him the Way of Peace. Send among all people the spirit of goodwill and reconciliation, In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen”
Today is day 19. By the time this weekend is over, we will be more than halfway through our 40 days together. (Remember, no devotional on Saturday or Sunday.) Halfway is kind of a high point. Yesterday, Wayne Miller, my good friend, and fellow counselor posted a picture of him and me hiking the Fiery Gizzard. It was a killer, but it was also a high point of my hiking career. Graduations, weddings, babies being born, big promotions. They are all high points. When I was growing up I used to live close to a town called Highpoint, NC. I always thought that would be a high point, to live in Highpoint.
Frankly, there are a lot of events in life that we call high points. Now, they can’t all be high points because if one is higher than the other then it is the high point and the others are, well, higher than average points.
In Scripture, it’s the same. There are places that we call high points but they are not really THE high point. They rise above the rest. They capture our imagination. They can be life-changing to read or remember, but they are not the high point. I have a bunch of them underlined in my Bible. I will read a verse, underline it and write, “This is my favorite verse. It is a high point.” Then a few chapters later I will read another and do it again.
So, with that in mind it is difficult for me to say this verse is a highpoint, but…this verse is a highpoint. It may be the verse that all other verses look up to. It is certainly a point in our theology on which nearly everything else we believe hangs. John 1:14, “The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Wow! I can’t imagine it getting much higher than this.
How we got to this point is so important. In the beginning, God made us all. We messed up. He has been trying to help us find Him in all kinds of ways. But all of that story leads to this moment. “The Word became flesh.”
Everything that follows this is so important. God makes His position public, “This is my Son.” There will be miracles. There will be teaching. There will be a crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. There will be a glorious coming of the Holy Spirit, the birth if the church, more teaching. And finally, there will be the promise of his return. But all of that depends on this, “The Word became flesh.’
Think about that. Ruminate on it. Just hang out here for a while and imagine that. THE Word, the “Let there be light Word,” the “Lazarus, Come forth Word.” The Word that in the end will say, “well done thy good and faithful servant.” THAT Word became flesh, like me and you, and walked around so that we could see how magnificent the Father is, how GRACE giving, how TRUTH showing. That Word became flesh and that was the highpoint of all that exists. Paul says it another way, “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven or on earth, things visible or invisible, whether thrones, or powers, or rulers, or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17) Man, if that’s not a high point I don’t know what is.
I can get a little misty-eyed about this. “THE Word BECAME flesh” for me and you so that we could find our true selves in Him. Okay, here’s another highpoint…Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Nothing higher than that.
So that you can prepare, the reading for next week is, read Psalm 85 each day and:
Monday Mark 13:1-13, 24-37
Tuesday Luke 21:25-36
Wednesday Revelation 1:1-8
Thursday Ezekiel 34:1-10
Friday Luke 12;35-48
Saturday Acts 1:1-11
Sunday Zephaniah 3:14-20, Philippians 4:1-9, and Luke 3:7-18oint
Also, at this halfway, highpoint, remember we are trying to do 3 things together:
- Focus on one family or person to help this Christmas
- Surrender, or sacrifice one thing each week to remind you of the King
- Read the scripture, pray the prayer, and read the devotional each day.
Have a great weekend. See you Monday.