Lost But Not Abandoned

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for,behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." (Luke 2:10)

The announcement of the birth of Christ came as a sunburst of joy to a world where grief and pain are known to all and joy comes rarely and never tarries long.

The joy the angel brought to the awestruck shepherds was not to be a disembodied wisp of religious emotion, swelling and ebbing like the sound of an aeolian harp in the rising and falling of the wind. Rather it was and is a state of lasting gladness resulting from tidings that there was born in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. It was an overflowing sense of well-being that had every right to be there.

Man is lost but not abandoned. The coming of Christ to the world tells us both of these things.

Had men not been lost no Saviour would have been required. Had they been abandoned no Saviour would have come. But He came, and it is now established that God has a concern for men. Though we have sinned away every shred of merit, still He has not forsaken us. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).

This is indeed a message of great joy! Thank You, Lord, that while we were eternally lost in our sin, You did not leave us there. Amen

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The Work of God in Redemption

"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." (Luke 15:18)

God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile. But we have been guilty of the "foul revolt" of which Milton speaks when describing the rebellion of satan and his hosts. We have broken with God. We have ceased to obey Him or love Him, and in guilt and fear have fled as far as possible from His presence.

The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of that foul revolt, and to being us back again into right and eternal relationship with Himself. This requires that our sins be disposed of satisfactorily, that a full reconciliation be effected and the way opened for us to return again into conscious communion with God and to live again in the Presence as before. Then by His prevenient working within us He moves us to return. This first comes to our notice when our restless hearts feel a yearning for the presence of God and we say within ourselves, "I will arise and go to my Father." That is the first step, and as the Chinese sage Law-tze has said, "The journey of a thousand miles beings with a first step."

Lord, we all know people who have yet to take that first step back to You. May I today be an instrument that Holy Spirit can use to draw others to You. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~