39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Here he refers to the whole generation, and in my opinion, every generation that has followed. How often have I prayed, "God, break open the skies and make them see," but there would be no need of faith then. Faith is not our gift to God, it is God's gift to us. When we grow in intimacy we will, as a result, grow in faith. Here in we find the problem with sign seeking- it makes our faith the result of aesthetics. Sign seeking determines to see God's hand before serving His will. This would make our "obedience" into something different. It would become emotional and whimsical- propelled by awe and wonder. None of those things are bad in and of themselves, but they were never meant to be the goal or the starting line. Sure we must begin with our desire for love.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has set eternity in our hearts. I John 4:8 says that God is love. There is in our hearts eternity, like a scent in the nose of a hound we seek to find our source. An eternity is very large and enduring, it cannot be satisfied by temporal things. It is only by eternal things that we are given any sort of contentment, it is only by God.
Faith and hope are temporal things which touch the eternal, but love is as eternal as God and it reaches into the temporal. Faith and hope are temporal because they will, inevitably, be fulfilled or exhausted. There will come a time when faith is no longer necessary and hope is no longer useful, a time when God and His Glory are set immediately before us. As if to say that we are at Point A and our hope is to arrive at Point B. We also have faith that our means of travel will bring us to that location successfully. When we arrive at Point B our hope is fulfilled and our faith is complete. Christian faith and hope touch the eternal because they reach to and are not satisfied until we make heaven.
Love works in the opposite direction. It begins in heaven, with God, and comes (or came, rather) to us.
I John 4:7,8
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Love, unlike faith and hope, is not fulfilled, but rather it is fulfilling. It's where the eternity of our hears finds its connection. Like two magnets grasping at one another, God extends to us that which our heart is drawn to. That is why when "these three remain: faith, hope and love...the greatest of these is love."(I Corinthians 13:13) Faith and hope will cease to be necessary, but love-love was, long before we were and it will remain as long as God is. This is why love is so powerful and so necessary, it is the underlying commonality of all men, that they, even if unknowingly, desire God, for God is love.
If this and every generation desires a sign, then give them a sign. Give them a sign as Christ gave a sign.
"For Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-45)
"'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: ''Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matthew 22:34-40)
"By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another."(John 13:35)
Do not pray that God break open the sky. We must pray that God break open us and pour himself in. What more miraculous sign is there than this: to love, to be loved, to have love and to have a foremost desire for God's loves. There is not a more awe inspiring wonder.
"To address men well they must be loved much, whatever they may be , be they ever so guilty, or indifferent, or ungrateful, or however deeply sunk in crimes, before all and above all , they must be loved. Love is the sap of the Gospel, the secret of lively and effectual preaching the magic power of eloquence. The end of preaching is to reclaim the hearts of men to God, and nothing but love can find out the mysterious avenues which lead to the heart. If you do not feel a fervent love and profound pity for humanity, be assured that the gift of Christian eloquence has been denied you. You will not win souls, neither will you acquire that most excellent of earthly sovereignties - sovereignty over human hearts... love is irresistible." -D. L. Moody
No comments:
Post a Comment