September 8

September 8

Pause and Reflect:One Solitary Life.

The readings since our last pause for reflection point to one person: Jesus Christ. As you pause to reflect today, focus on Him first: remind yourself of His significance, and His comparative insignificance as described in this famous poem:

He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty. Then for three years, he became a wandering preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life.

Then, take a few minutes to let God speak to you about your one life: the trials you have faced, the points where God has been at work, the purpose God has created for you. As you watch God's purpose for Jesus unfold over the next few weeks, expect His purpose for you to be established too!

Have a great day!

Mark.