Indeed,
morning has broken like the first morning. Jesus, our Eternal Contemporary, is
upon the Throne. He rules and reigns. He reminds us that "in this world you
will have tribulation, but be of good courage, I have overcome the world." We
will meet for our Wednesday Evening gathering today with a special meal at
6 PM. In your time of prayer please remember a young mom and wife who battling
some severe health issues. Another woman of faith and lover of Jesus and a
servant going through some difficult health concerns. Another man after God's
own heart, who will be celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary in January,
2015, is facing some intricate health problems. Our Lord is greater than all of
our problems and pain, greater than all the battles we encounter in this life.
He is mighty and merciful. We come to the throne of grace and the seat of mercy
with boldness. We praise Him for the way He has redeemed us and has given us
His authority. indeed, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and
still loves us.
In his
book Leaving Home, Garrison Keillor tells a
fictional story about a family from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Grace Tollefson
married Alex Campbell, who turned out to be a ne'er-do-well. They had three
kids: Earl, Marlys, and Walter. Then he left her, took all the money, and she
was forced to move back home and live off the kindness of folks there, enduring
the relentless I-told-you-so's of her mother. It was humiliating. Then, "One
day they got a letter from a man in Philadelphia doing research on Scottish
nobility who asked who their ancestors were, so he could look it up." Grace
wrote back, and a few days later another letter came.
"She
opened the envelope. It was addressed to Mrs. Grace Campbell, but the letter
began with "Your Royal Highness." He wrote: "Today is the happiest day of my
life as I greet my one true Sovereign Queen," and went on to say that their
branch of the Campbell family was first in the line of succession of the House
of Steward, the Royal Family of Scotland. Another letter soon came with a complicated
genealogical chart with a line in the corner leading right straight to them:
Earl, Marlys, and Walter. The Royal Family of Scotland living in Lake Wobegon
in a green mobile home, furniture donated by the Lutheran church. They were
astounded beyond words. Disbelieving at first, afraid to put their weight on
something so beautiful, afraid it was too good to be true, and then it took
hold—this was grace, pure grace that God offered them. Not their will but his.
Grace. Here they were in the same dismal place, but everything had changed.
They were different people. Their surroundings were the same, but they were
different."
Ultimately, years later, the youngest son,
Walter, finds out the whole business was a fraud, but he never tells his mother
or siblings, because thinking you are royalty, whether anyone else knows it or
not, changes a person. At the end of the story, Grace is old, and she says to
her son, "Oh, Walter, what would I do without you? You're so strong. You're so
good to me. You're a prince, you know. They can put a crown on a dog and call
it a prince, but you are a prince through and through. They may not know it
now, but they'll know it soon. Next year we'll be in Edinburgh with the bands
playing and the flags flying and the crowds cheering." It is written and we're
given the divine assurance:
" But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[a] that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9
Our
Lord God has reminded us that we are unrecognized royalty in this world. And for
that great privilege we should be full of thanks, we should be eager servants of
God, and we should "see life through the eyes of promise." That fiction of
Garrison Keillor's is actually our truth: "They were astounded beyond words.
Disbelieving at first, afraid to put their weight on something so beautiful,
afraid it was too good to be true, and then it took hold—this was grace, pure
grace that God offered them. Not their will but his. Grace. Here they were in
their same dismal place but everything had changed. They were different
people. Their surroundings were the same, but they were
different.
In Christ,"Brown
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