Jesus - God Is With Us

It has been a very busy day! I was up and out so early this morning (after making banana pancakes for the family!) that I didn't get the chance to write a blog post.

However, I got an email alert from my blogging friend Charlie at AnotherThink. His recent essay entitled Emmanuel in Iowa is a great read!

Charlie happens to be one of my very first "blogging" friends. I discovered his blog way back in 2005 when I attended the first GodBlog Conference at Biola University. He has written many excellent essays on the Christian faith. When you read "Emmanuel in Iowa," I think you will agree that it ranks as one of the best!

Excerpt:

If you believe the writers of the New Testament, the Christian God is neither absent-minded nor disinterested in humanity. Christianity claims that for a short time in dusty Israel, Jesus became the Emmanuel and gave us a glimpse of what could be.


Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist:

...tell [John] what you have seen and heard — the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, 'God blesses those who do not turn away because of Me.' — Luke 7:22,23, NLT

He not only healed their diseases, but he hinted frequently that God was doing something altogether new through him, something that the world had not seen since the Garden of Eden:

One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, "When will the Kingdom of God come?" Jesus replied, "The Kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs. You won't be able to say, 'Here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you." — Luke 17:20,21, NLT

Why Emmanuel? Why does God want to know us, to call us his friends, to see us face to face? Apparently for the same reasons we do: It is in his nature.

Biblical writers describe Heaven as a place teeming with intelligent and, apparently, relational beings: angels, seraphim, and the three eternal co-existing beings who are somehow the One — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Created as we are in the image of God and sharing some of our maker's DNA, as it were, we are relational because God himself is relational.

My comment at his blog:

This is a wonderful post, Charlie! I really enjoyed reading it. You made a good analogy with the "personal appearances" of politicians making a difference to voters.

Politics aside, I'd like to say that the love, forgiveness, mercy and grace that "Immanuel"-made-flesh has given us is the hope eternal that every man/woman craves in his/her heart. Whether they want to admit it or not, there is a hole in the heart of every human being until he or she repents and surrenders to Christ. Upon being born again, Jesus enters our hearts in the form of the Holy Spirit. Upon this genuine conversion, our relationship with the Lord and the sanctification process that ensues, our "Immanuel" makes us whole again. It is truly a relationship like no other!

Men like Richard Dawkins must live sad, empty lives. There is nothing on this earth that will ever satisfy like personally knowing Jesus Christ - "God is with us."

God bless you and your family. May your New Year be joyful, blessed and healthy!

Love in Jesus,
Christine

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HT: AnotherThink