Day of Praise

Th, 12/19/13, "Day of Praise"

Matthew 20:16 - "So the last will be first, and the first last."

Painful sight. Our whole city was running behind yesterday, and it was only by a number of back-road maneuvers that my son and I got him to his first-ever, high-school exams on time.

But as I drove from the school in the opposite direction, I saw one street and then two and then three and then four that were filled with cars driven by high-school students, who clearly knew, not only that they were late, but also that in seven minutes they would not be permitted to enter their class and take their exam.

The countless looks of agony, fear, and distress on the faces of those students both moved me to tears and hearkened back to Jesus's words in Matthew 20:16 - "So the last will be first, and the first last."

So I prayed that all those students knew Jesus and that they'd taste the peace of his promise (that the last will be first) in the midst of their distress. And I prayed for the students, who, not knowing Jesus, could not have peace, and that those unbelievers would cry out for a God and that the Only God would speak peace into their hearts.

Friends, you're going to be stuck in a line today. And when you are, look around. You will see people, because that's what lines are made of, namely, people who are stressed at their position that they're stuck in a line. But that line is a chance to remember for yourself and to speak calmly to another that the God of great reversals is near with a word of present hope and everlasting significance: "So the last will be first, and the first last."

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson