Kingdom Building

September 20, 2019

Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

For there is one God;
   there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
   who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. –1 Timothy 2:5-7

While I am not uncomfortable with my conception of Jesus the Christ, I cannot explain it well. I cannot remember a time when Jesus was not in my life. Some call people like me, cradle Christians and that is accurate. I was raised in a Christian home. Jesus was my friend even as a preschooler, separate and apart from Sunday school lessons and prayers around the family table. One might think of that as the make-believe friend preschoolers often create in their minds and perhaps that is so. To this day Jesus as my friend teaching me how to love and is foundational to my faith.

As I grew and delved deeper into scriptures, adversity in my life circumstances made me question at an elementary age what I understood about Jesus compared to what others believed forcing me to analyze and compare, wonder and observe. Such early skepticism stood the test of time. I soon moved into trying to comprehend what this person called the Christ was. Jesus morphed into the Christ or always was the Christ maybe? Christ was and probably still is another name for Jesus, not a title, in my mind. Funny though, Messiah is a title to me and then there is God Incarnate. In my writing I discovered that in my mind Christ and God are both the Lord. The Holy Spirit plays some part in this spectrum.

Truth is it is difficult to know all the sides of the prism that is a human being. Knowing God is even more mysterious. I take great comfort in knowing that that which we call God grasps the fullness of all creation including all human beings even me. I appreciate God’s sending a mediator to intercede on my behalf in communing with God which brings us back to my friend, Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, we worship you as Creator all powerful and always present and praise you for loving us enough to send Jesus to broaden our understanding of your love and vision for our lives. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.