December 27

“Anna also, a prophetess, came in and confirmed Simeon's testimony concerning Christ. As Simeon spoke, her face lighted up with the glory of God, and she poured out her heartfelt thanks that she had been permitted to behold Christ the Lord.

These humble worshipers had not studied the prophecies in vain. But those who held positions as rulers and priests in Israel, though they too had before them the precious utterances of prophecy, were not walking in the way of the Lord, and their eyes were not open to behold the Light of life.”

                   Desire of Ages, page 55 from the chapter, 'The Dedication'

         Have you ever thought that you have an advantage because you are not on the church board? Maybe the 'elevated' position of being a ruler or a priest is a barrier to authenticity? Check this out in the prophetic books of the Old Testament and you will see that the rulers and the priests are often the ones who are doing their own thing and not really understanding God’s ways. Rather be poor in spirit than a ruler!

The likes of Simeon and Anna appear to find the time to study the prophecies, get to the temple, be available to greet Jesus (and recognise Him in the first place).

The High Priest and his ilk are too busy preparing their next sermon to be there.

Perhaps you have a responsibility here? You have a responsibility to yourself. Don’t get sucked into being the leader who takes him or herself too seriously. You don’t know enough, you will never know enough to be able to trust yourself. Your safety is in knowing what new thing the Lord is teaching you today.

Then there is your responsibility for the leaders. During 2013 many churches had a day to celebrate the work and role of the Pastoral staff in local churches. My take on this was that church members are there to help keep the Pastors and Elders on track.

If your Pastor is a Simeon then thank the Lord. If your Pastor is an Anna praise the Lord. If not, then pray that you can find a way to help your Pastor and your Elders to become like Simeon and Anna. And if you are an Elder, or Pastor, you might dare to be a Daniel, but be happy if you are a Simeon, taking a child in your arms and prophesying the good news of a child born for the good of a whole world.

 

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here