January 17 and 18
“Herod now invited the magi to a private interview. A tempest of wrath and fear was raging in his heart, but he preserved a calm exterior, and received the strangers courteously. He inquired at what time the star had appeared, and professed to hail with joy the intimation of the birth of Christ. He bade his visitors, "Search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also." So saying, he dismissed them to go on their way to Bethlehem.”
Desire of Ages, page 62 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
Something has been nagging at me today. I have hoped you haven’t been cursing me for the last few words I wrote on January 16th. “At the same time, don’t take yourself too seriously – God doesn’t! Think of that as a great blessing.” I will come back to that statement in a moment after looking at Herod’s attitude to the visit of the Magi.
Talk about the performance of a great actor. The King doesn’t bat an eyelid as his lies pour out. He actually appears joyful as he hears about the birth of the child. A friend of mine used to say, “Fake it till you make it.” I never worked out what we were supposed to be making – but I do know that Herod was faking – and he was making something of an impression.
How authentic is he? How far would you trust him? Perhaps as far as you could throw him? We all know what he is planning. “Tell me about the child, I have a present for him.”
I closed yesterday’s blog with words I hope you understood. “Don’t take yourself too seriously.” Herod took himself too seriously. He believed all the hype about himself and chose to act up to the role. As a result he behaved in an unrealistic way.
We do have a wonderful call to duty, but we should still be real. Every conversation we enter into needs to show that we are reflecting the nature of the God we serve. We are still supposed to be real. We are to be authentic, people who others can recognise as real people. We are meant to be people with our feet on the ground, not with our heads in the air.
Where you also need to understand me is my second statement. “don’t take yourself too seriously – God doesn’t.” God does take us seriously. I was wrong. He may not take us too seriously, He takes us with the right amount of seriousness.
I made a mistake in what I said. My Bible study tonight, with two ladies saw us looking at a very important verse, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
Can you imagine Herod truly revealing his thoughts? His whole life was an act. Did he prosper? He had money, he had power. He had no friends. He had no future. His whole life was built on evading the conspiracies directed against him.
Be authentic. Meet with your prayer partner and take some time working out a little on your relationship with the people you are praying for.
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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
