Week Twelve ~ “Finished”
(if you have some time read Revelation 21:1-7) Finishing things is a top priority for us task driven personalities. It grates on me every time I see those unfinished to-dos on my Outlook. I like things wrapped up with a bow and put away once and for all. Given the need to complete things, I tend to like to be in control. If I can tackle it my way then I know it’ll be done in the time I want it done. But then there’s grace. Grace is as much a thorn as it is a rose for task oriented personalities. Why? Well, it means someone else is doing something for me… and… further… that someone else is doing something for me that I can’t do for myself. A deeply humbling reality to say the least. You see, grace undoes our focus on the to-dos. Grace says we are not central and crucial to what will be… but recipients of a gift. This is what’s happening all over the final book of the Bible. The book of the Revelation is an account of God at work and you and I seeing and hearing what He’s doing. It’s a creative and explosive depiction of realities we can’t fully fathom and a God that’s beyond our ability to fully grasp. That’s why so many of the books on this book are far off the main thrust of what John saw and heard. Authors want to capture, understand… gain control of a grace we can only receive. And so we try to make sense of this book and make a to-do list out of it. We attempt to categorize, calendar, and try to reign in what will be. We can learn a lot from John. John could only stand, look, listen, and receive. John was simply called to obediently write down all that he saw and heard. In so doing, John teaches us task folks an important lesson. Grace unsettles us and demands we refrain from making God’s will happen according to our understanding and calendars. Grace means that oftentimes we are called to stand still, looking and listening… and… like children… stretching out our hands and receiving what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do. Personal and/or small group questions:
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