“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I
am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life’”
(John 8:12)
It was dark in the
streets of our first night in
Manhattan, and our cab was dashing from lane-to-lane, driven by a man
named Singh, who apparently thought he was in the Indy 500. We arrived
at our hotel (alive) and went up to our room on the 5th
floor. I looked out of the window into the darkness (it was midnight)
and was disappointed to see a building right in front of us. This was
Manhattan, after all, and I wanted to SEE things from the window, like
the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Central Park, and so
on.
The next morning,
Genevieve pointed upward through the window, and I looked up and up, and
then up a lot more. It was the
Empire State Building! It was right in front of us all the time! It
was what I wanted, but it also was much nearer than I ever expected.
Our Lord, the One we
have always wanted, is so grand and so close, we tend to not see Him
through the night of this dark world. Look UP, away from the walls that
surround you and FIND Him, who is higher than your problems and
wonderful in all His ways.
The following night
we would learn that the top floors of the
Empire State Building have been
illuminated during the early evening hours in alternating red, white and
blue, since September 11th, when the World Trade Center was
struck by terrorists. Jesus Christ is “the
light of the world” (John 8:12) and He is beautiful to
behold, but incredibly, terrorists of a different time beat the Messiah,
placed Him on a cross, and attempted to destroy the Son of God.
At the moment we
first saw the the Empire State Building, I was strongly moved by it, and
so should we be moved by our Lord, who has rescued us through His cross
from sin and death. In Him, we are taken out of the corruption and
terrorism of this world, and are delivered into a life of beauty and
love beyond our abilities to comprehend.
My wife Genevieve
was born in Brooklyn. This was my
first REAL time in New York and she had much to share. A couple of days
later, we were in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We didn’t have much
time because it would close at 5:15, so she rushed us into the elevator
and onto the roof to see Central Park from the top.
A year previously,
we had been in Yucatan and saw the
top of the rain forest from half way up a Mayan pyramid. This was much
like that. The museum roof was crowded, because everybody wanted to see
the city from that point. The comments around us were interesting,
though we heard surprisingly few words (actually none that I recall)
about the beauty of Central Park. They spoke of the buildings
surrounding it. Such-and-such an actor or actress lived in this place
or that. The “new rich” were on “the westside” and the “old rich” were
on the “eastside”.
Rockefeller was said
to be in “one of those buildings” and that was where Trump might be
found. They pointed at “the towers where they filmed the first
‘Ghostbusters’ movie” and so on. The buildings WERE imposing, the
architecture was interesting and the engineering was impressive. But
somehow, they were also like the remains of those pyramids in
Yucatan, south of Cancun – grimy and
fading, as is typical of the works of man.
I was comparing
God’s creation with the works of man, noting He is always creating and
His work is lovely. He creates with PERMANENCE, whereas our efforts do
not last. Trees seem, for now, like the buildings, to grow old and then
pass away, but that is only in relation to the fall of man. Everything
God creates – lasts forever. Our bodies may die for a time, but trust
in Him and you will always live.
When we first
arrived at our hotel in New York, I
had been tempted to ask for a different room with a better view, but we
were tired and I waited until the next day. It was in the light of day
that we looked up and up and up, and saw the Empire State Building right
out our window! Now I had seen the trees of Central Park, and was
reminded that His works are greater than ours.
Pastor A. B. Simpson
had a fascinating way of looking at things and you will be interested in
his comment: "Much of
the life of faith", he said, "consists in letting things alone. If we
wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He
will guard it for us better than we can help Him… Things may seem to be
going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the
right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work
in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in
some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for
God has undertaken to work His sovereign will."
So many times in our
restless fretting, we don’t understand that God always does things
better than we could imagine. It’s certainly true of the cross. From a
human viewpoint, it seemed to Jesus' disciples and to everyone else,
that His mission here on earth had failed. The Romans were still in
power, sin apparently still ruled the world, nothing appeared to have
changed, and Jesus was dead. And yet, the
Roman Empire is gone, sin is defeated, and
Jesus Christ is “the light of
the world” (John 8:12).
Sometimes it has
seemed to you that all hope is lost and nothing will ever change, except
for the worse. You might have only broken dreams and sorrowful regrets,
vaguely daydreaming of some hero riding into your life and delivering
you from certain death. And yet, Jesus Christ is no longer in that
grave - He is RISEN, and He longs to share new LIFE with you. Will you
let Him in?
Jesus, we
acknowledge You are the light of the world. We look up from our
troubles and trust in You now. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
P.O. Box 92131
Long Beach, CA 90809-2131
www.fridaystudy.org
Ron@fridaystudy.org
"While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
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