What we do in life echoes in eternity

Day 13 30 May (Wed) That is the title of Ch 3 in Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, which we are reading for project. I very much like the book and even if I didn't I would recommend it anyway because of this chapter. The full title is "The Lion and the Lamb - The Excellence of Jesus Christ." The opening paragraph of this book by John Piper is amazing and spoke volumes to me. "A lion is admirable for its ferocious strength and imperial appearance. A lamb is admirable for its meekness and servant-like provision of wool for our clothing. But even more admirable is a lion-like lamb and a lamb-like lion. What makes Christ glorious, as Jonathan Edwards observed over 250 years ago, is 'an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies'." When looking at this paragraph there are key terms that must be taken into consideration and really thought about in order to truly grasp what it is saying. The first is ferocious strength. This is pretty easy to define and describe. A little harder though is a definition of meekness. What is meekness? Where do you start when asking these questions and in answering them. The best way to answer these questions is to look at the life of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. We can see that his majesty is sweetened by his meekness. In his equality with God he has deep reverence for God. This makes me think of 1 Peter 1:15-17 that talks about how we must live in reverent fear of the lord. This can be incredibly hard to do but if Jesus can do it then it should be something we can all do. The lion of Judah conquered not with his ferocity, but because he was willing to act the part of the lamb. Even though he could have done anything he wanted, he submitted his will to the authority of God and was meek so that he could be strong, and could be glorified and we could be saved. Revelation 5:5-6 does a beautiful job of portraying Jesus in this light. "But one of the 24 elders said to me, 'stop weeping! Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals. (6) Then I saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered but it now was standing between the four living beings and among the 24 elders. He had seven hours and seven eyes that represented the sevenfold spirit of God that is sent out to every part of the world." So the Lion is the Lamb, and animal that is weak and harmless and lowly and easily preyed upon and sheared naked for clothes and killed for our food. So Christ is a lamb-like Lion. This is an incredible juxtaposition of terms you don't know how it can work, by yet it does beautifully and perfectly. When you look at these two animals you see two total opposites, you see the fierce and ferocious king of the beast, a perfect predator, who is feared and revered by all. Then you have the docile domesticated lamb an animal you can let a 3 year old pet and not worry at all about it. An animal that we use for clothing and is meek and humble, and soft and kind. Yet Jesus exemplifies both at the exact same time so perfectly you can't even begin to try and come close. But that is what is so great he gives us something so perfect to strive for that while trying to be a Lion-like Lamb or a Lamb-like Lion that we can still be a lamb or a lion. IT is important to share both traits. Especially for men and myself learning to be a lamb is very important to my relationship with God but also with people around me. With friends relatives and girlfriends/ my future wife. We must be able to balance the ferocity of the lion and the meekness of the lamb. Each chapter in Seeing and Savoring ends with a pray. The one at the end of Ch 3 is one of the best prayers I have ever read and/or heard. It is a prayer within a prayer. These five sentences I feel like are a prayer in themselves, "May the power of the Lion and the love of the Lamb make our faith in Christ unshakable. So deliver us from small dreams and timid ventures and halt plans. Embolden us. Strengthen us. Make us love with fierce and humble love." It is so powerful and challenging it is amazing. I will end on this final thought. As I said earlier it is important for us to have both of these traits. The reason it is because Jesus had both of these traits at the same time. His meekness is glorified by his strength. His meekness alone wouldn't have been enough, and neither would his strenght, but with both he is glorified and is everything that we want to be. "What makes Christ glorious is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies." - Jonathan Edwards