06 November 2008

Still not bored...

It has been a while since tears choked out my words.  

As she answered the phone, I'm sure Shelli wasn't sure what to think.  After all, I had just spent an afternoon watching a movie with an old friend.  Why was that stirring me?   What could I possibly have discovered?  Nothing.  Actually, I rediscovered an ancient truth, that I had been eluding me, even though I spend most of my life trying to bring it to the world.

Minutes before my friend and I sat to watch this movie, I had read:
The former [Jewish] priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  
(Hebrews 7:23-27 ESV) 

"Uttermost" is what grabbed my attention.  God reminded me that salvation is complete.  Nothing is beyond its reach.  Because Christ is eternal, his salvation and intercession are eternal in time and in scope.  He saved me to the uttermost and he can save my friend to the uttermost as well.  He has delivered me, every last wicked part of me, into a new life, a new affection and a new eternity of unfathomable joy.   This verse and a breathtaking story of redemption brought me face to face with the supreme beauty of it all.  

I live most of my life a safe distance from the sweeping grandeur of the gospel I preach.  Fortunately God has yet to let me get too far away even if it takes an afternoon with a friend and a movie.    

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