FEBRUARY 2022.
Often, it is the finest details that brighten a pattern or the tiniest flower that highlights the beauty of a field. I have recently been reflecting on the beauty of a word that is regularly found in Scripture but might not be the first word to strike our attention in any given passage. It is the "but", which is essentially a marker of emphatic contrast. This word is significant because the things spoken of after this word are emphatically different to the things spoken of before. Never is this word more significance than when it is followed by "God". Without God we are helpless, BUT all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). This is the gospel in a nutshell. In Genesis 20, we read that Sarah was in trouble, BUT GOD protected her, even though Abraham did not. Acts 7:9 reminds us that Joseph was sold into slavery BUT GOD was with him and rescued him. 1 Samuel 23:14 tells of a time when enemies pursued David, BUT GOD did not give David into their hands. There are many more BUT GOD cases in the Scriptures, one of the most poignant being Romans 5:8 that says “BUT GOD shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We were helplessly lost in Sin, BUT GOD made a way when there seemed to be no way. The hymn Amazing Grace contains this phrase "I once was lost BUT NOW am found". There are verses throughout Scripture that remind us that we are wretched and lost, but God makes all the difference, and that in Christ we are no longer what we once were and are called to a new way of living. Let us celebrate that, just as every tiny flower in a field declares the glory of God, so too, even the finest details of Scripture point us to Christ.
One in Christ
Pastor Simon
