WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Think about the people who are significant to you. What makes them so? What influence do they have in your life? The whole story The four short verses that open the epistle to the Hebrews encapsulate, in effect, the meta-narrative of history. They sum up all that has gone before – from creation, through the prophets, to the coming of Christ; they explain the purpose of his death and establish the status quo – that Christ ascended and is seated at the Father’s side. Jesus is central The person of Christ is central to the whole of time. The world was made through him, we are redeemed by him, and one day we will rule with him (2 Timothy 2:12). The broad sweep of time is the background against which he stands out. Jesus is central to the whole of it and involved in the whole of it. Not insignificant It would be easy for us small, finite human beings to feel totally insignificant compared with the immensity and importance of who Christ is and what he has accomplished. But the fact that Jesus died for us and that one day we will reign with him confers great significance on us. We are ‘special, because God has loved us, for he gave the best thing that he had to save us’ (Graham Kendrick © 1986 Thankyou Music (altered)). Respond: Spend some time worshipping the God of creation, the Lord of all things, who knows your name and has loved you from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-02-20