Morning Musing: Exodus 34:29-35

“As Moses descended from Mount Sinai — with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain — he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! They were afraid to come near him. But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, and the Israelites would see that Moses’s face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? I’m talking about high school – or maybe even junior high – puppy love. With a bit of life experience under your belt, you quickly recognize that’s not the real thing, but don’t bother trying to convince the starry-eyed youth of that. You’ll be wasting your breath. Thinking back to that time, when you got to spend some time around your crush…excuse me…the love of your life…you weren’t the same as you were before. You were a little spacey. You probably had a sappy grin on your face. Maybe you even whistled a tune. Anybody who was around could tell that you had been around your heartthrob. You weren’t the same as you were before. When Moses had spent some time with the Lord, he wasn’t the same, and everybody could see it. Let’s see what kind of sense we can make out of this interesting end to the chapter.

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The Gifts of Advent: 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

You’ve experienced it before yourself. If you have children, you now have the joy of seeing it through their eyes. I’m talking about the delight of Christmas morning. The glad anticipation of what waits under the tree builds and builds until everyone finally rushes in there for the great moment of discovery. Yet what is it that most thrills us in that moment? It is the gift of something new. We delight in new things. The season of Advent is a celebration of something new coming into our lives. Let’s talk this morning about the gift of new and just how it transforms us.

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter

Have you ever watched a caterpillar come out of its chrysalis as a butterfly? It’s a pretty remarkable thing to see. Actually, remarkable doesn’t quite cover it. It’s absolutely amazing. What goes into that cocoon is not the same thing that comes out of it. I can’t think of another creature that undergoes such a complete and total physical transformation as that. I can think of another creature, however, that experiences an equally dramatic transformation: Us. 

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