So many words in the Bible seem to have slick spots. I just gloss right over them for the deeper meaning...I tell myself. Yet, the Word perpetually flourishes with newness. It is as if this Bible of ours is somehow alive. Hummm....there's an idea.
When Jesus came up out of the baptism waters the Spirit of God descended upon him as a dove. The power of heaven slipped onto earth as an elegant bird.
I like the way John Piper puts it; The image is very different. Not a flaming sun of intolerable brightness, but a soft, quiet, vulnerable dove--the kind of animal poor people offered for sacrifices in the temple. God's pleasure in his Son comes not only from the brightness of his majesty but from the beauty of his meekness.
Jesus was a supreme servant. He was a targeted escape-artist of the heavenly caliber. He would be tracked down and executed only to escape out the front door of earth's confining best....a large and heavy boulder. That's what a humble dove can do.
So it is with you and with me. We are possessed by the dove-like, quiet, Spirit of the all-powerful God. May we move about our day without glare; yet with insistent confidence...just like Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment