This devotional is from “The Awakening” series. It accompanies the song ” Last Word”
When You gave Your Son
He was Your Last Word
For He is the Only One
Who fully captures
The Essence of Who You Are
He’s Your Last Word
Your final revelation
He is Your Last Word
The fullness of revelation
He’s the Word that upholds
All of creation
A Word that foretold
The destiny of nations
A Word that demands
Our keenest attention
A Word that commands
Our deepest affection
The Essence of Who You Are
He is your Last Word
Your final revelation
He is Your Last Word
The fullness of revelation
A Word that resounds
Down through the ages
A Word that confounds
The wisest of sages
A Word that provokes
Controversial reactions
A Word that evokes
Obedience and passion
The Essence of Who You Are
Your Last Word
A defining revelation
Your Last Word
A refining revelation
Your Last Word
A living revelation
Your Last Word
A forgiving revelation
Your Last Word
The Word of Life
The Word of Love
Your Last Word
Jesus!
The Only One who fully captures
The Essence of Who You are
Scripture Reading
“God, having spoken long-ago in-many-portions and in-many-ways to the fathers by the prophets, spoke to us at the last [ of these days] by a Son, Whom He appointed inheritor of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds[,3 …Who— being the radiance of His glory and exact-representation of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power— having made purification of sins, sat-down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3 (DLNT)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:13 (NIV)
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” Colossians 1:19 (NIV)
“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him—though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:27-31 (NLT)
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Today, out of a desire to be inclusive and to avoid offending anyone, any explanation of the origin and meaning of life is considered acceptable as long as it works for the person who has embraced it as their chosen belief system. I have to confess that I find it quite strange that we have adopted such a casual attitude to life’s most important questions. Especially since we are not encouraged, nor indeed, allowed to hold such a carefree definition of truth in any other sphere of life!
Perhaps the reason some feel this way is because, to get along, we do need to respect each other’s values and boundaries. But doesn’t this also apply to a relationship with our Creator? Doesn’t this confirm that we can’t expect a relationship with Him to work based on our choice of what we want to believe about Him? Wouldn’t it be better to find out what God has revealed about Himself?
Whilst we are on earth, we are called to seek God and establish a close relationship with Him. We are to relate with Him based on what He has revealed – not based on our own ideas of what He should be like (see Acts 17:27-31). God is a communicator; in fact, one of His names is “The Word” ( John 1:1 ). The Bible is inspired by Him ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ), and in it, we learn that He is not an impersonal force that has no sense of right and wrong. Rather He is a personal and moral being – He is relational. Not surprisingly then, He created us with the capacity to have a close relationship with Him. And in seeking to build this relationship, He chose to reveal Himself progressively. This is quite similar to how people relate– we don’t reveal everything about ourselves the first time we meet someone.
To start with, God spoke through His messengers – the prophets. Their words were recorded in the Bible. But their words weren’t sufficient to convey all that God wanted to reveal about Himself. So in His ultimate revelation, He clothed Himself with humanity – He came down to the level that would make it easiest for us to understand Him! This is an indication of just how much He values a relationship with us!
Jesus clearly claimed to be God. He claimed to be eternal – Jesus’ disciple, John, recorded some of Jesus’ most startling claims – that He existed before Abraham ( John 8:58) and that anyone who had seen Him had seen God the Father ( John 14:8,9)! His claims sparked controversy – some people accused Him of being demon possessed ( John 7:20). But there were those who fully believed in Him, and followed Him wholeheartedly – take the fishermen who left their trade to become His disciples – “fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19,20).
God has revealed Himself in the fullest possible way in His Son Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-3). So for our relationship with Him to be genuine, we must pay attention to Jesus . And just as we value commitment, authenticity and accountability in others, we too, should be completely committed to, and transparent with God as we seek to build a relationship with Him. He invites us to be vulnerable with Him, confessing our failures, expressing our fears and frustrations and presenting life’s most disturbing questions to Him. He promises that when we do this we shall find forgiveness (1 John 1:9), unconditional acceptance and rest ( Matthew 11:28-29).
The song “Last Word” has created an urgency within me to be more intentional about introducing people to Jesus. If you have never accepted the most important invitation of all – the call to know God, please consider doing so today. And if like me, you already know Him, may the song spur us to seize every opportunity to tell others about Jesus!
Kairos Songs 