At Christmas we celebrate the fact that the Lord of history broke into history itself in Jesus Christ. Isaiah saw the great panorama of God’s plan for world history, vague though it was, and he is filled with a sense of hope and joy. He foresees a time when evil and suffering will be put to an end. He sees well beyond the immediate events surrounding Israel and Judah into the distant future as far as the resurrection of the dead and the new heavens and the new earth. It is a remarkable point of view and one that we need to try to capture as we read the Bible. We must see our lives in the context of the great panorama of God’s plan. Your life is a link in a chain that extends into both the past and the future well beyond what you can see. Your contribution to God’s plan is one small, though vital, part of the great edifice of God’s Kingdom plan on earth. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a tree that grows from a small seed. Imagine a tree that is thousands of years old. Over a few decades we may see some growth but not much. Does it mean that those decades are therefore unimportant for the development of the tree? No, each stage is vital, however slow the progress may be. That is how it is with the Kingdom of God in relation to our lives. The Kingdom is growing, and our lives are a vital stage in its growth. Don’t ever give up on serving God’s Kingdom. What you do matters.
Ask God to give you a greater perspective on your life.
Read Isaiah 25 and 26.
