Pope Benedict's Resignation
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI officially resigned as the
leader of the Catholic Church. In an article about Benedict, it says that he is
leaving “because his failing physical and spiritual energies are not adequate
to the task of leading the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics…” Is anybody
surprised? The Pope is a man, just like any other man. He may be the leader of
the worlds Catholics, but he is not the leader of God’s Church by any stretch
of the imagination. “Now
there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from
continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a
permanent priesthood (Hebrews 7:23-24).” Jesus Christ is the head of His
church. He has not delegated that authority to any man or string of men
selected to run a religion. He doesn’t have to because He lives forever when
men always die. “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have
the supremacy (Colossians 1:18).”
When you believe that a man is the head of
God’s church, regardless of how well liked or respected he is, you will get
people that worship that man. Thus, you will have devout supporters of the Pope
saying that they have witnessed “the heavens bowing” to him. Sorry, the heavens
do not bow to any man. In fact, the Bible says something totally different. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father (Philippians 2:9-11).”You give me the name of any religious leader,
whether Christian or not, and I will tell you that the name of Jesus Christ is
above them all! The next Pope will be selected in the coming weeks. He will be
the 264th Pope in history. There is only one Jesus Christ. Only God
knows how many Popes there will be when it is all said and done. But, one thing
you can be certain about; they will all bow down to the One from heaven, Jesus
Christ, and acknowledge Him as the Founder, Leader and only Priest of His
church.
God as Father
I would imagine one of the greatest experiences for a parent
is watching their child name the family pet. The anticipation of what a little
mind will conjure up is probably one of the greatest bonding moments a parent
and child could have together. Many times when we think of our relationship
with God as Christians, we are consumed with how immense and powerful He is in
comparison to us. Sometimes we can be is so much awe of God that we fear ever
coming to Him. That is understandable. However, do we ever really think of
ourselves as being in a child/Parent relationship with God? “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and
every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he
would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all
cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field (Genesis
2:19-20).” Here we see God and Adam enjoying one of those Father and son
moments as Adam named all the animals. Only God knows what He was thinking at
this time. I wonder if He experienced moment s of amusement and bewilderment at
the names Adam was coming up with just like an earthly parent would feel. To
me, this is a side of God that doesn’t get mentioned much, but a side I think
we see all throughout scripture.
“Let the little children come to Me, and do
not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14).” God
wants to be in the presence of His children, just like Jesus expressed with
these children. The innocence, faithfulness
and undying desire of children to be around their parents is what Jesus was
illustrating in His referencing the kingdom of heaven. God wants to have that
close relationship with us. That is why the death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus Christ is so powerful and humbling. God wanted to have a relationship
with us again, like the one He had with Adam in the Garden and which Jesus
talked about with the children. He wanted the relationship so bad that He died
for the sins of the world and rose again from the grave in order to make it
possible. All He wants from us is be like little children and come to Him. “But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
to those who believe in His name (John 1:12).”If you have been born again of
the Spirit of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, you are a child of God. You
can come to God freely and without hesitation because He loves you
unconditionally and wants you in His presence just like any parent wants their
children to come to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment