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I’ve been thinking about how a team (or a body) functions. Sometimes people on the team probably think that they were chosen because of the gifts they can contribute. And, though their gifts/skills are important to the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall purpose that God has for the team, the reality is that “who they are” to the team is much more important than what they can do for team. The difficulty in this is that most individuals have been programmed to value themselves based upon their performance and not on their presence. Sometimes it is just the mere presence of a team member that is their greatest contribution. Just seeing their smile, or hearing their laughter, or seeing in their face that they are also bearing the burden of the team provides an intangible strength that is necessary for the whole team to function. For instance, I hardly ever meditate on how my muscle fibers effect my ability to move and walk and function, but after a seventeen mile run, when the muscle fibers in my body begin to break down from dehydration and lack of protein and oxygen, my physical body very quickly becomes dysfunctional. Some team members are worthy of greater honor because they are not seen, yet the team (body) can not function properly without them. It’s like when a person sits quietly in the corner of a room filled with people and hardly says a word, but somehow just their presence in the room creates an atmosphere that would not exist if they were absent. There has been such an emphasis over the years within the “church world” concerning “giftedness” that many have become paralyzed, frustrated, and feel unfulfilled because they can’t find their proper place, or niche, or they compare their gifts and personality with others and conclude they aren’t as able. A person’s gifts/skills are not to be treated as unprofitable to the team, but in the Kingdom of God and His Body it is the person themselves who is the greatest gift to the team, not what they can (or maybe unable) to do. The greatest love that has been bestowed upon humanity is “Gift love”. That is God Himself. It (He) is “true, perfect, all encompassing, unconditional” love which is not based in any way upon a person’s performance, abilities, talents, or skills. It is purely grace. It (He) is present whether recognized or realized…like a person sitting quietly and unnoticed in the corner of a room filled with people yet effecting the entire atmosphere of the gathering. I’ve come to realize that God didn’t choose me based upon my gifts/abilities, but because He desires my presence on His team. There will always be those who appear to be more gifted and able, but my fulfillment comes from knowing that God has chosen me for the team just because He wants me. That is the way I want those who play on the same team with me to feel…like it’s their presence that really makes the greatest difference.

Prophecy is much easier understood driving away from it’s having been fulfilled rather than driving towards it, still unfulfilled. God’s Word is often understood best in the rear-view mirror…like having already ran the stop sign, realizing it, and then looking in the rear-view mirror to confirm your error. Old Testament, Biblical prophecy is laced with signs; signs that either promote belief in an immediate situation or signs that follow a series of events confirming them as acts of God. Biblical prophecy concerning the birth of the Christ-child is filled with both types of signs.

More than six centuries prior to the miraculous arrival of a baby boy born in Bethlehem to a virgin mother, the prophet Isaiah spoke to the king of Judah, Ahaz, and announced, “The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”(Is. 7:14). And again in 9:6, Isaiah declared, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given”. These signs were signs of the second type. And in their fulfillment, howbeit, more than 6 centuries later, the perception looking backwards, is that the series of events preceding the fulfillment of these prophecies were acts of God. Hundreds of years later when angels appeared to Jewish shepherds in the field declaring, “Born unto you this day in the City is David, a Savior; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11), they were given a sign of the first type. The sign was that they would find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. After pursuing the child, they found him just as the angels had declared, promoting their belief in the immediate situation, that Messiah had come.

But, what about this “born Child”, this “given Son”? Was He simply the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy, yesterday’s Messiah, the Kingdom which has come? Yes and No. He is prophecy fulfilled… He was Messiah… and the Kingdom of God has come. But, He is also a sign of prophecy yet unfulfilled… of a Messiah who “is” and is coming… of a Kingdom which “has come” but is coming in fullness. Though we can look in the rearview mirror and understand (to some extent) prophecy fulfilled, we are still driving towards prophecy unfufilled, and the signs are numerous if we aren’t too distracted to recognize and read them. But, we can only speculate about prophecy unfulfilled…prophecy which we’re driving towards. And, we should not waste too much of our energy and efforts speculating. However, we can understand, rejoice, and glory in prophecy fulfilled, and this is where we should focus our lives…on what we can understand and what has been revealed.  Signs of the past remind us that God is faithful to fulfill His word even if centuries stand between His Word spoken and His Word fulfilled. Looking in the rear-view mirror at what God has done gives us hope in what God is going to do.

“To us” a child was born…”To us” as Son was given. May He be born in us  and received by us, again, today.