Saturday 22 December 2012

What fellowship has light with darkness?

It has been a long time since I got to sit down and write something here. So I am thankful for the holiday season that I get to play a little catch up on things like this. 

The title of this post is from that famous little verse in 2 Corinthians 6:14. "...what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness? "

This post actually has little to do with 2 Corinthians 6:14 or with the context that those words were penned. But more to do with the current time of year. We are just days away from Christmas and doubtless we have all been exposed to a nativity scene on TV or in someones garden, a Christmas play or our own personal thoughts of Jesus' birth have been floating around our heads. Every time I hear that verse read or someone quoting it I cannot help but think of it in terms of the gospel. What fellowship has God with fallen man? and what communion has He with sinners?

Love changes things because at a quick glance it seems God has contradicted Pauls words. For God so loved the world He was willing to come and live with us, dine with sinners of all kinds and share life with us. In the garden of Eden he sought out a rebellious Adam and Eve who were hiding in shame. The religious folk accused Jesus of being a friend of sinners. Truth is, he went much further than the pharisees ever could have imagined for his "friends", "But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

He is the good One who tabernacles with the rest. Of course Jesus never partook in the destructive practices of those he hung out with, there was no intent on his behalf to intertwine good and evil, on the contrary, he sought to save us from our own destructive nature by freely giving a new nature to those who would receive it.

That is the good news. No fat man in red, reruns on TV or socks from your grandma on the morning of the 25th. Just the story of the relentless love of a loving Father.