Skip to main content

Consolation of Israel


Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. (Luke 2:25)

CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL
 
          Today's passage gives us another "con" word in English, and another "parakleo." Consolation comes from Latin terms meaning "with/together" and "to comfort, provide solace, encourage."  Parakleo means to come alongside, to comfort, encourage or appeal." It's the term we discussed when we looed at "Advocate."  These are more words that seem to have a "There, there, it'll be OK" meaning. Again, the etymologies suggest that the terms weren't meant so much as pats on the head as they were kicks in the butt. Comfort, as noted yesterday, is "with strength." Encourage is "to put heart or courage into." 
         Why is the Bible so insistent on strength, courage, heart, and endurance. Physiologists say that in order for a muscle to become stronger it needs to be worked; pushed to its limits and beyond. Easy doesn't build a person's strength of character. Being nice to someone who is nice to you is easy. Loving the lovable is a piece of cake. Being tolerant of someone who agrees with you - easy peasy. It's a different matter when we are nice to jerks, love the unlovely and unlovable, or treat someone with respect as human beings when they don't respect you. 
          Have you considered that this is what God does to us and for us? He proved His strength, courage, heart and endurance on the cross. He gave and gives us grace. He loved and loves us. He puts up with all manner of abuse from us. He accepts decisions we make even when they're bad decisions. He doesn't make things all better when we've chose what's worst. In short, within limits, He grants that we should be "like God." Not surprisingly, the way that He wants us to be like Him is not the way we tend to want to be like Him.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more