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Health & Fitness

An Empty Chair

Phillip Yancy's article, "The Jesus I New Knew," sparked my interest.

Inspirational Thought
     Phillip Yancy’s article, "The Jesus I Never New," sparked my interest.  He was responding to an empty chair at a "Jewish Passover" meal set for Elijah, the Jewish model for the anticipated Messiah.   Contrasting Elijah with Jesus raises a paradox challenging many of our expectations.  Elijah,  always a man of action used a number of spectacular actions to challenge or change current events.  Yancy describes him as the "Terminator" destroying 850 pagan priests, challenging a monarch’s greed, and having fire come down from heaven destroying those sent to arrest him... "
     While, no one "messed" with Elijah, his actions had little impact on long-term consequences. Adds Yancy, "Elijah stands for what I want in a prophet, what I want in a God: someone to solve my problems, protect me, give me absolute proof and offer an escape route around life’s messiest problems. (However) the Bible shows again and again that spectacular miracles have minimal long-term effects on faith."  Jesus does not pursue Elijah’s direction raising the question: Why?  In response, Jesus summed up his mission with the comments "My Kingdom is not of this world."
     In our day-to-day activities, we can be severely disappointed when expecting Jesus to follow the Elijah model in our lives.  Elijah himself became aware of that when adds Yancy; "God visited him at his lowest point--pointedly not in a powerful wind, earthquake or fire; rather in a gentle whisper. Instead of overwhelming Elijah with supernatural power."  God found a way to restore his confidence from the inside out, and then took him to the Kingdom.

Blessings,
Chaplain Leigh

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