Read the directions?

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Published on Thursday, December 18, 2014

By Rev. Glenna Beauchamp

      Rivers and Oak River United Churches

I have a friend who always reads the directions — first! Before he takes the thing out of the box, he finds the instruction manual and reads it, all the way through. I don’t do that and it wouldn’t help if I did because instruction manuals are written in a language I don’t understand. The words may be English, but they make no sense to me, so I try to put it together just by looking at it. Only when I’m desperate do I get out the directions.

For centuries, people had an instruction manual from God. The Scriptures tell us everything we need to know about how to live a good and full life, how to live in harmony with each other, how to have loving families and strong communities, how to have a relationship with God that brings us wisdom, strength, joy and peace. But most of us either couldn’t or wouldn’t figure out these directions, so then God came to us in the human life of Jesus saying to us, “Here. Let Me show you what I mean.”

Looking at how Jesus lived and what He taught and the way He treated others, God’s instruction manual came to life. “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” — John 1:14

The instruction manual for human life came in a person, Jesus Christ, who still lives among us and helps us see how it’s all supposed to work.