A Thought For The Week Of July 14

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (Revelation 21:13) I've always  tended to think of this verse in terms of a reference to time. I think most people do. I hear it, and what I hear is a promise from Jesus - a promise from God - that from the very beginning of time to the very end of time God has always existed. That makes sense, because after all, if God is eternal - which I believe - then God not only exists within all time but beyond time as well. But as I thought about the words, I came to realize that it's about more than time. The phrase looks back to the prophet Isaiah, who used it in Isaiah 44:6: "I am the first and I am the last." In that context, the phrase isn't referring just to all of time but to all circumstances; to everything that had happened to God's people over the centuries. The message wasn't only that God had been present throughout time, but that there was nothing that had ever happened to God's people that God wasn't present for. In other words, God is with us in all circumstances. Reading that changed my thinking about Jesus' words in Revelation. Jesus is "with us always." In fact, through the incarnation we basically find that God(through Jesus) has experienced all that human life can possibly hold - good and bad, joy and sorrow, delight and pain, laughter and tears. It's not only that God has been with me every moment of my life; it's that God has shared in (and understands) everything I've experienced. To me that's divine love. Have a great week!