River Community Church

Today (January 6) many Christians celebrate "Epiphany". According to CRIVoice.org: "The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." In [European and American] churches, it remembers the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King." Interestingly, to me, is that when we share the "gifts" God gives us through his Holy Spirit (serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, etc.) we "epiphanize" (show, make known, reveal) Jesus to the world as Lord and King. Another way of saying this is that we glorify God when we offer the gifts of our very lives (and love!) to the One who first loved us...and gave his life for us. The "other" John 3:16 (I John) puts it this way: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." To love is to lay down our life...and to lay down our life is to live...and to live in this way reflects the glory of God. This Sunday we will explore this some more as we enter a new year, with a renewed commitment to living purposefully! Let's gather together to worship the LORD, "the One Who Is". Grace and peace, Dave