30 Days with the Word

30 Days with THE WORD
January 4, 2021

John 1:1-2, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He (the Word) was in the beginning with God (NKJV).’

We were imagining yesterday about Jesus moving into our neighborhoods. The thrill of perhaps a new neighbor, the pain maybe left behind when someone we cared for left. The imaginary visual of Jesus and His entourage of angels pulling slowly down the street on your cul-de-sac, in their moving truck emblazoned with 3 Angels and the Son on both sides, squinting at the numbers on the house-fronts, excitedly pointing at the home directly across the street from yours. ‘Oh boy,’ you thought to yourself, ‘They’re here. Wonder where they hail from; what they’ll be like…wonder if we’ll be friends?!’
But that’s what the Bible says (John 1:14, ‘The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood, MSG’). Jesus, the Son of God, left heaven, wore skin, dressed in humanity, came into our worlds and moved into our neighborhoods. He knocked on your door and mine and asked if He might be allowed to come inside to sit with us and us with Him. He desires to be a guest in your home and break bread at my table.
Although not one of us might have expected that a new neighbor, arriving from heaven, might be moving in next door, or ultimately right inside, to live within us, but I am reminded that we were created for fellowship with Almighty God, and in Jesus, we have a friend who promises to stick closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24b, NKJV).

I recently had a new young couple move in next door. I meant to greet them, and I might have waved a time or three, but one day, they came bearing gifts. A fresh plate of cookies and ten minutes to introduce themselves, and I think also, the question, can we be welcomed to your neighborhood? I didn’t know people did that anymore, especially twenty-somethings! It was such a nice gesture, one that I should have offered before they had a chance to, but today we are fast friends. We are neighbors.
That’s who the Word is, your neighbor. Will you greet Him with a welcome gift and ten minutes of your time and get to know the Word He has for you?