Another Glance into the Mirror

I know I'm in the middle of a short series here, but I just had to share in passing another neat glimpse of the parallels between earthly and heavenly adoption which our pastor brought to light this past Sunday. In studying James 1:27, a passage that God has used to stir my heart and probably many of your hearts as well, he referenced a related passage which uses the same Greek word, "visit": Luke 1:68. This word is used in both cases to describe coming to people with the intention of really "overseeing" their needs and exercising active compassion to meet them. What's particularly striking, however, is the subject of this verb; in Luke, "visit" describes God's work of salvation on our behalf, whereas in James, we are the ones called to "visit" the most vulnerable and needy people around us:

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. ~James 1:27

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people. ~Luke 1:68

Do you glimpse the profound wonder of this connection? What new passion and zeal we would have in our ministry to orphans if we more fully grasped the beauty of serving them with the same compassion and power through Christ which the God of the universe displayed to us! The more I look into this mirror reflecting our own earthly efforts to care and nurture the fatherless back onto God's work of adoption, the more I come away with a sense of awe at the depth and beauty He has crafted into this avenue of ministry. How great is our God and what a privilege it is to show the Hope of His precious Gospel to earthly orphans!