When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram  and said to him, I am the Lord Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.

Genesis 17:

Welcome, Tom Nelson!

It is my privilege to welcome a guest reflector, Dr. Tom Nelson. Tom is senior pastor of Christ Community Church in Leawood, Kansas. He is the author of several books, including one of the finest books I have ever read on faith and work, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work . Tom, whom I have had the privilege of meeting at Laity Lodge, is a man of deep faith and wisdom. I'm delighted to welcome him as this week's "guest reflector," and I commend his reflections to you with enthusiasm. - Mark Roberts 

A favorite nursery rhyme of my childhood told the tragic tale of an egg-shaped character who took a terrible tumble.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Embedded in these rhyming words is a raw truth. We are Humpty Dumpty people living in a broken Humpty Dumpty world. Is there any hope we can be put back together again? Can we be whole again?

Here in Genesis chapter 17, we find a microburst of true hope. At the ripe age of ninety-nine, a Humpty Dumpty Abram is put back together again. God invites Abram to live the integral life he truly longed to live, a life of intimacy, integrity, and influence. God says to Abram, “Walk before me!” That is, come close to me and be intimate with me. God also says to Abram, “Be blameless!” This word in the Hebrew language brings with it the idea of wholeness or integrity. God is inviting Abram to experience the life of intimacy and integrity that Adam and Eve once had before sin and death entered the world. God even goes further to promise Abram a very purposeful life of procreativity and productivity.

God’s hopeful words to Abram take us back to the Garden of Eden and forward to the Cross of Calvary. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put us back together again, but God can and does through his son Jesus. By Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death and bodily resurrection, Jesus makes possible a new creation life of intimacy, integrity, and influence. The hopeful hymn writer declares, What can wash away my sin, what can make me whole again, nothing, but the blood of Jesus! Jesus makes it possible for you to live the life you were created to live, the life you truly long to live. God’s good news to Abram is good news to you. Jesus can take your broken Humpty Dumpty life and make it whole again.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Do I recognize how broken I am? Have I, in repentance and faith, embraced the One who can truly make me whole again? Am I experiencing a greater wholeness and growing intimacy with Jesus? Is the gap between the life I live and the life I long to live closing more and more each day? What is keeping the gap from closing? Am I hiding secrets? Am I harboring fears?  Am I worshipping idols? Do my priorities need to change?

PRAYER: Gracious Lord, I sense my deep brokenness before you this day. I come to you in repentance and faith looking to Jesus as my savior who shed his precious blood for me. In your mercy and grace you have welcomed me back with open arms to experience the life I was designed to live, the life I so long to live.

Holy Spirit, guide me into a deeper and more intimate relationship with the risen Lord. Bring new creation wholeness into the depth of my soul, in my relationships with others and in the work you have called me to do. May I walk before you and be whole today. Amen.

Dr. Tom Nelson graduated with a Masters of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and received his doctorate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife Liz arrived in Kansas City in 1989 to begin Christ Community Church. Tom has served as senior pastor there since that time. Tom received his ordination with the EFCA in 1992. He has served on the Midwest District Board as well as the National Ministerial Association Board. Currently he serves on the boards of The Gospel Coalition and Trinity International University. Tom is the author of Five Smooth Stones: Discovering the Path to Wholeness of Soul, Ekklesia: Rediscovering God’s Design for the Church, and Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work. He is a conference speaker who calls the evangelical community to walk deeply and authentically with God. Tom has two grown children and has been married to his wife Liz for thirty years.

Image courtesy of Laity Lodge, one of our sister programs in the Foundations for Laity Renewal.