Marvelous

I have a particular co-worker, who has an especially sunny disposition.  Each day when you ask her how she is doing, her stock answer is, "I'm marvelous!"  Until she came to work at our office, I don't remember hearing that word since Billy Crystal was using it in his imitation of Fernado Lamas on Saturday Night, "You look marvelous!"

But just today I came across it in my reading of the Book of Zechariah, when the Lord Almighty declared to Israel, “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me ?” (8:6).

Marvelous means "Causing wonder or astonishment; Of the highest or best kind or quality: first-rate."    And certainly, there are times when we feel we have accomplished something or conducted ourselves in a rather marvelous way.

I don't know if any churches would say, "We're really marvelous," but I do know that most feel that they are above average if not first-rate.  But does God feel that way?  An example of this contrast is found in Revelation 3:17  "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."

This is a very important question  in our personal and corporate Christian walk, "Am I, are we, marvelous in God's sight?"  While I may think I'm doing pretty good, does God agree?  While the church I attend may feel it is operating above the grade, does God think so?

We know that God loves us (cf. Jn 3:16) but do our lives, our words, thoughts and deeds, honor him? A good test is, "Would anyone be drawn to Christ by my life or the body life of our church?  Am I and are we truly, "Set apart" (sanctified) from the world in how we conduct ourselves?  Or would people say we are like all the rest?

I believe that we should be marvelous, I believe that I should be marvelous.  I believe that every Christian and every Christian Body ought to be sanctified.  But are we?  And how can we know?  Well, we "all sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23), so we are not perfectly marvelous, but we could be as marvelous as an imperfect being can manage.

How we can know is by becoming familiar with one who is Perfectly Marvelous: The Lord Jesus Christ who "has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin" (Heb 4:15) is truly marvelous.  And, through prayer, devotional time and study of his life in Scripture, we can come to know him who "left us an example that we should follow in His steps" (1 Pet 2:21).  Jus' Say'n.