Posted on December 25, 2018 Categories ChristmasLeave a comment on Merry Christmas!
This picture spoke to me, just as much as the verse itself. The background is bleak, cold, and desolate. I would not want to be stranded in such a place. Yet, this is where reason alone would land us. If we decided that we should only apply reason and human understanding we would find ourselves very alone. But then there is the text of Matthew 1:21. The words of the angel to Joseph explain his betrothed’s situation to him. Mary, your promised one, will have a child. This surely put Jospeh into feeling of bewilderment. Yet, the child is not from another man, but from the Holy Spirit, and her child will literally be “God with us” and He will dwell among us. Human reason can not comprehend this because it is impossible. Human reason cannot understand how an infinite Creator God can dwell within a human body. Reason cannot see past the pregnant young woman and see a God who caused a virgin to be so. Human reason would content itself with the bleakness and despair. God offers hope, a light in the darkness, the suggestion that the world is a little big bigger than we reason it is.
Just a thought for this season. God bless and Merry Christmas.
When we open up gifts on Christmas morning, we receive things that will eventually wear out, dry up, break down, or get thrown away. But the gifts that God gives us improve with use. Whether preaching, teaching, singing, serving, helping, guiding or giving. God’s most precious gift, His Son, gives us life. His second most precious gift, if only because it is conditioned on the first, is His Spirit. And through His Spirit, we receive all manner of special and unique gifts, specific to us, to help us serve the larger body. Your combination of gifts is unique to you, and no one else can do what you have been gifted to do. Are you willing to use His gifts today?
Do you know that eagerness when you watch someone else open the gift you prepared for them? You know the feelings that run through you. Anticipation, eagerness, excitement, and joy! You look forward to seeing the smile on their face at something you gave to them. As you get older, this feeling becomes more precious. Especially to hear the squeals of delight of little ones shredding Christmas paper. You know the joy of seeing a satisfied recipient, and you probably also know the despair from someone who didn’t appreciate your gift, and cast it aside.
Consider for a moment God’s point of view. He has sent His Son into the world as His gift. Some accepted Him. Some rejected Him. He sent His Spirit into the world as a gift to all that would receive His Son. Some accepted Him, others rejected Him. The Holy Spirit gave gifts to all who confessed Jesus as their Lord. Some accepted those gifts and used them. Others turned their backs, saying the gifts were too hard, or not what they wanted. Knowing how we feel when others open our gifts, can you imagine God’s face and turning away from His?
All of us have been given gifts to use for the glory and growth of the church. This church depends on you. No one of us is expected to do it all, otherwise, only one person would have all the gifts. But each of us has a gift from the Lord. Each of has a responsibility to the whole, whether great or small. As a Christian, you need to discover that gift, and use it, for the church depends on you. Her growth and service depend on you to utilize your gift.
If you don’t have one those gifts yet, because you’ve never committed yourself to serving Jesus, then today is the day to start. Don’t let another day go by without putting your lot in with Christ. Believe in Him, Repent of your sins, Confess His name, and be Baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and the free gift of the Holy Spirit. Today is your opportunity to be a part of the body of Christ. The Savior we serve was born in a manger, but died on a cross for you.
just a precaution today as you go about your daily worship routine, going about telling others “Merry Christmas” and “Have a blessed day!” The Lord despises having His own name taken in vain, where our actions and attitudes don’t line up with the God whose name we have taken, or we use His name in ways contrary to His revealed nature.
Christian you have an incredible responsibility to show others what God is like through your words and deeds. If there ever has been a worse charge laid at the feet of Christians than hypocrisy, I don’t know what it is, simply because we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And we are accountable to Him as such. You don’t get “time off” from being a Christian.
But good news, we don’t have to do this on our own. We have the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding and assisting our our souls. He helps us to live as we have been called. We serve and enjoy serving the One who calls us because we have been called by His name. So let us praise and worship the One who called us today. Let us sing and rejoice because we have been found worthy in His sight to speak His Name. Merry CHRISTmas everyone!
So comes the call ringing down through the ages. From the voice of Isaiah the prophet through to the raspy preaching of John the Baptist, so goes out the call. Are you prepared for the Savior?
Why is it that we are aware of NEED only around Christmas time? Because this is the one time of year when people feel like giving. So much good is done in the name of Christmas, from giving to the hungry, to buying presents for poor children, to dropping a few extra coins in the kettle. And many have appropriated Christmas as their prime giving season, with names like the Salvation Army, the Angel Tree, the Toys for Tots, and so on: so many people doing so many good things, and so much need to be filled. However, year after year, it seems like there is more need than the last. In working with the needy, I’ve learned that they fall into two camps, the truly needy and the greedy.
This problem of NEED reminds me of a verse in Proverbs: “The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”:” (Pro 30:15) The leech is a loathsome creature, and far be it from me to compare the current problem of poverty, homelessness and need with the leech, but the Proverb makes a peculiar point, using the leech as an example. Do those that are needy ever say, “enough”? You can usually spot those that are needy from those that are greedy with this one question. The needy are grateful for what they receive, while the greedy always want a little more.
But the greedy aren’t found merely in the soup kitchens or the welfare offices. They can often be found behind a desk, or in a shopping mall, or anywhere goods can be bought and sold. Christmas tends to make the greedy a bit more obvious, with people fighting over dolls on black Friday, or taking back gifts they didn’t like the day after Christmas, just to get their money back.
Are you prepared for the Savior this Christmas?
Posted on December 1, 2018 July 18, 2018 Categories ChristmasLeave a comment on Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord!