A New Year

 A New Year is upon us.  2026.  I do not know if you are looking at the new year ahead with anticipation or fear.  But I got to thinking about the concept of the new year and the concept of time in general and I realized that the only new thing about this year is the way that we view it.  There is fundamentally no difference between the day December 31 at the "end" of one year and January 1 at the "beginning" of the next.  There is no special transfer of powers that occurs or anything that makes it different from the transition of say August 2 to August 3.  There is no magic (even though a ball might drop) that makes the transition from one year to the next any different from one month to the next, or one week to the next, or one day (any day really) to the next.  Maybe this is why so many fail to keep resolutions, because we are looking for newness and change when newness is not really present.  Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is not a single thing under this sun that is new.  

If you are really looking for change - if you are really looking to make a difference in your life that lasts and one that matters, perhaps we should start considering looking outside of time.  If we measure newness by time we will find that history repeats itself and that those who do not understand history are the ones who are destined to repeat it.  This is not new.  In order to look outside of time we must look to One who is outside of time.  We must look to One who created it.  We must look to the only one who is eternal.  Who was and is and is to come.  We must look to God and in Him and Him alone we find the capacity to truly change.  We can change into what He wants to make us.  We can become what He created us to be.  By His help and using His word we can be made new.  

So this year don't look to yourself and place your hope in the fact that you might do better.  Place your hope in the Timeless One. The One who entered into time as one of us so that He might draw us to Himself.  And in looking to Him we can be made new!

Adoption

 Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

I love this presentation of the gospel message.  God sent Jesus at just the right time so that he could redeem us.  This is often where we stop when we think of the gospel message.  We focus on the redemption - and the redemption is a good part.  But people could be bought and redeemed as a slave - and this is the whole context of this section of Galatians - the difference between a slave and an heir.  

No, God did not just redeem us, but he says in Galatians 4 that he redeemed us so that he could give us something even better - adoption as sons.  We become heirs of God through Christ.  Think of it - whatever Christ has been given we get to participate with Him in this and receive it because through our adoption we are brothers with Christ!  Sisters with Christ!  What a glorious reality.  God sent Jesus to be born of a virgin (at just the right time) to obey the Law perfectly so that he could redeem you and I - sinners who have no natural birth right - and make us His heirs.  This is the glory of Christmas!

Advent

 This week we started the advent reading cycle at our church.  It is for us a simple but important reminder that we need to focus our attention of the promised coming of Jesus.  It is important for a number of reasons that I wonder if you would consider.  

Celebrating the advent and not just Christmas reminds us that all of this is going somewhere.  Christmas in many ways has become very consumeristic.  Even our family celebrations and newsletters are often more about how we are doing well than about the coming of Christ.  Taking the time before the holiday gives us more time and space to reflect on the fact that what we celebrate on December 25 did not happen accidentally.  Galatians 4:4 reminds us that Jesus came at precisely the intended time.  

Celebrating advent also reminds us that this is still going somewhere.  We look back to Jesus' first coming to earth and look forward to His second.  In celebrating advent we remember that it is not just about a day, but it is about the arc of human history being aimed in a particular God-given direction.  This is also an important reminder when things feel so out of control - God is moving all of our lives toward a particular and planned end.  

Celebrating advent also reminds us that we should be anticipating the celebrations of the Christian calendar throughout the year.  Christmas is not then end (though because it is at the end of our year we often think of it in these terms.  Advent is the beginning of something greater - a pointing not just to the birth but to the death and resurrection of Christ.  It points us to the coming of the Spirit.  It points us to our perpetual need for the work of God in our lives.  

So celebrate advent with us.  And may God remind you that Jesus came to earth so that you could have life in His name.

The Holidays

 It is fascinating to me that the word holiday literally comes from the idea of holy days.  And yet there is almost nothing holy about what happens when we get to this time of year.  After Halloween (anything but holy) we push toward not Thanksgiving as much as Black Friday.  I know this because we have Black Friday deals that are already starting.  We push right past Thanksgiving and start thinking about shopping for Christmas - you know, the part of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ that is about making sure you are spending as much money as you can afford to buy presents because your family needs to know that you love them and you have to have a good enough Christmas card to send out for the next year - the kind that you can brag about all the things you did during the year.  Sounds great doesn't it.  Seems like the holy day has become not so holy.  A group of singing angels announcing the Savior's birth to lowly shepherds has been replaced.  A quiet birth of a Savior has given way to a bustle of human capitalistic activity.  The salvation of mankind has quietly taken a back seat to anything and everything else.  

Sad if you think about it.

Maybe we should make these days holy again.  We can do this by focusing ourselves - to think about Jesus more than we think about all of the other stuff.  To intentionally slow down and remember what Christ has done for us.  To humbly consider the humility with which the Creator of the Universe came to earth.  To pause to reflect on the Prince of Peace.  To go a few moments striving not to google or go shopping, but instead to glory in the God of all that is giving Himself for us.  I think it would be worth our time.  I think it would be worth our worship.  I think it would be helpful to make these days holy.  

Thanksgiving in Hard Times

 "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. . ."  (Lamentations 3:22)

This verse comes in the midst of a book literally named after the idea of crying out to God.  Jeremiah the prophet had a lot to lament - the people God had called him to proclaim the Word of God to were not listening.  They were moving faster and faster toward judgment.  There was not a lot to give thanks for.  He had been imprisoned.  He had been left up to his armpits in mud to die.  And he did not have a lot to show for a lifetime of faithful service to God.  All he had was people who did not like him very much. A lot of complaints and not a few death threats.  

But there is always one thing that we have.  It is something that we can count on no matter what.  No matter how many things happen or what we are going through, this is a truth that we can not only rely on - but give thanks for because it is true.  I want us to think about it.

God's covenant faithfulness does not cease.  And His love toward us does not fail.  Which means that even the painful things we go through are an expression of God's love to us that He will use for our good and His glory.  What a reminder - I can give thanks!

How do we think of God

 "I am the vine , you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:5, NASB)

Sometimes we think of God as just a bigger version of ourselves.  We use him when things get bad, but most of the time we feel like we can handle life on our own.  We can, as we used to say when we were little, "Do it myself."  In this version of God he becomes a handy tool that we can call on (prayer) when we have a need, but he is not Lord.  This is a highly dangerous view of God.  And yet it is one that is all too common.  

It is interesting that the Bible does not give us this option.  God reminds us that he is higher than us.  He reminds us that our lives are but a mist and a vapor, but he is eternal.  He reminds us that we are weak and he is strong.  And yet even with all the reminders we cannot seem to escape trying to view him as something we need when we reach the end of our rope.  John 15 reminds us that Jesus is the vine and we are simply branches.  Think of this - the branch without a connection to the vine is a literal piece of garbage.  This is what verse 6 says.  If our goal is to bear fruit (as it states in verse 5) than we MUST be connected to Christ.  Without him, we cannot bear any fruit because he is our life!  

So today, remember that apart from Christ, you can do NOTHING!

The B I B L E, Yes that's the book for me

 Have you ever taken a moment to really think about the Bible - that book that you wish you spent more time with, but sometimes have a hard time prioritizing?  

Many times we have a wrong idea or a series of wrong ideas about what the Bible is.  I think that many people think that it is like a good self-help reference book.  It is not.  Some think it is a manual - it is not.  Some think it is a love letter - it is not.  Of course it has elements of all of these things but it is not any one of them.  It is a unique book.  A book that is the Word of God.  A book that was inspired by God.  A book that is written by human authors and shows their uniqueness and yet shows the reality that it is inspired by a singular God who is sovereign over all.  

This book that you hold, this book that you read is the authoritative Word of God written to many different people at many times and preserved by the will of God so that when we read it the Spirit of God can use it to teach us, and correct us, and train us in righteousness!  What a glorious gift!