2018 is almost upon us. The older I get the more that this sounds like a threat. Time passing is something that we wish for when we are younger and dread when we are older. As our kids grow we wish we could slow things down and hold on to precious hours. Time is an important commodity.
Perhaps you have never really given it thought, but time is the very first commodity that God gave to His creation. We have the creation of light and dark and the beginning and end of day 1. And so began creation. And so continued creation on a series of light and dark creating days and hours. And as the hours passed sin entered the picture, and with sin, death. And death has a tendency to remind us that the days and hours that we are given because of the penalty of sin is much shorter than was intended. Which is why we long for time.
May I encourage you as we approach 2018 to view your life and your time and all of your other resources as a small part of the larger story of what God is doing? When you focus here it does not make time go slower, but it does redeem the time and make it for the purpose for which God gave it to you. Your time is not really yours, it belongs to the God who created time itself. And as such you are indentured to use your time to His honor and glory. Think of time as a loan. God has given it to you for a short time so that you can invest it for His purposes. And when we think of time in the way that God intended we will rest in the fact that the time we have is purposeful and meaningful.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
How do we know what we know?
Do you know how many wise men there were? Of course we know this - it is in every nativity scene ever. There were three. In fact, they have names. And did you know that Jesus did not cry the night He was born. He was perfect after all. And did you know . . . Of course both of these things are absolutely false. We do not know how many wise men there were, we know how many gifts there were. And Jesus did make sounds when he was born. "No crying He makes. . . " is a farcical fancy of someone's imagination. If Jesus did not cry how would Mary know he was cold, or hungry or needed changed!
This begs the question, "How do I know what I know?" Many times we allow ourselves to know things without considering their source or authority. We do this every time we click on a headline that is fanciful and eye catching. When we believe a political pundit without fact checking we commit this problem. The bottom line is that we really ought to know why we know what we know. And the other major bottom line is this. If it does not come from Scripture, it is suspect.
Many take tradition as a source of knowledge, but tradition is insufficient and often leads to un-biblical practice. Many use experience as a source of knowledge, but simply because we experience something does not make it true. We live in a culture and time when truth is something that is hard to come by - which should drive us all the more the Scripture. There we have the promise from the faithful God Himself that "My Word is Truth". We turn to Jesus who was the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we hold most dear the truths that we know from Scripture.
So, how do you know what you know?
This begs the question, "How do I know what I know?" Many times we allow ourselves to know things without considering their source or authority. We do this every time we click on a headline that is fanciful and eye catching. When we believe a political pundit without fact checking we commit this problem. The bottom line is that we really ought to know why we know what we know. And the other major bottom line is this. If it does not come from Scripture, it is suspect.
Many take tradition as a source of knowledge, but tradition is insufficient and often leads to un-biblical practice. Many use experience as a source of knowledge, but simply because we experience something does not make it true. We live in a culture and time when truth is something that is hard to come by - which should drive us all the more the Scripture. There we have the promise from the faithful God Himself that "My Word is Truth". We turn to Jesus who was the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we hold most dear the truths that we know from Scripture.
So, how do you know what you know?
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Another Look at Jesus
Christmas is always a hard time for a pastor. Not in the sense you might be thinking, but in the sense of talking about a story that everyone thinks they already know and if you mess with it, they call you the Grinch! Not only that, but for a few weeks the expectation seems to be that every Sunday School Lesson, Sermon and Devotional that you do be connected in some way to the Christmas story. And if you have extra services around Christmas obviously those need to be connected too! Praise the Lord that the story does not change and the message is the same yesterday, today and forever. That does not make it any easier on us pastor's though (do you feel sorry for us yet?)
Perhaps you are like a pastor in this sense. You go through your Christmas routine year after year. You get the decorations down around the same time, put them up in the same place they were before. Shop for presents either early (like you always do) or at the last minute (like you always do). There is always people who compete to put up the prettiest and brightest decorations and people who frankly just do not care. Your family does not change, just gets older. Your fights with said family members do not change. The stress does not change. In the midst of all that we call Christmas do you wonder how to stay new and fresh and how to keep Christ at the center.
May I suggest that the answer to my dilemma and yours is the same - look at Jesus. Though He and His biography is changeless, the wealth of His story and its depth are inexhaustible. Perhaps that is what we need this Christmas season - more looking at Jesus and less at ourselves. And perhaps in the looking we will find the joy that is promised, the peace that passes understanding and a desire to tell the old, old story perhaps one more time!
Perhaps you are like a pastor in this sense. You go through your Christmas routine year after year. You get the decorations down around the same time, put them up in the same place they were before. Shop for presents either early (like you always do) or at the last minute (like you always do). There is always people who compete to put up the prettiest and brightest decorations and people who frankly just do not care. Your family does not change, just gets older. Your fights with said family members do not change. The stress does not change. In the midst of all that we call Christmas do you wonder how to stay new and fresh and how to keep Christ at the center.
May I suggest that the answer to my dilemma and yours is the same - look at Jesus. Though He and His biography is changeless, the wealth of His story and its depth are inexhaustible. Perhaps that is what we need this Christmas season - more looking at Jesus and less at ourselves. And perhaps in the looking we will find the joy that is promised, the peace that passes understanding and a desire to tell the old, old story perhaps one more time!
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