A New Year Dawns

 Each year ends.  The calendar marches closer and closer to December 31.  The clock on December 31 draws closer and closer to midnight.  Time just keeps moving and we continue to draw closer to every deadline we face.  We never move further from a deadline - unless it is a deadline already failed.  During the ending, we anticipate the beginning.  This pattern of ending and beginning is in one sense one we were prepared for.  There was evening and morning day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, and even on day seven.  We were prepared for the ending of one day and the beginning of another.  But each of these were meant to be enjoyed with perfect harmony with each other, with God, and with the creation in which man and woman lived.

In another very different sense, this pattern reminds us of something that is out of the pattern of what God intended for us.  A day ending is not really all that disheartening, a week ending either - we know tomorrow is another day and next week is another week.  What we do have to consider now, this side of sin, is that we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  We are not guaranteed next week, and each year that passes draws us that much closer to the life expectancy that we are steadily approaching.  Like each year, we too will die.  And this definite end is concerning to us.  

And yet we seldom take time to consider it.  We know that it is coming.  We know that we have limited time to use and yet we use it so poorly.  Would you stop today and consider that a years end is a reminder of a life's end and that your life's end approaches?  In point of fact, you do not know if you will make it to see the year's end.  So what will you do with your time today?  May I suggest that you first ensure that you are at peace with your Creator - the One who created you for more than anticipating your end and has made it possible for you to live without end through the work of His Son Jesus Christ?  He died for you so that you could live eternally.  So that when your time on this earth ends that you would live in His presence for ever more.  A glorious thought that is worth consideration in this moment.  And the next.  And the one that follows.  Tick.  Tock.  

A proper order of things

 We had our annual children's Christmas play last Sunday.  This year's story focused on the shepherds out in their field.  As I was reading through this text, I noticed something interesting in a very familiar part of the story.  The angels say in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (NASB)

What I noticed is the order.  The angels are announcing to the shepherds that a Savior has been born to them, but notice the order when the angel choir sings:

    1. Glory to God - the angels begin by singing that God is honored and glorified in the work of God to bring the Savior.  So often we make ourselves the center of the Christmas story - we say things that sound an awful lot like Jesus came to earth to save us.  In a sense that is true, but that sense is secondary to His primary purpose - He came to glorify the Father.  He came to bring glory to the triune God.  It is interesting how often the Scriptures talk about this, but so often we forget.

    2. Peace among men - on earth there is to be something accomplished too - namely that men would be at peace with each other - this only happens through the work of God in Christ.  But this is not primary.  It is secondary to the glory of God.  This one cannot happen without the former.  

I wonder what would happen if we got our order correct too - that is that we placed the glory of God in our lives first and then what benefit we received.  We would be doing things far more biblically and we would be living our lives in the way that God intended us to live.  May God help us to live for His glory!

Don't fall for the traps

 Christmas time is here.  I want to remind us of a few traps that sometimes we can fall into when this time arrives.  It would be better for us to avoid these traps and counter them with the solid path that God lays out for us in His Word.

Trap 1 - the trap of all that glitters.

This trap tends to draw us in and make us think that we do not have enough.  It makes us think that we need more.  The commercials remind us of how much we wanted that new car, or new computer, or new . . .Our neighbors remind us because we see these things in their drive way and through their windows.  We want more.  The way to counter this trap is a simple word, but a hard concept - contentment.  We need to recognize that we have all that we need in Christ and it is already provided for us and given to us.

Trap 2 - the trap of a schedule that is full.

This time of year seems more and more busy each year.  There are holiday parties to go to and to host.  There are work parties and family parties.  There are Christmas concerts and holiday shopping and it never seems like there is enough time in the day to get it all done.  Sometimes this trap is harder to avoid, but the secret is to prioritize.  Don't make a list of all things you have to do and order those - instead prioritize reminders of Christ - the real reason for the season.  

Trap 3 - the trap of an incomplete focus.

 This trap is very subtle.  We put out our manger scenes for décor, we go to church and we think that we are serving Christ even more this time of year because it is His holiday after all.  The solution is to focus on Christ YEAR ROUND, and not just in these moments.  Yes, we are celebrating His birth, but He is to be celebrated each moment of each day for all that He has done for us.

So this year, avoid these traps and serve our Savior, come to earth to make us new!

Busy, O So Busy

 I wonder sometimes how often we stop and take time to actually think about what we are doing and the priority of what we are doing.  Often times, especially around the holidays, we get so very busy.  We have extra parties to attend and maybe even plan.  We have extra shopping to do.  Then there is the decorating, the food preparation, the school projects.   And in all of this everyone else seems to be busy too, so the stores we are shopping at seem extra packed.  The supplies for the cooking is limited because everyone else is making the same things we are.  And it all adds up to a lot of stress.  

What tends to happen when we get busy is that we start to let go some of the things that we deem are not as important.  This is a good thing to do to avoid stress.  But I am afraid that too often we let the things go that are actually the most important.  For instance, if I have to choose between planning the party or reading my Bible what will I most likely choose?  What about if I have to choose between prayer or doing the extra shopping?  What about if I have to choose between taking a moment to talk to my neighbor over making that extra batch of cookies, which will I choose?  In each of these cases the things listed first are commanded by God and essential for our lives as believers.  The latter is always pressing but not commanded and not essential for our well-being.  But which do we tend to prioritize?  I think I could make this case with numerous examples.  We choose the extracurriculars over church because we paid for them.  We choose family gatherings rather than church gatherings because we feel more obligated to them.  And we choose the celebrations over the reason that we celebrate far too often.  

So this year - commit to yourself that you will strive to prioritize the things that really matter.  And remember that if you bake less cookies, have one less party that you go to, or even buy less presents, your life will be just fine by December 26.  I wonder the impact though of neglecting the Word of God, omitting your conversation with God, and setting aside the people of God.  I wonder?

Thanksgiving

 Sometimes we define our lives by the things that are coming up.  It hits the end of October and the beginning of November and I tend to start thinking about Thanksgiving.  Each year I am reminded of how sad it is that we need a reminder to be thankful.  We (Christians) of all people should be thankful because our God commands it.  We are to give thanks in everything.  We are to give thanks for our blessings.  We are to give thanks even when facing hardship.  We are to be a thankful and grateful people.  And so I thought I would just share some of the things for which I am thankful to God.

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful for my home.  My blankets.  My bed.  My pillows.  

I am thankful for the grace of God extended to sinners. 

I am thankful for the patience of my God, my wife, my parents, my children, my church, my deacons.  

I am thankful for the people I get to serve my Savior alongside.

I am thankful for those who take the time to tell me how the Word of God has impacted them.

I am thankful for those who serve and have served my children in various ministries as they are growing up.

I am thankful for my wife and her tireless work to train our children.

I am thankful for my in-laws and their willingness to accept me into their family.  

I am thankful for the Word of God and that it never fails.  

I am thankful for the chance to proclaim the Word of God each Sunday.

I wonder. . . what are you thankful for today?

The Goodness of God

 "God is so good.  God is so good.  God is so good, He's so good to me."  These are the words of a song from a decade or two or three ago.  They are a statement of fact.  Have you ever considered how the absence of absolute truth has impacted your life?  Allow me to demonstrate what I mean.  Is the fact that God is good absolute?  I think that most of us who believe in Christ Jesus and understand the Scriptures would say that God is good all the time.  And yet our experience of this objective reality tends to emphasize the subjective rather than the objective.  We do not always feel as though God is good because our circumstances sometimes are hard and painful and we have a harder time saying that God is good in the midst of the pain.  

So which is the foundation for our belief?  The objective reality or the subjective experience of life?  Far too often we emphasize the latter and we ignore the objective reality.  Instead we ought to look to God and His Word to define our objective reality and conform our feelings to that which is true instead of conforming our beliefs to that which we feel.  

Definitions

 I read an article recently that quoted a sermon from Andy Stanley in which he essentially said that Jesus did not draw lines but inclusive circles and that it was his goal to do the same as a church.  Now about the specifics of the argument that he was making I will for the purposes of this blog remain silent.  However I want to point out something with regards to this type of thinking that is flat out wrong.  

The thinking goes, Jesus was all welcoming - he did not cause trouble and he welcomed everybody.  He did not draw lines, he drew circles.  The problem with this thinking is at least two-fold:

1. It begins with the subject and not objective truth.  It is as if Jesus is drawing large circles around an individual to include them in the kingdom of God.  "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me."  This is not a circle that begins with me and is large enough to include many.  It is a circle that has a center.  That center is the object by which the circle is defined.  A circle with no center is not a circle.  

2. It forgets that a circle has a radius.  Not only must the center be defined, but there is a distance at which the circle ends.  This radius starts from the center and radiates out so that each part of the circle is clearly defined.  You are in the circle or outside the circle based on the radius.  Therefore the objective center is not only critical, but the distance allowed between the center that defines the circle and being far enough outside the radius that you are no longer in the circle.  

So if we think in terms of circles, I think we are still ok - so long as we define our circles properly.  There is a certain freedom we have to be in different places, but if we have a different center or we are outside of what the radius is, we are no longer a part of the circle.  A circle, like many other illustrations, sounds good and all inclusive, but in order to be all inclusive we either have to make the radius so large that it is essentially meaningless or we have to abdicate the center.  I am willing to do neither.  Therefore I will gladly say that the offer of the gospel is for everyone.  But to belong to the circle of those who are children of God by the Bible is quite clear about both the center and the radius.