A New Year

 Each time that the calendar rolls over and an additional number is added to the running total, people seem to get somewhat sentimental.  I can in some ways appreciate that.  Each moment that passes we move toward something and for those without Christ there is not much that they are moving toward that is in any way good.  Each moment that passes we move away from something.  Sometimes we are glad to be moving forward and sometimes we wish we could stay.  So the passing of time is in a way not so much about addition, but about memory and hope.  

I wonder as we consider memory and hope if we have ours grounded in their proper source.  I also wonder if this is why the Scriptures give us commands like "do this in remembrance of me" and tells us that we can have hope in Christ Jesus.    The Bible constantly encourages us in our present to remember and to look forward, but the one constant in all of this is that we are not looking back or ahead based on our own experience but instead based on the revealed Word of God.

In this sense our memory is focused not on what we have accomplished, or what has occurred within our lifetime, but instead of the corporate memory shared by the body of Christ across the centuries.  We are to remember what has been done FOR US and IN US by Christ.  I believe that this will help inform our lives as we think back even on the past year - what if our focus was not what happened to us, but what Christ has done FOR US and IN US?

In this sense also our hope is shaped.  For we do not just remember what has come, but what is to come.  And in this we can hope in what will be accomplished THROUGH US.  What is God going to do to use us in the next year for His honor and glory.  And in these things there can be certainty and stability because God has promised that He will USE US for His purposes.  

So as this calendar year goes into the bygone and we look ahead at 2022, would you pray that God who has been FOR US and is IN US will work THROUGH Us and USE US for His glory?  Amen.

Christmas may not be what you think

 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."  Matthew 1:21 (NASB)

I think that sometimes Christmas is this time of year when we get so bothered by all of the busyness that when we see a peaceful manger scene we stop.  And we think.  But we usually think about the wrong things.  We think about how serene it was (it wasn't).  We think about how life changing that moment was (for most people on earth at that time it wasn't).  And for all of our thinking we miss the main point - Jesus had to come because of our sins.  

It is hard to think about ourselves during Christmas time.  At least it is hard in the context of our own sins.  We often think about ourselves when it comes to what our bonus should be, or what presents we are going to get.  But when God thought of us, He thought enough to send His Son to die for us to save us from our sins.  Christ came to save us.  Which means we need saving.  Which means that it His death that we celebrate and his resurrection.  His advent is simply the avenue He chose in order to accomplish His purpose of salvation - the cross.  And so we should celebrate His coming.  But not because of how pretty it was, but instead because of how grotesque our sins are that God had to send His one and only Son to live as one of us in order to die for us.  

Christmas is coming.  But it may not be what you think it is.  It is a reminder that we should have died.  It is a reminder of how dark our hearts are.  And we need the Light of Life in order to conquer our own dark deadness.  Praise God for Christmas.

Give Thanks

 The words of the song go, "Give thanks, with a grateful heart. . . "  I have often wondered about this repetition.  I mean after all, can I give thanks with any other way?  Is there any way to give thanks without having true gratitude?  

As I think about thanksgiving, I note that the words to the song are not the words of Scripture.  Of course we are called to have an attitude of gratitude and we are called to give thanks.  But the grateful heart is always assumed.  It is not a requirement for true thanksgiving, it is assumed.  In fact, the motivation and reasons for true thanksgiving are always given to us in Scripture - the character and nature of our God.  "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. . . "  We give thanks because of the character and nature of our God.  This is what steadies us as believers.  We are not giving thanks because we feel good.  We are not giving thanks because we like what is happening to us all the time.  We are not giving thanks because our God is constantly meeting our felt needs.  No, we give thanks because of the character of God.  And God does not change.  My heart needs only be aligned to the truth of who God is!  Give thanks.

Losses and Gains

 Paul says in Philippians 3:7, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." (NASB)

As I was reflecting on this verse and the verses that follow it (which I strongly encourage you to read) I thought about all of the things that Paul counted in the previous verses as loss.  His religious birth, his obedience to the law, his energy and vigor in following God, his own righteousness.  He counted all of these things as loss.  It was as if they counted against him rather than for him.  What could make such glorious things count against him rather than for him?  Only Christ Jesus.  And when compared with the work of Jesus Christ, these things that formerly he boasted in now are removed and all that is left for boasting is Jesus.  

I wonder in our lives if we take too much credit and count too much these things that when compared to Christ do not matter.  Do we talk about how much we give to the church?  How much time, how much money, how much service we give to the church as if our time and money and service can even compare to the sacrifice that Christ would make.  Do we talk about our Christian upbringing as if we have something to brag about compared to those who did not have it?  Do we think that we are better than others by virtue of any form of comparison?  All of these things fail when it comes to the work of Christ.

As I think about it, part of the problem is my attachment to a whole list of earthly things and often I fail to see the grandeur of what Christ has accomplished because I am not looking for grandeur, I am hoarding things that I should be counting loss.  Don't hoard losses.  Claim Christ's gains!

Being Established

 "Now to Him who is able to establish you. . ." Romans 16:25

Paul ends his book to the Romans with praise to God who is able to establish you.  This is an interesting way to speak to the body of Christ.  The word itself means to make more firm.  Kind of the idea of taking root and being firmly decided about a course of action.  What is interesting to me are the things that God says he will use.  

1. The gospel

2. The preaching of Jesus Christ

3. The revelation of the mystery revealed

4. The commandment of the eternal God

These things are not the things we might first think of, but when we are assured of these things, we can have hope because they are certain, and therefore we can be firm in our assurance that God is working for us.  

An Old Prayer

 I found this prayer in John Piper's book When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy.  It is a prayer from Anselm.   I thought I would share it with you.

"I pray, O God, that I may know You and love You, so that I may rejoice in You.  And if I cannot do so fully in this life may I progress gradually until it comes to fullness.  Let the knowledge of You grow in me here, and there [in heaven] be made complete;  let Your love grow in me here and there be made complete, so that here my joy may be great in hope and there be complete in reality.  Lord, by Your Son You command, or rather, counsel us to ask and You promise that we shall receive so that our 'joy may be complete.'  I ask, Lord, as You counsel through our admirable counsellor.  May I receive what You promise through Your truth so that my 'joy may be complete.'"

What a prayer! 

School is Starting

 School is starting again.  I used to dread this time when I was a student.  It was never that I hated school, I actually really enjoyed it, I just liked the freedom that summer provided more.  I think that for a lot of students that is a down-side to schooling - the lack of freedom.  And perhaps this year more than other parents are increasingly aware of a genuine lack of freedom that is growing in our school systems beyond the general lack of freedom whereas school is less free than my choices in summer.

This attack on freedom is happening on a number of fronts.  I will not here talk about masks or responses to Covid as these issues (though related to freedom) as these fail to compare to the real issue - a philosophical movement (teaching that human freedom to be whomever the individual thinks they are) is attacking freedom.  Interesting it is that in a desire to teach the freedom of individuals is actually restricting freedom.  It is restricting free speech.  They tried to make it much harder to speak religiously in the context of a public school, but if the religious speech is agnostic or atheistic and humanistic philosophy it is not only allowed but being promoted by students and by teachers and by administrators.  It is restricting freedom of belief as some belief systems are marginalized because of a perceived marginalization of groups in the past.  It is restricting a balanced look at history and instead rewriting and redefining history through the lens of the value system of the present culture.  It is in these ways and many more, restrictive.  So with this kind of attack, how do we as Christians respond?

1. Biblically.  We respond by holding fast the the truth of God's Word.  

2. Prayerfully.  We ask God to do what only God can do - change hearts and minds.

3. Trustfully.  We trust that God is on the throne and will bring about His purposes.  The way that things seem does not mean that they are as bad as we might think they are.

4. In True Freedom.  Understanding that true freedom is not freedom as our world or our country has defined it.  True freedom is the freedom to love our enemy and do good to those who would harm us.  True freedom is the freedom to act like Christ when the world is acting like the world.  True freedom is found in Jesus and in Jesus alone.  And so we preach and teach and hold fast to the Source of true freedom.  We cling to Jesus.  

In case you need a reminder - pray for the students and teachers who go to our schools who cling to the true freedom they have in Christ.  The school is becoming a place of increasing attack on Christians.  So pray that they would have courage and be equipped with the armor of God to stand firm against the attacks of the devil.