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 Happy Three Kings Day!!!! No, really, I'm not kidding. Just when you thought you could put it all away, at least until Easter, up comes another 'religious' holiday. Of course, if you are a member of one of the Orthodox Christian churches you are familiar with this celebration. I happen to work with a great number of people with Puerto Rican background; it was from them I first heard of this holiday.
On January 5, Puerto Rican children cut grass or greenery and put it in a box under their beds. The grass is (naturally) left for the camels. On January 6 they exchange small gifts and candies. Personally, I find it interesting that this tradition goes back much further than Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Three Kings Day, at least in their culture, is about the visit of the Magi, probably Persian priests, to the baby Jesus. (I'll bet you figured that out) Persia, currently called Iran, was 800 or 900 miles away; it wasn't exactly a weekend trip. The Magi probably had access to the writings of Daniel, who many years earlier served in the Persian courts, so they were familiar with the prophecies concerning the birth of this new king. Ok, so this is all well and good and entertaining, but what does this have to do with me, today? I'll tell you why this is important, at least to me; you can decide for yourself. They weren't Jewish. He technically wasn't their King. They didn't HAVE to bring gifts or bow or worship. Yet they did. They knew enough to know that He was going to impact everyone. Even that early in His life, they knew He had come for everyone, not to just a select few. Years later Jesus would spend His time breaking down those 'religious' walls and showing the world He loves us all. But that day He was still a child, less than three years old. He hadn't proven a thing, yet here were these foreign wise men who know enough to bring Him gifts, and more importantly, worship Him. Perhaps we should do the same. A couple of weeks ago we got all misty eye'd listening to Christmas carols and watching children unwrap presents. The decorations are put away (you HAVE put them away, right? I mean, it's been TWO WEEKS!), life has settled back into some sort of routine. Maybe it's time to stop and bring whatever you have to offer to Him. But even more important than the gifts, let's take some time to stop and simply worship Him. We, the kings of our world, should take this time and bow before the One who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. Happy Three Kings Day!
Shortly after my wife passed the Lord caused me to remember when I was a small boy in the swimming pool; a life guard asked why I was in the shallow end. "Can't you swim, Ronnie?" When I told him, "I sink" he said, "Let me help you." He put his arms under me and said, "Just lie back on my arms." As he lowered his arms and the water went past my ears, I panicked. He said, "Just trust me. Even though you won't feel my arms, they will be there."
Now I always remember Deuteronomy 33:27 — "The eternal GOD is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms." I cannot sink.
If you have a choice, then you must make a decision! God doesn't force you to do anything! Faith is accepting God's offer. You say to Him, "Okay, God, I believe You will be with me all the way through this day. Your hand will lead me. Your hand will hold me up. Whatever happens in this day, I will not lose hope."
Take the Wings of Faith and face your future with hope. l will not promise you that if you take the Wings of Faith you will not get hurt. I will not promise you that you will not suffer. I will not promise you riches, power or success! I will promise you that if you take the Wings of Faith, whatever today or tomorrow throws at you, you can handle it, you can rise above it, and you can remain strong.
Face every tomorrow with a faith that will encourage you. Faith is a choice. If you take the Wings of Faith, you will face eternity differently. You will soar through the tough times. That is God's promise to you. He will keep that promise if you will simply make that decision now and say, "Lord, give me the Wings of Faith today, and help me realize Your lifting power is beneath me." Dec. 2010
Many years ago Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be "...despised and rejected of men." Isaiah 53:3
Each one of us must answer the ancient question from Pilate, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called the Christ?" (Matthew 27:22). We cannot be neutral.
We either accept Him or reject Him.
A young man and his pregnant wife, nine months pregnant, traveling on
a dusty road to get to their home town because some crazy politician
decided he wanted a count of his subjects. They had to be miserable.
Nine months ago life must have been interesting — both of them
visited by angels and the promise of an amazing Child. But that was
then. It's nine months later and they are traveling. They have another
day's travel, and it's almost time. Today it's a dirty, uncomfortable
journey. They don't know about the angels that are going to visit the
shephards, or the wisemen, they don't know how this amazing Child is
going to change the world forever. Oh, you don't have to believe He
was who He said He was; you just can't possibly deny His life changed
this world. Right now its just an uncomfortable, dusty, miserable
journey.
I wonder — Somewhere in your past have you felt you had a REAL purpose? There was something you were going to DO? But now that has faded
into the past. Perhaps you are on a dirty, dusty, uncomfortable,
miserable road somewhere you didn't choose and you are just ready for
it to be over.
Oh, one other thing I should point out. When you do reach your
destination, there may not be room in the best hotels in town for you.
As a matter of fact, you may end up sleeping in the barn. But that
doesn't mean you aren't where God needs you to be. So let me make a suggestion. Keep going!
Oh sure, it's easy to say that to the couple 2,000 years ago. We
know how that story ends; we know what tomorrow holds for them, but
they didn't. But today, for you, keep going! One more step, one more day.
The story of you isn't finished.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers said, she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as if she were thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
And that is exactly why God sent His Son into the world. Jesus
came into the world not to give us a holiday, or just to celebrate His
birth, but to focus on the purpose for His coming. He came to free us
from the tangled web of sin, mend our broken hearts and shattered
dreams and allow us to start all over again as free people. That is
the purpose behind Christmas. Dec. 2010
Jesus is the Mender of broken things: broken plans, broken dreams, broken lives and broken hearts. He never fails to do this when
we present to Him the broken parts. He enters healingly into our heartaches and heartbreaks. He is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities.
Let me ask you, when the word 'Christmas' comes up, what is the first image that comes up? Don't go getting all religious on me just because of the context in which you are reading. Is it brightly lit trees? Beautiful Christmas music? Fresh snowfall? Colorfully wrapped presents? Lots of food? Maybe it's even Linus reading the Christmas story on the Charlie Brown Christmas special. We have a few weeks of treating each other nicer and being a bit more generous, but do we truly understand the meaning of Christmas? Perhaps we should review.
Of course, all who have attended church more than a year KNOW the Christmas story. The birth of Jesus, angels appearing to shepherds, wisemen following a star, no room in the inn.... but why? For that, we have to go all the way back to THE beginning.
Way back when, God created everything. Then He created us, and provided everything we needed to enjoy life, with Him visiting us whenever. He left us with only one command, "Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Naturally, we did anyway, and we learned (literally) a fatal discovery about good and evil; we discovered we weren't as good as God. Whereas before we were naked and unashamed to hang out with God and each other (Gen 2:25), afterward we saw we were different from each other (male and female) and different from God. We judged (the natural result of knowing some things are good and others evil) and felt the need to try and be 'better.' We covered our differences because we needed to be 'good enough', but in the end we separated ourselves from God.
For the next several thousand years we tried all sorts of ways to be good enough. Even worse, we tried to convince those around us that there were certain things they had to DO if they wanted to be with God. We continued to fail.
Then God did something amazing — He came to us, in a way we would have never judged to be good enough, not for God. He came and hung out with those we judge to be the worst of us. He lived a life that showed us what God looks like and what is important to Him. He completely shook a world that had decided it knew what 'good' looked like.
Then He did what only He could do, which was to create a way for us to hang out with Him again, without ever needing to try and be good enough.
This is what gets us back to Christmas. It is the beginning of God living amongst us, teaching and showing us that it isn't the knowledge of good and evil that gets us back to walking with God, but rather, just believing He is Who He says He is and that He did what He said He did.
So, let's get back to my opening question. Have we 'objectified' Christmas to the point where we have lost sight of the original intent? Let me be a bit more pointed. What will you focus on this year? When the Christmas productions are done, the tree taken down, the leftovers eaten, will you box up Christmas and store it away for another year? Will Christmas be just another 'object' in your life, or will you celebrate this amazing act that changed this world forever?
What is this government? What is this peace? Are you a warrior-to-be? Are you a king? What promise do you hold? How can you be the Mighty God while flecks of straw, blown from the stable floor, dot your hair? How can you be the Everlasting Father while not yet an hour old? How can you be a Wonderful Counselor before you've learned? A teacher before you have been taught?
You must be the One we've hoped for, longed for all our lives. The One who will set us free from our depressions and oppression, within and without. Little wonder angels cannot contain their Good News of Great Joy. Little wonder heavenly hosts sing in chorus, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men.
Be my peace, O Prince of Peace. Let its gentle, joyful blanket comfort my nervous soul, and still the warring on Your earth. Be my government, O Christ. Govern not my own heart only, but also this desperate world in which I live. Be my Everlasting Father and my Counselor. By Your counsel guide me out of confusion and turmoil into the sunlight that always shines above my low lying clouds. Welcome, Christ child. All my life I have needed You. O child of Promise, this morning I give to You my heart and the balance of my days. Dec. 2010
The boy looked at a picture of his dad dressed in his military uniform and said, "I would like for Daddy to step out of that picture and be home with us for Christmas!"
That's exactly what Jesus did two thousand years ago. He stepped forth from the images and mental pictures men had of God and showed the world what God is like:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) We must never do that with the Christ of Christmas. He is not a disposable. Jesus is with us always. He will never grow old or need to be replaced. What He brings to our lives is precious and satisfies our deepest longings and desires. The real Reason for the season is the real Reason in every season all year long. He must never be removed from our daily lives and living. 2 Cor. 1:3 (NIV) "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, SO THAT we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
We can choose to be down in the dumps and feel sorry for ourselves or we can reach out and encourage someone else with a nice card, or visit a shut-in or someone in the hospital who may be worse off than we are. When we reach out to others it’s amazing how our trouble seems to melt away and the peace of God floods our soul. I wonder how many of us come close to eliminating ourselves from fulfilling God's plans and purposes because we choose to focus on our problems rather than on God's greatness. We all have had many answers to prayer and we know that we serve a God who is good, all the time, but we continue to focus on our weaknesses and reasons why we can't do what God is asking of us. Always remember, God uses the flawed and impaired to show forth His power and His grace. Nov. 2010
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Inoperable brain tumor! The doctor's words hit me like a shotgun blast. The shock wave caused me to slide down the emergency room wall to a sitting position.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24
A recent decision by a Court of Appeals said that the government or the Baby Jesus must stay out of the Christmas Pageant of Peace
near the White House. Arthur Lamb, who is chairman of the week long event, said apparently Jesus will be the one to go. "A lot of
people are upset, but it looks like we have no other choice."
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