GOD HIMSELF WILL BE WITH THEM

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’”  (Revelation 21:3-5 NKJV)

Christmas is the promise that the God who came in history and comes daily in mystery will one day come again in glory. God is saying in Jesus that in the end everything will be all right. Nothing can harm you permanently, no suffering is irrevocable, no loss is lasting, no defeat is more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. Jesus did not deny the reality of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, frustration, and death; He simply stated that the Kingdom of God would conquer all of those horrors, that the Father’s love is so prodigal that no evil could possibly resist it. 

-- Brennan Manning in “Reflections of a Ragamuffin” 

#5762

BORN A SAVIOR

“Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.
Born Thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring.”
(Excerpted from “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” by Charles Wesley)

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2:11)

The whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr…  His birth and His death were but one continual act, and His Christmas-day and His Good Friday are but the evening and morning of the one and the same day. 

-- John Donne in his “Sermon of Christmas-Day, 1626”

#5761

THE HEART OF ABBA

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”  (Matthew 1:22-23)

Is there anyone in our midst who pretends to understand the awesome love in the heart of the Abba [Father] of Jesus that inspired, motivated, and brought about Christmas?...

God entered into our world not with the crushing impact of unbearable glory, but in the way of weakness, vulnerability, and need. On a wintry night in an obscure cave, the infant Jesus was a humble, naked, helpless God who allowed us to get close to Him. 

-- Brennan Manning in “Reflections for Ragamuffins”

#5760

THE WONDROUS GIFT

How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is given;
so God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him, still
the dear Christ enters in.  (From “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks)

This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ. 

-- Frank McKibben

#5759

NO ROOM IN THE INN

Five little words in the Gospel of Luke say it all: "No Room in the Inn."

There is a certain pathos in those words. "No room for You here." That was the beginning of the Master's life. That was the very first thing the world said to Jesus Christ, and that experience would plague Him the remainder of His days on this earth, and, indeed, even to this present moment. "No room! We're just too crowded! Sorry, we're full up! No vacancy! Try again some other time. No room for You here right now. So, if you'll please excuse me, I've got a million and one things to see about. It's too bad, but there's just no room!"…

Harry Emerson Fosdick once put it like this: "The crucial difficulty of Christ's life which denied Him the service He longed to render, closed to Him the hearts He longed to change and brought Him at last to Calvary...was something so simple, so familiar, so little recognized as a tragic evil -- so universal among us all, that one almost hesitates to name it -- inhospitality. No Room!"

Let's be honest now. Isn't that our problem? Yours and mine? We get so busy, so tired, so preoccupied with the incessant demands on our crowded lives that we shut out the very birth of the Master we so long to know…

Won't you let Him in this Christmas? Won't you offer Him your warmest hospitality? Won't you welcome Him into your life this year with open arms? Won't you receive Him into your life as never before? Won't you make room for Him? 

-- Rev. Dr. James W. Moore 

#5758

A RENEWED APPRECIATION

“So it was, that while [Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem], the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger…”  (Luke 2:6-7a)

Each year when the holidays rush in, I feel like peace and joy lag a little behind schedule. Like a mirage, I see these wonders of Christmas shimmering in the distance, but I cannot quite reach them.

In this season, more than any other, busyness and distractions abound. With all the decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, and mailing…well, it is hard for me to be still and quiet. When I do find a moment, my thoughts easily wander from the Christmas story to the troubles of our world.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is persistent with me. He keeps encouraging me to be mindful of Christmas and not let it slip away before pondering its celebration. So yesterday afternoon, as the snowflakes flew and the temperatures plummeted outside, I sat still next to the window and read once again about the Christmas miracle.

New wonders and knowledge come to mind every time I read Bible verses about the birth of Christ and the love He brings our world. My appreciation for the care we receive from our Heavenly Father is renewed. God’s peace and joy rise up through His Word and His presence. It’s never too late to usher in God’s peace and joy found in the true meaning of Christmas. 

-- Jamie Trunnel, from the blog “A Scriptured Life: Making sense of life through Scripture”

#5757

CHRIST IS OUR PEACE

“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ. For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.”  (Ephesians 2:13-14 NLT)

In French you say it "paix."

In Spanish you say it "paz."

In Norwegian you say it "fred."

In Hungarian you say it "beke."

At work you say it in a job well done.

At home you say it with smiles and affection.

At church you say it in the words of the tax collector, "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13, NKJV).

With enemies you say it in forgiveness.

With loved ones you also say it in forgiveness.

In your heart, you say it by surrender of all to Jesus Christ.

-- Mike and Amy Nappa in “A Heart Like His”

#5756

THE SOURCE OF OUR PEACE

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom He favors!”  (Luke 2:14)

People try to find happiness, joy and gladness in people, places and things and sooner or later discover that only God is the true source of such inner peace. Counterfeit claims of the path to peace abound. People attempt to fill that "God-shaped-void" with alcohol, drugs, people, power and all kinds of imaginable trinkets but nothing outside the love of God is lasting or even real. They might offer a temporary fix but the long-term solution is acceptance of a loving and caring Jesus – the Prince of Peace. 

-- Adapted from Pastor Gary Stone 

#5755

JOY IN THE DARKNESS

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,…”  (Galatians 5:22a)

Joy and peace come into our lives when we mind more about God than we do about ourselves, when we realize what the things that matter really are.  The Spirit clears up our problems about what we want or ought to be at, simplifies us and throw us back again and again on the deep and peaceful action of God.  Then, whether God speeds us up or slows us down, accepts our notions or sets them aside, gives us what we want or takes it away, gives us a useful job of work or puts us on the shelf, that serenity that is a fruit of the Spirit, a sign of God's secret support, does not fail us…

The point for us is that selfless joy has got to go on at times when we ourselves are in the dark, obsessed by the sorrow of life, so that we feel no joy because we cannot gaze at the beauty.  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not of our gratified emotions. "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." (Psalm 30:5b)

-- Adapted from “The Soul's Delight” by Evelyn Underhill

#5754

JOYFUL ADORATION

“Joyful, joyful, we adore You,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow'rs before You,
Op'ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!”  (Henry Van Dyke)

God desires that our relationship with Him isn’t lived out of a sense of duty as much as a sense of joyful devotion. In other words, God longs for us to long for Him. In the beauty of His presence, we can’t help but find our affections set on God, our hearts captivated by His love. Caught up in the delight of God, powerful feelings of joy and gratitude swell within us and our natural response is worship -- words of thanks that roll off the tongue, songs of adoration that spring from the heart, or some other creative form of joyful praise. When we give back to God, the One who has gifted us with all good things, we reflect His beauty. 

-- Adapted from “Pursuing God’s Beauty” by Margaret Feinberg

#5753

PROMISED JOY

Jesus said, "I've loved you the way My Father has loved Me. Make yourselves at home in My love… I've told you these things for a purpose: that My joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature." (John 15:9,11 The Message)

Joy is promised to me. Do I have it? If my relationship with Christ is right, I do.

To me, joy is perfected in the full belief in the total sovereignty of God. Doubt dilutes joy.

For five years I… have attended a church that gave me one great blessing -- a firm belief in the sovereignty of God. I now totally believe that God doesn't need me, He loves me; and I don't work for Him to earn His love, I work for Him as a result of His love. He lets me work in order to mature me. That brings joy. 

-- Fred Smith, consulting editor of “Leadership” 

#5752

JOY IN CHRIST

The Apostle Paul reminds us that joy is at the center of the Christian's life… Writing from a Roman prison, a difficult circumstance that would cause most people to lose hope, Paul writes to the Christians in the church in Philippi, "REJOICE in the Lord always. I shall say it again: REJOICE!" (Philippians 4:4) Roman prisons were dark, dank places of death. Most prisoners died there. Yet, Paul found joy in his imprisonment.

In fact, in a letter from prison to the Philippians, rather than writing of his suffering and worries, Paul mentions his "joy in Christ" more than twelve times in just four chapters. That is worth hearing: Even in the most difficult times in your life, you can rely upon the deep, abiding joy that comes from Jesus Christ. The world and your circumstances may press in and seek to crush you, but a relationship with Jesus will grow a joy in you that cannot be squelched. 

-- Allen R. Hunt in “Nine Words”

#5751

STOP AND CONSIDER

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13 NLT)

One of the more puzzling and abnormal aspects of the Christmas season, at least to me, is that people seem to be over scheduled. Just try to put together a meeting or work on a project in December, and people have a ready response: “I’m just swamped getting ready for Christmas,” they say. “Let’s do that after the holidays.” I hear this from people who are church members as well as from people who are not. Apparently, Christmas is an equal opportunity exhauster.

Maybe people feel that way because we have not collectively done Advent well. Advent is supposed to be a time of waiting, reflection, and penitence. It is a time for us to sort through what is most important as we prepare for the coming of Christ. Rather than rushing around, Advent calls us to stop and consider who we are and what we are to be about. 

-- Robert Kaylor in “Come to the Manger” 

#5750

BEING LOVED BY GOD

“God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love -- not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”  (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. 

-- Timothy Keller in “The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God”

#5749

GOD’S WIDE EMBRACE

“God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus,
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.”  (Bill and Gloria Gaither)

God, in Christ, embraces all the events and all the people who ever will pass before Him in the march of time. In that broad panorama, individual Christians may often feel so insignificant that they wonder to themselves whether or not even the most powerful microscope could find them! At those moments we need to rediscover the truth that God entered human history in the person of Jesus Christ in order to tie the poor threads of our scrap of time back into eternity. God's wide embrace includes you and me, for it was the lost of this world that God sent Jesus so that we and our moment of history's stage might be redeemed. You are locked into the embrace of God, an embrace that will never fail. In Jesus Christ, God said, "I love you. You are Mine." 

-- Paul K. Peterson in “Redeeming Love”

#5748

LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love Incarnate, Love Divine,
Worship we our Jesus,
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.  (Christina Rossetti)

Love is a gift God gives to us in infinite measure so that our hearts can enjoy an endless supply. Let's tap into it. Let's lavish it on others. Let's fill our words and define our actions with it, and as we do, our hearts will reap God's abundance. Love will always find its purest expression through words and deeds -- as our heavenly Father exemplified through His gift of Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV) He loved us completely and expressed it openly. Let's openly share the gift of His Son with others. 

-- Author Unknown

#5747

STAR TIME

Every year, when we put the nativity scene on the fireplace mantel, we hang a star above it on the wall.  This year, I had to move the clock from that location before I could hang the star.  I probably look at that clock a hundred times a day.  What time is it?  Is it time for the older kids to catch the school bus?  Is it time to take the youngest one to school?  How much time do I have to get something done?  Should the children be home soon?  Is it time to get the youngest?  What about those after-school activities?  Is it time to go?  How much time before my husband gets home?  Is it time to start dinner?  Go to sports practice?  Send the kids to bed?  Fall into bed myself?  What time is it? 

The first few days after I moved the clock, I instinctively looked to the usual place on the wall, only to find not a clock, but a star.  I was frustrated at first.  After all, what I really wanted to know was what time it was, not the location of an unusually placed star.  Then I slowly began to see an Advent message in the situation.  Two thousand years ago, God used a star to tell the world what time it is.  It is the time for hope.  It is the time for a new relationship with God, no longer barred by unforgiven sin.  It is the time for Christ, our Savior, who will someday come again!  That is what time it is. 

-- Anne Inkster Culver 

#5746

ADVENT HOPE SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE – Part 2

“The angel answered Mary, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.’ Mary answered, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.’” (Luke 1:35-38)

So often I stand on the edge of the light, afraid to act, afraid that this story is too good to be true. But then in my better moments, when I listen closely to The Story, move close to The Light, my fears seem to evaporate like an early morning mist, and I can believe again. I can believe that God who made all that is became clothed in our human flesh so that we might become clothed in God. I can believe that God claims me as a beloved child. I can believe that all my days are in God’s strong and tender hands. I can believe that life is good, beautiful, and eternal. I can believe that not only my days but all days are in God’s good and able hands. I can believe, rejoice, and wait trustingly and expectantly for the unfolding of God’s promise given in so many ways and most clearly in the Advent Story. Thanks be to God!...

God gives the promise and God keeps the promise. So even though it does sound too good to be true, it is true! Thanks be to God it is true! Two thousand years of Christian experience and testimony declare that the preposterous promise is true. 

-- Rueben P. Job in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#5745

ADVENT HOPE SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE – Part 1

“Remember Your word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my distress, that Your promise gives me life.”  (Psalm 119:49-50)

“If it sounds too good to be true, it is.” We have all heard this with the warning about scam artists that are waiting to take our money and our property. And it is true that there are those who prey on the naïve, the trusting, and the innocent. Most of us can remember hearing about that seductive bargain that turned out to be a disaster. We have seen it happen and have promised ourselves it will never happen to us.

Because we see such deception in our world, it is not unusual that we guard ourselves against the truth of the gospel story. We are afraid that it is indeed too good to be true. What if we believed and then found out it was only myth and hype? Better to keep our distance. We listen to the gospel story, let it creep into the edges of our lives, but never can bring ourselves to embrace it fully. What if it is just another cheap commercial trick that has nothing to do with our need or destiny and everything to do with the storyteller’s need and fortune? Since it is better to be wise than to be a fool, we stand near the edge of the Advent story and keep all of our options open.

So often I stand on the edge of the light, afraid to act, afraid that this story is too good to be true. But then in my better moments, when I listen closely to The Story, move close to The Light, my fears seem to evaporate like an early morning mist, and I can believe again. 

-- Rueben P. Job in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#5744

WHERE IS OUR HOPE PLACED?

Have you ever noticed how disappointing placing your faith in human beings can be?  I confess that through the course of my life I have caught myself wrapping my hopes in various professional athletic teams.

When I attended Dallas Seminary, I got caught up in the Dallas Cowboys.  I attended their Tuesday luncheons.  I read every sports page about what was happening with the team.  I knew everything about every player.  I lived and died with the team.

Once they were in a crucial play-off game and, for some reason, the stadium hadn't sold out.  When that happens, the game is not telecast in the city.  Believe it or not, my long-suffering wife and I drove to Oklahoma and checked into a motel so we could watch the game from there.  That's how committed I was!

But it got worse.  In the early days of our family, I took my turn at cradling our small children.  [My wife] finally made me quit holding them during football games because a couple of times I almost used them to throw a touchdown pass.  I was really that wrapped up in the Cowboys!  I followed them all the way to the summit… and then they lost!  I was deeply depressed.  Finally, of course, they won it all.  But you know what?  Their victory left me surprisingly empty.  I was glad they won, but… what now?

It's so easy to get wrapped up in things that can never truly reward our fondest hopes.  Of course, I'm not for a moment suggesting that we shouldn't put our hope and trust in one another, that we should not bond strongly with our families.  But there is a hope beyond that -- and more important than that!  That is the hope we place in the eternal God through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

-- David Jeremiah in “Jesus' Final Warning” 

#5743