Month: December 2018

Christmas has just passed and the New Year is coming up. It is a week of festive holidays and of hope and good cheer. That is, if you are in a good and happy place. If you are not, it can be a time of reflection on what went wrong in your life this past year.

For me, while it has been quiet, I am still very happy. There have been many years when the same could not be said.

I noted to myself this morning that my days are very regimented. I have to get up and do this and that each and every day. It is for my health, both physical and spiritual, that these tasks are to be done. I was a tad wistful for the days prior to fall 2017, when I didn’t have such a strict day planned out.

Then, I gave some thought to what I used to do. The things that I filled my days with. While I didn’t have to do the same thing each day, the things that I did had no real meaning. No one was helped by my work, not even me. There was certainly no glory to God being given. They were tasks that the world might admire but nothing, apart from watching my grandchildren, that could give me any measure of satisfaction of a job well done or for a good reason.

Having realized that, I also realized that I would never want to go back to that life. Even if I could walk around freely, without oxygen supplements or the pain that I am currently experiencing (though I must admit I could do without the pain, Lord.)

There were so many other years when so little was done. I did raise my children and that was a good thing. But other than that, in an eternal view, nothing was done.

There are many other Christians who live their lives as I did. We so easily forget that we are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. We are supposed to be the light that shows Christ to the fallen rather than to join in their endless quest for happiness, celebrity, or whatever it takes to fill their emptiness.

How can we show Christ when we are busy reflecting the world back to those who might otherwise be seeking him? I’ve seen this on social media recently. I was shocked to see someone refer to Christmas Eve service at our church as a “magical evening”. Say what, thought I? Magical? As in magicians and sorcerers? I’m sure that was not when the person meant but it is certainly what they said.

That is being of the world – using their language and their thoughts and actions. We need to stop this type of behavior and seek God to find out how he wishes us to speak and behave in these public forums.

Without question, quoting from the Word of God, the Bible, is one way of showing Christ to the world. He is the Word. When he was tempted by the devil, he responded by quoting scripture. Thus, he set a precedent for us to follow. When we don’t know what to say, use his words. They will always be correct and good and true.

They may not be popular, though, and that is something that will be difficult for many to willingly accept. So much of social media is based on friends and followers, likes and the such. Taking a stance for God will certainly cost you in terms of these metrics. However, you need to weigh that loss with the gain you will receive in heaven.

God is watching and he knows what is in our hearts and our minds. Be ever vigilant and know that he can return at any moment – either for his church or for any individual. With that mindset, always be thinking of how to show the gift of salvation to others. Also, show them how Christ-followers live.

While we are sinners still, we are trying to live like Jesus. We fall and get back up with his help. He is willing to forgive whenever we sin and come to him with true repentance.

Also, accepting Jesus is not some sort of get of jail free card. It is not something to check off on a list and then go off on your merry way. The thing about salvation is that you must truly repent of your sins. If you think that some of your behavior isn’t sinful and that you can continue in it, well, chances are that you didn’t sincerely accept the gift of salvation. I can’t say for sure. I don’t know what is in your heart and mind but God does.

You show your true repentance by changing your life. You put aside your sinful behavior. Sure, you will fail from time to time. But each time, you go back to the source of forgiveness and ask for his help. He will provide it. Slowly but surely, you will begin to live more like Jesus.

Jesus is your one true friend. The one who was willing to die for you even at your worst moment. So, if you are put in a position, being in the world, where you have to make a choice or take a position, think about it. Whose opinion really matters? The “friends” and “followers” on social media or the one that is your true friend; the one you should follow?

Make the right choice and show the world what it truly means to be a Christ-follower. Let them stand in wonder about how you are different from others. They just may come and ask how you can take the stands that you do and what you have that makes you stand out as different from the others. That is our purpose – to be a light, a type of beacon, like a lighthouse. The light of Jesus should shine out from us drawing others to his safe haven.

John 18-22

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

For many, this is a wonderful time of the year. For others, it simply has no meaning. For a few, it is a time of sadness, loss, depression or other forms of hardship.

While we are celebrating the birth of our Savior and King, there are those who continue to question his very existence. They say, if he really lived, then why did he leave you to fight for yourself instead of becoming the conquering king that you speak of.

First of all, by historical records, he did exist. He was recorded about in diaries of those who were historians of the time.

The next question becomes that which the Christian faith is built upon. You see, the Israelites of his time were waiting for the conquering king. They wanted a human Messiah who would come and break the bondage they were under with the Romans. Throughout their history, they would say the Messiah is the one who would save them from their current dilemma. They didn’t look to see that what they needed was someone to save them from sin.

Sin is what really holds us in bondage. In accepting Satan’s way by sinning, we became enemies of God. We, like Satan, wanted to challenge God for his place. We, like Satan, were doomed in this confrontation because God is God and there is none like him. He created us and in doing so, we were his creation not his equal.

Think about it. If you made something and it came to life and then told you that it would take your place, what would you do? You would have to cut off communication, power, fuel and assistance and let it fend for itself. It would quickly run amok because it would have lost that which provided its life in the first place.

That is where we are today. We are fending for ourselves. We can live day in and day out but over time, we fall apart and die. At the end of it all, when our measure is taken, what will our lives have meant?

Before I met Jesus, my life was meaningless. I spent my time doing what I wanted when I wanted. Sometimes, I did good but only if it was something in my own interest. Even when I did something that could be viewed as altruistic, at the end of the day, it was in my interest even if it was just to make me feel happy and superior to those who didn’t spend their time like I did.

After I met Jesus, I learned about self-sacrifice. I learned that there was someone who had lived his entire life to serve others. He came to show us how to be a servant both to God and to other people. He showed us the meaning of true love which is in putting others above yourself. That kind of love can only come from God. We are so self-centered, our type of love comes from love of and for ourselves.

God, on the other hand, loved us so much he was willing to send his son to become one of us. He was born like we are and in the most humble of places. Born to a young couple who didn’t even have a real roof over their head at the time he was born.

When, in the fullness of time, that boy grew up and came to preach the good news of God’s salvation, he taught us to serve God and one another. His words were new and his concepts were ones that no one had ever heard before. It was a difficult concept to grasp even for his followers who witnessed his miracles firsthand. They, as other Israelites, were still looking for the conquering Messiah to save them from the situation of their life.

Jesus came to do that but at a much more fundamental level. Before saving the world from the catastrophe which we were creating, he had to provide a way for us to reconnect with our creator. Sin was in the way and he was the sacrifice that would allow our spiritual beings to be reborn and reconnect with God. Little did we understand that by his sacrifice and resurrection, he was the conquering King. Instead of an earthly ruler, he conquered sin and death for everyone.

Before doing so, he also taught us how to live like him. He knew that no human on their own could do so, otherwise why would God have to become a man and die for us? Still, he wanted us to see the real way so that when trials come upin our lives, we can look to his life and to his words and see our answers and the path we need to follow.

He is still the conquering Messiah and one day he will be returning for us to lay claim to the kingdom he has already won. At that time, he will certainly vanish the evil that exists here and a new heaven and a new earth will take the place of this fallen and sinful place. In his mercy, God is waiting and allowing as many as can be saved to be saved before the last day.

If you are a follower of his, you will be saved. If you are not, you will not be saved. There is no gray area, no fudging or hedging on this one. Jesus even states that in that day, there will be those who say, Lord, I did this and that in your name. He will say, depart, I never knew you. He can see into our hearts and know if we have really accepted his sacrifice.

So, at this time of year, when we celebrate his first coming as a baby in a manger, look forward in time and understand that his second coming could be at any time. Also, no one is promised their next breath, so your time on this earth is moment by moment. Our time of judgement is coming upon us, one way or the other.

Are you prepared to meet God? Have you been reborn in your spirit to know him? If not, you will be among those who never knew him. That is a fate that I don’t wish for anyone. Not even the worst of the worst. There can always been redemption as long as you are alive. You will still have to bow to man’s law if you have broken a law. God can forgive anything except for one thing. He can’t forgive you for not having accepted Jesus as your sacrifice and pardon. When you meet God, please do so with Jesus as your King having accepted his servant’s life and his sacrifice.

Isaiah 9:6-7

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

We all seem to be striving to be perfect. Perhaps, not each of us in the same way. But there is a need within us to be shown to be the best that there can be at something. I wonder where this need springs from? Certainly, not from God. God is perfect and we are not. That is a given and the reason we all need a savior.

So, if not God, then from whom? There can only be one real answer. The author of this strive for perfection can only be Satan. If something is not good and of God, then it is necessarily evil and of Satan.

It goes back to the original sin. Eve and Adam wanted to be like God. They wanted to be perfect. What is bizarre is, that at that time, they were perfect. They were part of the perfect creation of the universe by Jesus.

Still, they wanted something more. They didn’t just want to be perfect. They wanted to be equal to their own creator. They didn’t want to bow down to the Lord as their master.

So, they broke the one rule in their effort to reach that higher level. In doing so, they lost their ability to communicate and bow down before the creator. Instead, they found a new master. Satan became their ruler. Frankly, instead of stepping further up, they stepped much further down. Satan, himself, was a creation of God. So, instead of bowing to the perfection of their creator, they were bowing down to a fallen, broken and evil created being.

So, to this day, each of us and mankind in general, still strive to be perfect. We try to fix all the ills of this world. We look to find cures. We try to figure out how to get ourselves out of the mess we are in. Nothing ever truly works. What disease have we cured? Is the earth covered in peace? Has hunger, abuse, or any other evil thing been eradicated by man by himself?

This need to be perfect and fix ourselves is true of mankind in general but also of each of us. Day in and day out, we look at the mess of our lives. We try to think what we can do to make it all better.

Perhaps a new job? A new set of clothes? A fancy pair of shoes? A new diet? A new spouse? A new sexual identity? No matter what we try, we are doomed to failure. Man is not a perfect being. Something that is imperfect can never create perfection. It simply isn’t possible. Our flaws will work into everything we touch, everything we create, even the things that we say.

In this search for perfection, we will do all sorts of things. I have been guilty of this, as we all have been. I used to think that if I worked harder, I would be best at the job. So, I worked longer hours.

The result was, my bosses then expected that kind of work on an on-going thing. My work week went from 40 to 60 to even more hours. My reviews didn’t improve. I didn’t attain perfection. If anything, I made it more difficult to have a good and well-balanced life.

My husband got used to the extra salary I made and, as his job was based on how much he did, he started working less hard and spending more time talking. He admitted as much to me. Once, I realized the futility of it all, between work expectations and the need for my salary at home, my life became an unending spiral of overwork.

So the majority of my time was spent away from my family – my husband and my children. Because of this attitude of lack of time and attention, my marriage fell apart. There were other things, too, that factored in. But if you look at the heart of the issue, my spending too much time working on things that didn’t matter cost me in terms of things that mattered so much more.

When the company I worked for was purchased by a Fortune 500 company, I was able to successfully step back from the precipice I was on and to spend much more time with my children. Unfortunately, it was about a year to late to salvage my marriage.

But God is good and about a year later, he brought my second husband and me together.

Funny thing is, we had worked together for seven years by this time. We started at the company the same week, if not the same day. What I recall most about him is that during first week, at a company function, he took the last chicken salad sandwich and left me with tuna. I like tuna, but didn’t want to deal with fishy, onion breath. So, let’s just say he made a big, fat, not great impression on me.

It got even better (and I do mean this sarcastically.) He would come to my office and ask for employee pricing on the software we developed. He would ask for permission to do things. I worked in the Legal department and we were there to answer those questions. The thing is, no one else ever asked. They just took stuff and expected us to look the other way.

I jokingly called him a boy scout and later found out that, indeed, he had been a boy scout. While I was frustrated with his questions, I took on the tasks to find or create answers. Let’s say, it involved a lot of extra work at a time when I was working those 60+ hour weeks.

I never could remember engineers names though I dealt with them frequently. His name I remembered because of the work. I thought about hiding whenever he wandered into our office space but I could not bring myself to do it.

Years later, when I was single, I remembered his honesty. Even though I had determined to stay single until my children were grown, God had a different idea. And it involved that obnoxious, cute, and honest engineer.

Still, our relationship is not perfect. We neither expect it to be. We’ve gone from a balanced work pair to one where he does much more work than I do. I am kind of decorative these days. I sit and then I stand then I sit some more. I guess I could strive to be a perfect sitter and stander but, honestly, my back hurts way to much to even try.

Still that sinful spirit tries to surface from time to time. If you can’t attain perfection, that evil creature starts telling you how worthless you are. How life for others would be better without you. That you, and you alone, are the reason their lives are not perfect.

Boy, that is a hard spirit to fight. It keeps surfacing over and over again. With each new pain, each new loss of independence, there it comes again.

I’ve learned there is only one way to fight it. First, I tell my husband how I am feeling. I know that the thoughts and feelings are not right. But they are there and need to be acknowledged. Essentially, I am confessing my sinful thoughts to my best friend.

Next, I take the sin to God in prayer. I repent of it and ask him for his help to take it away. I ask him to forgive me for thinking that anything he created was not here for a purpose. His purpose, not mine.

I then look to the work that he has given me. Not much, it’s true, but it is the work he needs me to accomplish. In the body of Christ, I am the one person who is set aside to accomplish these tasks. When I think of it from that perspective, I understand that I am not useless because my life has changed. Instead, because my life has changed, I have found my true focus. I’ve slowed way down and could see the work to do that I previously ignored as the days flew by.

I am not striving for perfection, just trying to bring my work to God in a way that pleases him. He is perfection but he knows we are not. Our work will never be perfect on its own.

In fact, the only reason I can talk with God is that he knew we were broken without anyway to fix ourselves.

He sent his son as our savior. Jesus was the perfect being who sacrificed himself so that the rest of us could once again have a relationship with God.

If you are a follower of Christ (and not just someone who fancies themselves Christian because their family always attended this church or that), your relationship is established and you should talk with God daily.

If you have not yet Jesus Christ as your savior, your Messiah, this is the time to do so. You never know when your last day will be. Once you have accepted Jesus as your savior, as God in flesh resurrected, and have truly repented of all of your sins (yes, even those which society says are okay and perfect – they are not perfect or okay to God)), your relationship and communication with God has been repaired.

Pray daily, rely on Jesus as your resurrected King always, ask Father God to help you and the Holy Spirit to be your daily guide. Stop striving for perfection in things of this world and instead look to the perfect being for an example. Learn to follow his way of holiness. He is the one above all others. He is holy and true and he loves you.

Isaiah 48:17-18

This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.”

At what other time in history could we all come together in such a small place as in our own homes? We connect through the internet in various forms of social media.

We can take peeks into other people’s lives and admire how much they have or what they have accomplished. What we forget is that those individuals are generally presenting a life that doesn’t really exist. They are choosing to show us what they would like their life to be seen as rather than showing it in its entirety.

They pose their shots and their locations. They don the clothes that work to their advantage. They are really actors giving us a show. They may be using their own houses, etc. But my guess is that it is a cleaned up corner and not what their house would look like in their day-to-day living.

It reminds me of the two times in my life when I staged the houses which we were selling. It wasn’t that I bought things and brought them in. Rather, I culled out most of our belongings and showed prospective buyers a pared down version.

Each time, my husband, kids and I said this is the way we should live all the time. Of course, there was nothing in the house to do! All of our hobbies and books and other fun such stuff was hidden in storage. So, it would be a simple and elegant way to live but one that would not allow any one of us to be creative.

There has to be a happy medium and I am now trying to find it. I’ve found that giving away the collections of a lifetime is difficult and time-consuming in a physical sense. In a spiritual sense, it is wonderful and fulfilling.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m still keeping the things and hobby tools that mean the most to me and which I will be working with. To give those away would be foolish as I would be out buying them again in the near future.

Just as our houses are filled, so are our lives. We fill up our days to the bursting point. We try to find time to do the things we should do but, frankly, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Then there are those who may not have their priorities on quite straight. My husband told me recently about an on-line campaign to get the bagel emoji (from Apple) changed. It apparently didn’t look quite right. It wasn’t handmade, it wasn’t toasted and it didn’t include cream cheese.

While I agree those are things that are great on a bagel (though as someone lactose intolerant, I used to opt for a toasted bagel with a slice of tomato, green onion and avocado – but that was just me), the amount of time and effort which went into getting this emoji changed is a little questionable.

Just image what people could do that would really improve their life instead of spending time getting a picture they use on their phones changed to their liking. I would think that most of us could get something real accomplished but this is where our lives are heading these days.

We are looking at the unrealistic and the things that really don’t matter and somehow trying to mold our lives to those things. There isn’t anything spiritual there and, at heart, we are a spiritual people. Some may say that we are animals, which is something that I don’t agree with. Regardless of how we physically view ourselves, we still have our hopes and our dreams.

Those are of the spirit and not of the flesh and bone. Instead of looking outward at the trappings of our lives, we should look inward first. Once our hearts and thoughts are in the right place, then we can look to the outer trappings of our lives to change them.

Looking inward is hard and difficult. Most people won’t like what they see. They know their true thoughts and feelings and they know that they are lacking. Who wants to admit, even to themselves, that they don’t quite measure up?

The truth is that none of us measure up. We are all sinners and we sin every day. If you say otherwise, hey, you’re lying and that is a sin all by itself.

Being sinners, we have no way to undo and remake ourselves. We need someone to take us in hand. Someone to remove the taint of our sin from our lives and to teach us a better way, the real way and the only way to live.

God, in his mercy, sent his son to become one of us. He did it knowing the price he would pay. He became a man, a human just like the rest of us. He lived like we do but was able to live without sin. Imagine what it would be like to give up heaven to come to earth in a body made up of essentially dust and water.

It wasn’t easy for the man Jesus to give up his life and suffer the outrageous pain of crucifixion. He even prayed to not have to do it and for God to find another way to fix humankind. At the same time, he also told God that he was willing to do the hard thing if that was what God willed. And it was.

So the man Jesus went through horrible suffering and mocking and scorn of the people he was doing this to save. Even his best friends abandoned him and denied him. Not one person stood up for him or asked to take his place. No, not one. He was the only one who could and would make the ultimate and perfect sacrifice.

When Jesus hung on the cross, in pain, he looked out over the entire creation which he, as the Word of God had created. He saw each of us in turn and what we were and how we sinned. One by one, he was willing to die for us.

I sometimes think of the wounds that he suffered. It wasn’t the pretty sugar coated version of little nails in the palms. It would have been big, ugly, hand wrought spikes that would have been placed in his wrists and his ankles. I can’t begin to imagine the pain as the hours went on and on.

As much as it pains me to think of that day, I can only be incredibly happy that Jesus was willing to go through that for me. He gave up his life to give me new life and for that, I will forever be grateful.

I look forward to the day when I get to heaven and am able to see his wounds in person. You see, Jesus is still in his human form though he has been resurrected in an eternal form that we Christ followers will one day share. We will forever see his wounds. He is forever the sacrifice that saved us.

I hope you stop looking at social media for the way to a good life. Look instead to your father in heaven and to Jesus for loving you. Find this truth and ask the Holy Spirit to help guide you.

Once this is done, you can start paring back your life to one that is realistic and workable. You will be able to better set priorities because you will know the true center of your life. In doing so, you will begin to build your world to revolve around God.

Matthew 19:17-26

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied,“ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”