Month: December 2022

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

It’s hard to believe that we are approaching the end of another year! Time is moving with lightning speed these days, and here we are on the threshold of the brand new year of 2023! We are going forward (whether we like it or not) into the unknown. Who knows what changes and new experiences will come our way? Who knows what we will find around the next corner? In spite of the uncertainty, as Christians, we know the Lord is with us continually from year to year.

The beginning of a new year gives us an opportunity to stop and reflect on the year that is ending and look forward to the year that is beginning. It gives us each a chance to examine ourselves and see where we have been, where we are now, and where we want to be! Whether or not we walk through the threshold of joy this year is up to us!

Threshold is defined as the place or point of entering or beginning, or the level or point at which we start to experience something or something new begins to happen. The year of our Lord two thousand and twenty three offers us all a new beginning, but our job is to step across the threshold of it with confidence.

This past year has brought many changes and new experiences for many of us. We have experienced the highest mountain top experiences and the lowest valley ones while continually aspiring to live a fuller life. Many of us have lost a loved one or a dear friend, and their absence, whether expected or not, leaves a sadness in our hearts. It has also brought new life to many of us through new friendships, new purposes, and new attitudes.

The coming year offers us several opportunities to reclaim our joy and peace if we are ready to do a few things. First, cross over the threshold of purpose. Purpose is what gives our life meaning so we can say, “I know why I’m doing what I’m doing.” There is a tremendous difference between just existing and living. Living is defined as “being vigorous, alive and full of life” while existing is defined as “just being there.” God will reveal His purpose for each of us if we just allow Him to use us.

Secondly, step over the threshold to forgiveness. Forgiveness is a decision, an act of the will by the grace of God. There is not a person who has not been hurt by someone in this world, but forgiveness can occur when we find the power to forgive what we still remember. Forgiveness means giving up revenge because God is the judge, not us. When we can see those who have hurt us as a child of God who is loved just like we are, then we can begin to wish them well.

Next, move over the threshold to commitment. God will begin to work in our lives as we commit or roll everything over to Him. Once we roll everything over to Him, and don’t try to take it back and do it ourselves, He works. We forget that He works based on our willingness to commit.

Finally, cross over the threshold and find joy! There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on outward circumstances, but joy depends on inward character. Happiness depends on what happens to us, but joy depends on who lives within us. When we have internal joy, we have chosen to know that we are unconditionally loved and accepted by God. Choose joy this year!

God’s love guarantees His acceptance when others reject us, His forgiveness when other judge us, and His mercy when others have condemned us. When we bask in His love, the wellspring of joy bubbles up in our heart. The world doesn’t give us this joy, and the world can’t take it away. We can’t change what happened yesterday, but we can change how we move into tomorrow.

This year I pray we can all cross the threshold of joy to a season of new energy, new purpose, new forgiveness, new commitment, and new joy!

Happy New Year!

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14

A few weeks ago, a good friend and I were having lunch. The conversation covered many areas, but somewhere in the middle, she asked, “Do you find that you are happy these days?” It was a conversation stopper, but I replied simply, “Yes, I think so.” Then, I asked her the same question, and she replied, “I’m happy, but I can’t seem to find peace in this life lately.” The question of peace in our lives is different for all of us, but everyone individually innately seems to know when we have reached that perfect peace.

Peace is defined as being free from disturbances or tranquility. The Christian would probably say that perfect peace comes from being whole or complete. Peace comes when we turn our lives over to Christ, but perfect peace is only achieved when we focus on God in all circumstances.

Biblical peace, however, is more than just the absence of conflict, it is taking action to restore a broken situation. It’s more than that state of inner tranquility, but more a wholeness and completeness within ourselves. It’s not something we can create on our own, but rather comes as a gift from God.

The Bible tell us that the angels told of peace, good will to men that night long ago in Bethlehem. It’s amazing that the angels foretold of peace when the times were not peaceful. The people were under the oppressive rule of Rome and its emperor, and they were either part of the nobility (about 10%) or very poor. The angels’ proclamation was an important part of God’s plan to introduce His son to the world and show that His invitation to receive salvation extends to the humblest shepherd, the most esteemed leader, and all the people in between.

The Book of Psalms says, “Search for peace and work to maintain it.” In this world of today sometimes it’s hard to find peace, and once we’ve found it, it’s even harder to maintain the peace in our lives. If we want to enjoy peace this Christmas, it is good to identify what things steal your peace and work to eliminate those things from our thoughts.

Peace stealers are different for all of us. On any given day, a multitude of things creep into our lives and try to steal our peace. It can be anything from the news, traffic, a to do list, fatigue, worry, the weather, or a situation we can’t control.

It’s good to know ourselves so we can identify the problem and eliminate it from our thoughts. I’ve found that it’s helpful to make a mental list of the things that disrupt the peace in my life. If we are honest about the “thieves” which upset us, then we can break free. In the middle of the storms of everyday life, we can be anchored in God’s peace.

The angels were saying to us that Christmas peace begins with peace with God, and then, as a result, we are flooded with the peace of God. We have peace with God because of our relationship with Christ, and we can have peace with each other if we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and lives. It’s because of Christ that we can live in peace with one another.

Christmas should bring a certain peace to us because on that night, God did something extraordinary. Max Lucado puts it this way, “Stepping from the throne, He removed His robe of light and wrapped Himself in skin; pigmented human skin. The light of the universe entered a dark, wet womb. He whom angels worshiped nestled Himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into the cold night, and then slept on cow’s hay. Mary didn’t know whether to give Him milk or give Him praise, so she gave Him both since He was as near as she could figure, hungry and holy. Joseph didn’t know whether to call him Junior or Father, but in the end, He called him Jesus, since that’s what the angel said, and since he didn’t have the faintest idea what to name a God he could cradle in his arms.”

It is important to focus on the real meaning of the Christmas season. Remember that while situations on this earth may cause his stress, we can find true peace when we turn our focus to Christ and His great love for us. This Christmas we can make ourselves instruments of God’s peace by deciding that we are not going to let this world steal our peace and resolve to pass on the Christmas peace to others.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Merry Christmas!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. But the angel of the Lord said to them, Do not be afraid for I bring you good news of great joy that will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:8-11

The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who, after enduring long receiving lines at the White House, complained that people didn’t really hear what he was saying. One day he decided to try an experiment. To each person who came by and shook his hands, he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with remarks such as, “Marvelous. Keep up the good work. We are proud of you.” It was not until the end of the line when Roosevelt was greeting the emperor of Bolivia that the words were actually heard. Casually, the emperor leaned over to Roosevelt and said, “I’m sure she had it coming!!”

There is a great difference between listening and actually hearing. My Daddy struggled with hearing loss in his right ear most of his life, so many times he appeared to be listening, but he didn’t actually hear. Many times people would respond to his question, but he didn’t hear the response, so he just repeated himself in a louder voice. This provoked others to continue speaking louder each time until finally Daddy would hear and remark, “Well, you don’t need to yell, I heard you!”

Sometimes when God is speaking, we just either don’t listen or choose not to hear. God uses many different ways to speak to us in this world, but the question is, Do we hear?

Angels were important in the announcing of the birth of Jesus. God had them deliver both words of hope and warning in such a glorious setting that it was impossible for the recipients to ignore them. They had to be heard!!

What keeps us from hearing the voice of God during this wonderful season? First, the busyness of the season sometimes keeps us too busy to listen and hear. We listen to our time clock instructing us to buy that gift, decorate that house, wrap those packages, but we don’t hear God’s voice above the traffic asking us to slow down and listen for Him.

Secondly, Christmas can become routine. We do the same things, keep a frenzied schedule, and listen to the same Christmas story without really hearing it. Our relationship with Jesus was never meant to be routine, and this story was never meant to be rotely celebrated. It was meant to be a life changing relationship that was meant to be beautiful, exciting, and fresh every day. If we don’t hear God, routine sets in.

Lastly, Christmas can lose its awe. The shepherds were witnesses to this glory and awe, but they didn’t keep it to themselves, they went to see and then told others. In order for us to keep the sense of the awe of this night, we have to spread the story of a virgin who gave birth to our Savior who still lives today!

We are just like a piano whose strings must be adjusted after use to maintain that harmonious sound. If we continue going through this season with pressure after pressure, problem after problem, and item after item, we will become like loose strings on a piano making a disharmonious sound. God doesn’t want to hear that! He wants to hear our hearts singing with the angels as we celebrate the Savior’s birth.

This Christmas do you hear anew God’s story of Jesus’ birth? My prayer is that we won’t miss the truth that is available to all who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that is ready to know and believe.

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy. A song, a song, high up in the trees with a voice as big as the sea. Said the child to the people everywhere. Listen to what I say. Pray for peace people everywhere. Listen to what I say . The child. the child sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light. Song is Do You Hear What I Hear? lyrics by Regeny Noel

He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics – He’ll get the people ready for God! Luke 1:17 from The Message

I’m not sure what it is about this season, but it seems to breed impatience and frenzied times in many of us. While buying Christmas poinsettias at Home Depot the other day, I felt that frenzied feeling coming on as I waited in line to pay. After paying the cashier, I was walking away when I heard her call, “Hey baby, you forgot your plants.” Embarrassed, I walked back and said, “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind.” She smiled and said, “No baby, you aren’t losing your mind, you’ve just got too much on it!!”

We can all identify with the mother who was Christmas shopping with her small son. As she ran from store to store, she realized that her son was not beside her. In a panic, she retraced her steps and found her three year old pressing his face against a store window looking at a manger scene. He heard her panicked cry and said, “Look Mommy, it’s Baby Jesus in the hay.” With indifference to his wonder, she grabbed him and said, “We don’t have time for that!” On that first Christmas, the innkeeper had no room for Jesus. Today, we seem to have no time for Him.

Even on that day long ago, we find the rush of life. The Bible says the shepherds came to Bethlehem with great haste, but they had something that seems lost in this world of today. They had wonder. The curse of people today is that we are so busy we have no time for wonder. Dag Hammersjkold said years ago, “If spiritual things become a drag and the message of Christmas is dull, you can be sure the problem is not in the message but in our loss of the awe and wonder of it.”

In the gospel of Luke, we see the wonder of God’s loving kindness and guidance toward Mary and Joseph as He guided them through all the problems they faced in bringing the Messiah into this world. God worked out a plan to fulfill the prophecy and also get the couple to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.

There is the wonder of God’s orchestration of the greatest choir ever assembled as he brought the angels to sing praises to the King. Nothing was too extravagant to bear witness to the birth of our Savior. If all of heaven rang as the angels sang, then how can we as benefactors of God’s greatest gift ever take for granted the awe and wonder of it all.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, but more often that not, familiarity just breeds indifference. The more familiar it becomes, the less fascination we have. The newness fades and we lose the wonder. We have heard the Christmas story over and over, and slowly the wonder of what happened over 2000 years ago diminishes. The old, old story has become just that an old, old story.

A group traveling by train through the Rocky Mountains was thrilled and visibly moved by the beauty all around them! A woman traveling with them hardly raised her eyes from the book she was reading, and when she was asked why she explained, “This is the thirteenth time I have crossed these mountains. The first few times I was so impressed that I couldn’t keep the tears from flowing, but now I know it so well that I frequently go through the whole trip without even a glance outside.” Her sense of wonder was gone, and she no longer recognized the beauty and grandeur all around her. This same principle is constantly at work in relation to the marvel, mystery, awe, majesty of God, and wonder of Christmas!

If there is one thing I could wish for all of us this Christmas it would be to feel the same wonder that Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds felt on that special night long ago. The coming of Jesus Christ into their lives changed them forever, and it can do the same for each of us. They would never be the same. Jesus came into this world 2000 years ago to change it forever, and wonder of wonders, He did!

The picture above depicts the wonder of the season through the eyes of my sweet niece’s son. May his sense of wonder dwell in each of us this Christmas!

I wonder as I wander out under the sky; That Jesus my Savior did come for to die, For poor or’ny people like you and like I; I wonder as I wander out under the sky. Song by Audrey Assad