Christmas Thoughts

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a     son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”  (Luke 1:30-32)

A baby born in an animal stable a to a young teenage girl.  We romanticize this picture but it must of be terrifying for Mary and Joseph.  I remember the birth of our first child. We were just kids really. Watching Margi struggle through a long difficult labor was the most intense and terrifying experience.  Yet as we held or newborn baby our hearts filled with thanksgiving and expectations for the future.  That is the nature of hope, to look to the future with an expectation of good things.  I think Mary and Joseph lived their lives with hope in their hearts. They couldn't not see the whole journey laid out for them, but they had hope.  The  promise of God sustains, it causes us to look to the future with courage, faith and expectations of God's grace working in our lives.

Relationships

Building the Church is the forge that brings out the best or the worst in people. Anyone who is involved in church work has felt the disappointment of fractured relationships or the pain of friendship that has turned sour because of a commitment to serving the Lord and His people. Maybe it has happened when you chose to support a leader when others were disenfranchised. Maybe someone has become offended and you refuse to take part in the bitterness that followed. Some times we feel loss when we just follow the Lord’s leading to a different place and relationships fade in time. It isn’t a much talked about part of the package of the disciple’s life, but it is a very real reality. Peter questioned Jesus on this very issue...Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Following Christ will mean that some relationships will not continue. Jesus directs His followers to look at the bigger picture in faith. If we are honest we gain far more than we lose. When I look at the 40+ years of serving Jesus I have found a deep reservoir of peace and a strong sense of purpose. I have seen God bring so many quality people into my life. I have found that the deep relationships in my life are built on something deeper than the whims of superficial ‘what’s in it for me”. The committed followers of Christ understand what it means to lay down their life for one another. They know what it means to labor together for the expansion of the Kingdom. My deepest friendships that have endured for decades are those who have given their life to, and paid a price to see the Kingdom move forward. Many of them have experienced loss and yet are compelled to continue to have an open heart and an inclusive spirit. Why can they stay open and not cynical?  Because they know the story is ultimately not about them, but serving Christ and His purposes. They have settled the issue; they look to eternity ultimately choosing Christ above all.

Standing Firm

It is important to remember that as Christians that our citizenship is in another Kingdom.  Our lives are to be spent in allegiance to another King.I have been musing the last few months of how much our culture is changing and I have been some what alarmed to see many Christians cave into the pressure to conform to present culture.  Biblical norms are being abandoned and there is a growing indifference to what the Bible teaches.  Being a Christian is more than being nice people, at its heart is an allegiance to Jesus, to embrace His values and His word.  Many will embrace God's word when it speaks of love and grace, yet when it comes to something that has a requirement of them or a commandment they feel uncomfortable with they discount it.  We can't escape what the Bible says is wrong, it is wrong.  When the Bible is at odds with current culture we must stand firm.  When the Bible points us to being loyal to Him and His Church we must do it.  James in his epsitle writes...

"Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."   (James 1:21-25  ESV) 

Jim Durkin who led an amazing movement during the Jesus People movement spoke of his own experience when he turned away from accepting the whole counsel of the Bible.  His church in shambles, his marriage broken, alone in a cabin with his life a mess he cried out to God, "why has all this happened to me?"  God spoke to him and said, "you have added three words to My words, you say "the Bible says, 'but we know...',  from now on accept and do what My word says and in the dong of it you will come to understand it.  That encounter changed Jim's life, and as he taught this truth it changed the lives of thousands of young people. Some will say I am being simplistic yet I know of no other way to live.  We are comanded to love our neighbor, lets do it.  We are to care for the broken hearted, lets do it.  We are to call sin for what it is, and offence to God, yet speak of mercy and forgiveness.  Lets walk in the fear of the Lord, and yet be confident in our standing with Him.  Lets be the 
the be ambassadors for Christ that we are called to be.