And
the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of
great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
-- Luke 2:10-11 ESV
To
kids, sometimes all Christmas means is toys and presents. They get
easily distracted by these gifts and forget everything else. Don't we
sometimes forget as adults too? We can get so distracted by travelling,
by gift purchases, by sending out cards, and by preparing for the
feasts that we lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas
was invented by men long ago to celebrate the birth of Christ. The
Christmas season is one where we do get very busy but we are also
reminded of the birth of Christ by what is all around us. Even though
it may not be a religious day for many people, they do acknowledge that
it is a day about the birth of Christ. As Christians, we need to
remember the birth of Christ not only during this busy season when our
minds are overly occupied, but at all times throughout the year. For
without Christ's birth, we would not have the blessing of his life to
model ours after. Without Christ's birth, we would not have the blessing
of his life story and the story of his disciples to read. Without
Christ's birth, we would not have the blessing of his death on the cross
to purify us before God. Without Christ's birth, we would not have the
blessing of his resurrection to show us death is defeated for those who
believe. Without Christ's birth, we would not know the true extent and
depth of the grace and love of our Father. We
must remember Christ's life and let it dwell richly in our hearts if we
are truly to call ourselves Christians, not just on Christmas day or in
the Christmas season, but all of our lives. Jesus is Christ the Lord.
He came to Earth to find lost people and offer them salvation from
themselves. And he did just that, perfectly. We can help each other
remember Christ all year round. We can help each other live our lives
in the love of God and the joy of Christ's life. We can share Christ's
light with one another and all we meet if we always remember that it all
started with the birth of the son of God in a lowly manger in Bethlehem
one night thousands of years ago. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
-- Luke 2:14
Now
the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in
Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and
examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
-- Acts 17:11 NIV
We
are all on our own spiritual journey through this life and have to work
out things for ourselves and live by our choices (Philippians 2:12-13).
We are taught the way that God wants us to live our lives through His
words in the Bible but sometimes we feel the need to answer the callings
of our heart and learn things for ourselves. We come to believe that
God would want us to be happy in whatever we want to do and so we step
out on our own understanding. Or we can think that God is not there
for us because He wouldn't make life so difficult to bear so we tend to
forget Him as we live our lives as best we see fit. But as in the
parable of the lost son in Luke 15:11-32, in all these times God is
there waiting for us to turn to Him. God is the source of eternal life
and has revealed His nature and ways through His word and His love for
us all through His son Jesus (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, John
3:16-17).I
became a Christian late in my life, just 13 years ago, but I almost
always knew that God was there. I never truly doubted Him, I just
ignored Him and did things my own way often times choosing a dark path.
Since becoming a Christian, there have been many times where I wished
God was different and wanted different things for me, that He would
understand me and my needs better and not make it so hard on me. But
then I remember, wait, this is the creator of the universe who didn't
have to create me but did, a loving father who sacrificed His own son
that I might be in His joyful presence eternally. I don't understand
why, and many times I know I don't deserve it, but He did that for me
and for all of us. And He continues to be there for me even still. I
don't have all the answers, not even close. I just know my life is so
much better since I decided to follow Jesus as I read about Him in the
bible. It is my constant prayer that I seek God where He is and not
just where I want Him to be, and that I remember that His love is always
available to those who walk in His light (1 John 1:6-10). I will keep
on praying no matter what is going on in my life, good or bad, and
sincerely try to always look to scripture to find out if the things that
people say are true (Acts 17:11). I want to embrace His Spirit in all
that I do (Colossians 3:17) and do that which He asks of me in
scripture, always loving Him with all my mind, heart, soul and strength
(Matthew 22:36-40). I hope that as I walk on my journey I can share
God’s light within me by showing others the way and offering the hope
they need (2 Timothy 2:15, Mark 16:15). If together we test all things
against God’s word and align our hearts with God’s nature, even though
we stumble, we can never fail.To
him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before
his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God
our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
-- Jude 1:24-25
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.
-- Galatians 4:4-7 NLT
I
write software for a living and as such have a pretty logical mind. It
helps in my line of work as the computer will do exactly what I tell it
to, no more, no less, and it will do it very fast. It doesn’t care if
what I tell it to do is right or wrong; it has no emotion about it at
all. It won't do anything but what I tell it, even if it is wrong and
turns the computer into a smoking hole. So getting things in the right
order and having all the steps needed to do something is kind of second
nature to me at work. And I find that sometimes I treat my study of
God’s word and what He wants me to do in this life in that way. All the
steps are there in the Bible for me to follow. If I just do those in
that way, then it will all work out.We
tend to think that logic and emotion are two separate things, that they
don’t coincide. People might say “if you could just put aside your
emotions for a second we could talk rationally.” But we can’t seem to
do that. Some emotions are very logical. Things like loving your child
, being attached to your family, and disliking evil are all emotions
but are very logical for survival. They all make sense on both on a
personal level and on the grander scale of humanity. This is all
because this is how God designed us. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and
all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second
is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” God created us
with both emotions and reasoning and He intended that we should use
both. We're not meant to be robots reasoning things through without
feelings. We are instead meant to be so much more.If
we read Luke 10:25-37, we see the story of the Good Samaritan. The
priest and the temple assistant (Levite), men of great wisdom and
learning of the day, walked on by. The Samaritan felt compassion for
the man who was attacked and so he helped him. It was his emotion that
made the logical action of helping the man seem so natural. So remember
that God wants us to listen to our hearts. He wants us to know that
feeling the Spirit within ourselves and sharing that joy is just as
important as knowing what it means to be a Christian and living the
life. Share your joy today and watch as everything else just seems to
make sense.
