Hope This Christmas

I don’t know about you, but things are not great for me right now. Money is tighter than it has ever been and the economy is not really showing signs of improvement. The world seems to be in a state of chaos. In September my brother went to be with the Lord and I am struggling through my first Christmas without him. No, things are not looking good.

¹ Now gather yourself in troops,
      O daughter of troops;
      He has laid siege against us;
      They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

    ² “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
      Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
      Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
      The One to be Ruler in Israel,
      Whose goings forth are from of old,
      From everlasting.”
       ³ Therefore He shall give them up,
      Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;
      Then the remnant of His brethren
      Shall return to the children of Israel.
       ⁴ And He shall stand and feed His flock
      In the strength of the LORD,
      In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God;
      And they shall abide,
      For now He shall be great
      To the ends of the earth;
       ⁵ And this One shall be peace.

                Micah 5:1-5a

At the time this was written, things were not looking good either. The nation of Israel had been attacked and abused and more of the same was heading their way. But GOD! I love this so I will repeat it; But GOD sent a message to Micah of a promised deliverer. If you read the New Testament, you will see this prophesy, as well as all the others, fulfilled in none other than Jesus, the Christ (Messiah).  

As we gather to celebrate His birth and we think of Him as a precious baby, let us not forget that He was “before” His birth. He has always been and will always be. He came in human flesh to suffer and die for our sins, in our place, but He came to overcome death and the grave “forever!” He came to stomp on Satan’s head and reign and rule for eternity. 

I love one of the last scenes in the movie The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, where Lucy is sad as she watches Aslan walking away down the beach. Mr. Tomlis (sp?) tells her he will return and that he is not a tame lion. Jesus will return and He is love, but He is not a tame lion. 

As we prepare to celebrate His birth in a few days, may we find hope and joy as we contemplate that He will return soon. We need not worry about the bad that surrounds us; we have a hope and a future, of this we can be sure.       

May the Lord Jesus Christ give you peace, joy, and hope this Christmas~

Live and Let Live

¹ Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, for the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:

“ There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.
² By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.
³ Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.  -Hosea 4:1-3

Does this sound familiar? Could this describe America?

One need only turn on the television to see swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and adultery. In fact, many of the top shows promote and glorify this type of behavior. “Reality” shows teach our youth that this is the norm. If you want to be popular, accepted, a free spirit, open minded, this is the way to go.

Sadly, many of our children’s video games promote this as well. Stealing cars, killing cops, and other forms of violence are all part of some of the more popular games on the market.

Think about this for a moment, a ten year old child grows up, surrounded by violence in his home, his school, his neighborhood, even in the games he plays.

If he joins a gang, robs a store, carries a gun to school and kills his classmates, or any other number of violent acts, why are we surprised? Did his environment not program him to do these things?

I do not wish to excuse his bad behavior and I certainly do not condone letting him walk the streets to continue a reign of terror; however, I do not wish to throw him under the bus either. We, as a society, need to protect him “before” he gets to this point. You may be asking, “But, how do we do that?”

“GOD!”

Unfortunately, this is not the answer people want to hear. They would rather this young man live a life of violence and ruin than expose him to God’s truth. God says thou shalt not murder, steal, commit adultery, etc. Jesus said the two greatest commands are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Mat.22:34-40), but society says this is too much to ask.

Re-read Hosea 4:1-3 above. I think the point is obvious.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free reply.

May the God of love and peace speak to your heart and fill you with His peace during this time as we celebrate His birth.          

"I Did It My Way"

I read the following posted by a friend on Facebook this morning:

Dear Santa,

[  ]  I’ve been good this year.

[  ]  Ok, most of the time.

[  ]  Once in awhile.

[X]  Nevermind, I’ll buy my own presents.

I thought this was funny and quite clever. Then the thought occurred to me,

what if this was addressed to God?

Dear God,

[  ]  I’ve been good in this life.

[  ]  Ok, most of the time.

[  ]  Once in awhile.

[X]  Nevermind, I’ll find my own way of salvation.

This is neither funny nor clever; it’s sad, and unfortunately it happens everyday.

People are trying to get to heaven by their own means and this will never happen.

 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”  -Romans 3:23

 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 6:23

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. –Romans 5:8

If you are trying to find your own way, I beg you, consider what the Lord says.

As we celebrate this season, think about God’s perfect gift to mankind, Christ Jesus. He died for your sins so you don’t have to.

If you have questions or need someone to talk to, please feel free to contact me or talk to your pastor. This decision is much to important to put off another day.

God bless~