Dec

30

All things new

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Another new year is on the horizon. Happy to say, it’s one day closer to Jesus’s promised return to the earth.

This time of year leads many to make a New Year’s resolution. Lose weight, stop bad habits, cut carbs, etc. are usually on the to-do list come the first of January. Out with the old and in with the new. Yet how many times have these pledges dissolved by the first snowfall? Our spirits are willing, though our flesh is weak.

There are some who vow to become a better person in the New Year. They’re committed to turning over a new leaf. Start anew. Change. This is an admirable goal to achieve, yet by true grit and their own strength, they will often miss the mark.

Sinners, as we all are, need not turn over a new leaf—but a new heart. We can’t use the stuff of flesh to make better flesh; we need the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work. It’s not about you or I becoming a better Joe, Jane, or John. It’s about becoming more like the savior of the world. We can do “all things through Christ” who strengthens us by his spirit.

May this New Year be your opportunity to yield to God not just some but all of your heart’s goals, hopes, and dreams, so he may mold you into the image of his son. When you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. That is…because they will be His desires, too, which are ultimately what is best for you.

Happy New Year!

Dec

23

The greatest gift that keeps giving…

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The moment in time when baby Jesus arrived in Bethlehem, he was on a mission. That he would leave heaven for earth boggles the mind, and to come in the humblest means possible to begin his life in a feeding trough in a lowly stable is unfathomable.

Out of his humble estate, the baby grew to become prophet, priest, and King of Kings. His thirty-three years on earth created a mark in history that would be forever a turning point. For everything vile, despised, and eschewed by man, Jesus, our Emmanuel—God-with-us—gave his life. He became the sacrifice to bring all who believe in him into an everlasting fellowship with the Father. A gift to all men…and one that keeps on giving.

We celebrate the savior’s birth this season and in our hearts all the year through. Like the angels sang in their celebration on that fateful, joyous day, we, too, rejoice. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

Dec

15

Footprints in our heart

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God’s ways are certainly not our ways. The more we dwell in his word and contemplate his birth, the more we can appreciate the sacrifice of the suffering servant, who came to fulfill his father’s wishes—to save the lost and dying.

How unfathomable to comprehend the path Jesus took to reconcile us to the Father. What a marvelous mystery that he would condescend to earth, but to come here in the form of a man and live among us? Is not his glory too superior?  He left paradise for this?

When the season is glistening in a blanket of whiteness, may we understand that because of Jesus’s blood, a believer’s sins are even whiter than the brilliance of the snowfall.

May every step you take be with the Lord…walking close enough to see his footprints in your heart.

Dec

09

Whom do you please?

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Some people are men pleasers–showing deference and kindness and expecting to be recognized for it. It’s the way the world is. Give and take. Nothing horrible about it but it’s kind of shallow to need praise from men. What is man that we should be inclined to derive our self-worth from him?

King David derived pleasures not from man but from God. Even his prayers were in deference to his Lord –not just asking for things, but making sure his heart was in the right place through praise and thanksgiving.

King David showed a keen humility in his Psalm 19:14 prayer by saying, “Let the words of my mouth…” along with his thoughts as he dwelled on the Lord, “and the meditations of my heart…” for which he anchored himself as a barnacle to a boat, “be acceptable in thy sight…”

When we understand our place in the world with respect to God, our thoughts, prayers, and reflections on the Lord will take on a different perspective. For he is our ultimate strength and our redeemer…worthy to be honored and not just a dispenser of goods.

Prayer is not always about asking for things as much as it is the opportunity to have our heart’s desires line up with God’s.

 

Dec

01

Highway to Heaven or Hell

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Life is a highway, so goes an old song lyric. And it’s the longest one we’ll ever travel. Along life’s highway, we’ll encounter many side roads, and some of them will lead to the wrong destination. There will be battlefields along the way between good and evil. A wrong turn on life’s highway can not only get us lost, it may cause us danger.

Physical danger is nothing to scoff at. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time is scary stuff, but spiritual danger is by far worse. The impact of death, if we know the Lord, leads to a better place; the impact of not knowing the Lord, can lead to a tragic outcome.

While we travel through life, it’s a marvelous blessing to be able to walk and talk with Jesus, to seek the paths he would have for us. Just for the asking, we can know we’re traveling where we belong because our Lord wants what is best for us.

Should danger follow us? It could. Though, we ask ourselves this:  If God is for us, who can be against us? And why would we care if we have the Lord?

Jesus would never lead us down a dark unknown alley to purposefully cause harm. We lead ourselves there and often call for help. Our faithful Lord and master will surely comfort, protect, and never abandon our cry to save us. There is no pitfall along the roadway of life too deep for God to rescue us. He’s already encountered death and rose back to life. The victory is already ours—in Christ.

Life is a highway, so goes an old song lyric. And it’s the longest one we’ll ever travel. Along life’s highway, we’ll encounter many side roads, and some of them will lead to the wrong destination. There will be battlefields along the way between good and evil. A wrong turn on life’s highway can not only get us lost, it may cause us danger.

Physical danger is nothing to scoff at. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time is scary stuff, but spiritual danger is by far worse. The impact of death, if we know the Lord, leads to a better place; the impact of not knowing the Lord, can lead to a tragic outcome.

While we travel through life, it’s a marvelous blessing to be able to walk and talk with Jesus, to seek the paths he would have for us. Just for the asking, we can know we’re traveling where we belong because our Lord wants what is best for us.

Should danger follow us? It could. Though, we ask ourselves this:  If God is for us, who can be against us? And why would we care if we have the Lord?

Jesus would never lead us down a dark unknown alley to purposefully cause harm. We lead ourselves there and often call for help. Our faithful Lord and master will surely comfort, protect, and never abandon our cry to save us. There is no pitfall along the roadway of life too deep for God to rescue us. He’s already encountered death and rose back to life. The victory is already ours—in Christ.