A Minute In It - Remembering

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and then remember the reason for the season.

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18-24 (NLT).

Who's Power?

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT)

I have some weird health issues. Every now and then, this one thing will happen and when it does, it is super unnerving. It’s scary to me and to anyone who notices it. It happened again recently, while I was preaching. By the grace of God, I finished the sermon and most people (except for those closest to me), didn’t know.

But I did and let’s just say my first thought was that I wasn’t going to preach ever again. Even though God finished the sermon, I became super afraid that this would happen again and what if it didn’t go so well the next time? What if?

Those what if questions pop into your head a lot when there is something in your life you can’t control. And as I ponder those questions, they get worse and the fear grows more intense. So, I pray. Because hey, the only person who can control it is God.

During my prayers I think of Paul who had a thorn in the flesh. I keep praying because that didn’t make me feel any better. (just being honest.) Everyone keeps saying I should slow down, I should rest. So what? I sit on a couch my whole life and do what? I believe God has a call on my life (by the way, I believe God has a call on all of our lives). If that is so, I am pretty sure it isn’t to sit on the couch and rest. And, that is not how God wired me.

But, I don’t want to be afraid either. I don’t want to not step into my calling because of fear. That would be a tragedy. So I prayed some more. And God brought today’s text into my worship. Jesus died so I would not live my life as a slave to the fear of dying. And I’d like to take it a step further. Jesus died so I would not have to live my life as a slave to fear. Period. He broke the power of death. He broke the power of fear. He broke Satan. WOOT!

This verse spurred a talk with God about what it was I was actually afraid of. And as I discussed these things with him, this verse popped into my head.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

I guess I have two choices. One, walk around being afraid and have that limit what I do or two, lean into the power of Jesus Christ. The rest of that verse says:

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

I’ll still be praying because it is still scary sometimes but I will also turn it over to Jesus. I will boast about my weakness so Jesus can shine through. He loves me so much he died so I could live being sure of who holds my life and my future..

What Mary Knew

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 (NLT)

I love this verse. Mary was facing a huge life altering event. Her world as she knew it was about to drastically change and not necessarily for the better. The road was going to be hard. There were going to be many uncertain times. She herself was going to face criticism and heartache. And her response to God? “Whatever you want.”

I kind of get it though. This was HUGE! I mean, when we are facing HUGE, we tend to turn to God right? We lose our job, we seek God. We get a bad health diagnosis, we seek God. Someone dies. We seek God. We tend to seek God in the HUGE because we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we can’t do this alone.

I do that. I run to God for the HUGE. But on the things I can do by myself……Well, I can handle that and I don’t. I would say I forget but most of the time I don’t even think about it. I just do what I know to do and take care of it.

This isn’t what God wants though. He wants us to come to him all the time, for everything. He wants us to talk through our day with him and process what’s next. Even if we know what to do and how to handle it, he wants in on the action. He wants us to add him to the mix.

A planning meeting? Let God be part of the planning. A conversation with a colleague or friend? Pray through that and get his perspective. A packed day full of meetings and tasks? Ask God to order your priorities.

God wants to be part of everything we do. He doesn’t want to be pulled out for the HUGE stuff only. He wants to be involved in every detail of our lives. You know, I think when we talk to God about the small stuff, it’s easier to trust him with the big stuff.

I bet Mary knew this from experience.

Just Wondering.....

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NLT)

I was just wondering.....

What do you think God thinks about the way we celebrate Christmas?

I wonder if it makes him happy or sad. I wonder if he looks at all the elaborate decorations and thinks about the manger and thinks we missed the point.

I wonder if he looks at the money we spend on giving each other (and ourselves) extravagant gifts instead of giving to people that Jesus’ heart is breaking for and shakes his head. 

I wonder if it bothers him that we only really reach out to those in need during this season...because it’s what you are supposed to do. You know, that we don’t do it all the time.... like he wants us to.

Of course, I am not saying everyone celebrates Christmas like this. But, most of us do. 

I wonder what he thinks about the fact that we don’t wonder what he thinks when we are celebrating Him.

I was just wondering.....

Costly

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23 (ESV)

Imagine with me a situation where a close friend or family member is really sick. It looks like from their illness, they may not make it and may die. Your heart is aching because you love them so very much and you can’t be with them. They live in a different part of the country. To be with them would be very costly because traveling there will be expensive. You will have to leave your job to spend time with them to help them through. If you make this decision, everything as you know it will change - and not necessarily for the better.

As you ponder this decision, your heart is breaking. Being with them is the only thing you want and yet, it seems so huge to make this decision. It’s crazy. People don’t do this kind of thing. Finally, you can stand it no longer. You go all in and make the move. You quit your job, charge the very expensive ticket and sacrifice to love.

Saying I love you over the phone has meaning. But saying it in person is tangible. A phone call is not the same as an in person touch. When you show up in person, the impact on the receiver is profound.

God knew this. That’s why he came to be “With us.”

God saw our predicament. He realized the pain we were in and the uncertainty that surrounded us. His heart ached for us because he loves us so very much. Jesus lived in a different place (a much better place than here) but he left that to move near so we could see tangibly, personally, how much we are loved.

The cost to him was great. There would be no going back to the way things were. The sacrifice was immense.

All this, so God could shout out loud, with tangible evidence, “I love you.” I love you more than anything I have. There is no price too great or a circumstance so insurmountable that I cannot get to you.

Lean into this. Lean in and remember what this season really means. It’s about a God who gives all of his heart for what his heart loves. And then go and do the same.

Zealous

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

I love this verse. When I read it I can hear choirs singing “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And I remember all the ways that Jesus is those things. How he is wonderful in my life; my Counselor, Mighty God. All of it.

As I kept reading, I realized I needed to add another description. Zealous.

The last line of verse 7 reads “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

According to Merriam Webster, zeal implies energetic and unflagging pursuit of an aim or devotion to a cause. Think about that for a minute.

God, your God, loves you with so much passion, so much devotion that he pursues you with zeal. And then take that a step further. The entire Christmas story, everything in the Bible, everything in our lives is about God’s zeal for each one of us. His passion for us, His love for us – It’s all to get us into relationship with him.

God was so zealous for us that he offered up and sacrificed His Son so we would see how great His heart is toward us. There is no love like this. None. He uses everything in your life as a means to speak to you. I love the words ‘unflagging pursuit’. There is no pause. There is no hesitation. Only a consistent, never ending, never waning desire to be in a love relationship with you. He will do whatever it takes. It started at the beginning and will continue until Jesus comes.

That is the best Christmas present ever.

Guarded

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. Psalm 16:5 (NIV)

What do you guard? You know, what do you protect and take care of?

Some of us guard our money. Often we guard our image. I guard time with my kids. When I am near them, I guard my grandchildren. My oldest grandson guards some of his toys so his younger brother won’t play with them. Some of us guard our responsibilities so others don’t take away how we feel fulfilled.

I am really terrible about guarding my time. I frequently have too much to do and not enough time to rest and relax. That causes very busy days and moments when I am not sure how I will accomplish my tasks. Some of those tasks are God given. There are times when things come and I know they are from Him and I need to do them.

All of life’s activities, whether they are self-imposed, other imposed or God imposed can make life feel just pain overwhelming.

There is one thing I have learned to guard that is essential to walking through this life; my time with God. You see, if I spend time doing that each day, if I set aside time to stop, be still and listen, all the rest falls into place. On the days when things are so chaotic that I feel like I am at my wit’s end, I’m trying to stop, pray and ask Him “What should I do next?” I keep doing this throughout the day and as the day wanes to an end, I have gotten done what I need to do.

I guard my time with God more than I guard anything else. This is the compass that sets my course. It is the sanity in the middle of chaos; the calm in the middle of the storm. Without it, I would be lost.

Guarding your God time doesn’t come naturally. It’s a habit learned. I am still learning. Luckily, God is a very patient teacher.

Usable by God

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished. Luke 2:8-10, 16-18 (NLT)

Shepherds. We might think now that being a shepherd was a great job. Wandering out on the hillsides. Sleeping under the stars. David was a Shepherd. Jesus talks about shepherding his sheep. Shepherding doesn’t sound so bad.

But back then, it wasn’t such a great job. Shepherds were seen as dishonest by the community at large. They were not allowed in courts as witnesses. They were considered unclean. No one was allowed to help them. They were outcasts. The lowest of the low.

Yet, God chose them. He chose them to first announce the arrival of Jesus. It was to them he shared his Good News and revealed his glory. Can you imagine seeing all of those angels praising God? WOW!

I love that the Shepherds took this information, checked it out for themselves and then ran around telling everyone they could find about what they had experienced. They were the first preachers. The first to spread the Good News.

God picked the most unlikely people to be involved in His story. He is still doing that today. We each experience Jesus every single day in our lives. (You do. You just might be missing it because you are looking for it.) We should be like the Shepherds and take those experiences, share them with the people around us and in doing that, share Jesus.

You see, we have no excuse. By choosing the Shepherds God made it clear that all are qualified. Everyone is usable by Him for His purpose. You don’t need an education. You don’t need to be accepted by society. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you. What matters is that God sees you. He will use you. You just have to be like a Shepherd. Willing.