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…Paul and several other prisoners…

…Putting out to see from there, we encountered headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course…

…We had several days of rough sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus…But the wind was against us…We struggled along the coast with great difficulty…The weather was becoming dangerous for long voyages by then because it was late in the fall…

…When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it…But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (a “noreaster,” they called it) caught the ship and blew it out to sea.  They couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale…

…We sailed behind a small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat that was being towed behind us.  Then we banded the ship with ropes to strengthen the hull.  The sailors were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor and were thus driven before the wind…

…The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.  The following day they even threw out the ship’s equipment and anything else they could lay their hands on.   The terrible storm raged unabated for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone…

…Finally, Paul called the crew together…But take courage!…For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul…’  So take courage!  For I believe God.  It will be just as he said…

…on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were driven across the Sea of Adria…

…As the darkness gave way to the early morning light, Paul begged everyone to eat…Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it…Then everyone was encouraged, and all 276 of us began eating…

…they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get between the rocks and get the ship safely to shore…they headed for shore…But the ship hit a shoal and ran aground.  The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break  apart…everyone escaped safely ashore!  Acts 27

Wow!  Sounds like Luke and Paul weathered quite the storm.  They weathered a physical storm, but it’s not too much different than the storms of our days, is it?  The storm they weathered was two weeks long.  The storms we weather sometimes feels like 14 days, 14 months, 14 years, or longer, don’t they?

Anyone else out there feeling a little shipwrecked?  Tired of answering the phone?  Tired of the rough sailing of life?  Feeling battered against the rocks?  Pulled under by another wave?  Broken apart?  Are we tossed about?  Have we lost precious cargo?  Do we feel blown off course and like we’re not going to land in calm waters ever again?  Have we lost sight of the sun and we can only see the darkness?  Are we crying out like the sailors…No more death!  No more  illness!  No more brokenness!  No more hurt!  No more pain!  No more!!  No more!!  No more!!

Paul’s words in the midst of his shipwreck give us hope.  He said:  Take courage! Translated, it actually means be of good cheer!  What in the world?  Paul doesn’t say it once, but thrice in this passage.  Be of good cheer!  Again, what in the world?  In the midst of my shipwreck happening I’m to be cheerful?  The Greek word for cheer actually means positive passion – be of good cheer, in good spirits.  Hmmm.

In the middle, in the literal depths of the storm, how in the world could Paul be of good cheer, in good spirits?  Why in the world, in this horrible, treacherous storm, in a boat that was carrying Paul as a prisoner to Italy could he say don’t be afraid?

For I believe God.  It will be just as he said.

No matter what Paul was going through, as difficult as the storms were, he believed God.  He believed that God was a God of promises and if God said it, it would be just as He said.  That’s faith.  It’s easy to have faith when there are calm waters, right? But it’s a bit more difficult to have unwavering, committed faith in the middle of a noreaster.  But if we look at what God has promised us it’s much easier to embrace our faith. What has God promised us?  He has promised us love, forgiveness, rest, encouragement, eternal life, complete freedom, compassion, care, protection, healing, that He will walk beside us, that he will send us a helper — the Holy Spirit. 

Life is difficult, there are no two-ways about that.  We can’t escape difficulties on this earth.  However, God has given us all the tools we need to keep the ship upright during the storms.  One of the things the crew on the ship headed to Italy did was to pull the lifeboat inside — think about that metaphorically, it’s exceedingly clear. Another thing the crew did was band the ship with ropes to strengthen the hull.  It means what it says, wrapping the ship in ropes to hold it together.  Think about that for a minute.  In the depths of a raging 14 day storm, somehow, they got under the boat with a rope, and just kept wrapping it around until the boat was bundled, held together, and completely secure.

Do we pull in our Lifeboat when the seas get rocky? What holds our hulls together during the storm?  Do we wrap ourselves with His Word?  Do we lean into His promises?    Do we lean into His people for encouragement and to encourage?  We can’t escape the storms but we can go to The One who will help us land on the island. 

It will be just as He said.  We must believe that.

I may have mentioned previously that  I had a neck problem for years, had, because it’s healed!  I had somewhat constant  pain in my neck (and quite often I was/am the pain in the neck) that interrupted and limited my life and sometimes made me slightly grumpy.  It had something to do with the bones, muscles and nerves in my neck and shoulder (duh) that were not working properly because they were weak or not in the right place or not communicating properly with my brain.  I had various treatments to no avail.  The final healing treatment was with a massage therapist who worked on manipulating my neck, getting my neck and shoulder nerves to calm and release the pain.  It simply was miraculous.  I say that to this day – the Lord healed my neck through this woman.

One of the parts of those treatments was how she wanted me to start my day.  When I woke up each morning I was to lay in bed for a few minutes gently stretching my shoulders, my neck, my back and my arms.  She mentioned that if I stretched out and loosened those muscles and nerves before getting out of bed it would set the tone for how my neck felt for the day.  If I stretched out first I would be more flexible, if I jumped out of bed without first flexing, my muscles and nerves would be rigid.  Either path I chose could dictate how my neck would feel for the day.

It was quite a struggle for me to do, because I’m a go-go-goer, my eyes pop open, my feet hit the floor, I’m dressed and downstairs, half a cup of coffee gone before my alarm stops beeping, but I tried it.  And I could see a huge difference.   Taking 60 whole seconds (whew) before getting out of bed actually set the tone for my entire day.  This started me thinking, oh boy, if this is good for my body, how could I apply this to other parts of my life?  Would it work for my mind?

Do we open our eyes each morning with the gottas or the get tos?  You know it’s all about perspective.  Is our first thought ugh! look what I’ve got to deal with today? Do we automatically make a mental list of the gottas before our feet hit the floor?  You know, start the list, map out the day, plan the course, rehearse the challenges before we’re even upright?  Our world says go-go-go, it moves at such a fast pace that the moment we open our peepers (as our Aunt Vernie used to say) the race has begun and our brains automatically jump to the gottas.  It’s maddening to feel exhausted from the day before we even get out of bed, isn’t it?  Then a lightbulb went off – I need to apply the stretch and flex to my mind that I apply to my body.  Billions of dollars are spent each year taking care of our bodies, shouldn’t we also do the same with our minds — which is free!

So, when my peepers open, before my feet hit the floor, I set the tone for my day.  You may have another way, but might I suggest that the only way to really take care of our minds is to turn them over to the One who created them? How?  By praising Him with our minds before we get out of bed.  Not praying the gimmes, not asking Him for a thing, but simply by bringing our praise to Him, acknowledging Him for who He is.  All.  It sets the tone for the day.  It may change our gottas in the day to get tos.  It will change our attitudes, our mindsets.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 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 12:1-2

God has made it perfectly clear that He wants obedience from our hearts.  He has also made it perfectly clear that we cannot do this alone.  We set the tones for our day.  We can either let Him transform us or we can continue to try to transform ourselves, which is simply not possible.  But, if we offer ourselves to Him each morning, along with our sacrifice of praise, He will transform us and transform our days.  Unlike the health care industry, this transformation costs us nothing but 60 seconds.  Try it.

Be near me Lord, I cannot live without thee.

I dare not try to take one step alone.

I cannot bear the loads of life unaided.

I need they strength to lean myself upon.

******

I will enter His gate with thanksgiving in my heart.

I will enter His courts with praise.

I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice cause He has made me glad.

*****

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,

The King of Creation.

O my soul praise Him

for He is my health and salvation.

All ye who hear,

Now to His presence draw near.

Join Him in glad adoration.

*****

This is the day.  This is the day

That the Lord has made.

We will rejoice, we will rejoice

and be glad in it.

*****

In the morning when I rise.

In the morning when I rise.

In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus.

You can have all of this world, give me Jesus.

For some reason, this Blog posted in 2021 has come to my mind so many times this week. When He sends reminders, we are to take note. Glory to God in the Highest!

A thorn is a sharp thing, which pricks, pierces, irritates, lacerates, festers, and causes endless pain and inconvenience.  Yet it is almost a secret thing, not very apparent to anyone but the sufferer.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Oh my goodness, isn’t that like the truest thing ever?  Walk through the woods and you will know exactly what Spurgeon’s talking about.   When you emerge from the walk, you have these little tiny thorns that have worked their way through your gloves that give you a world of worry.  They are almost imperceptible, almost unnoticeable to the eye, but annoying and worrisome to the skin.  I can completely relate.  Not from a walk in the woods, but from a skirt I wore to work the other day.  Where’s she going with this, you ask? 

I have this blue skirt that I really like, but it has a little problem.  You’re already thinking TMI, aren’t you?  Hang in there, I’ll try to delicately explain.  At the top of the zipper in the back, there’s an eyehook and I’m here to tell you it is not a small, normal sized eyehook, it is a big honking thing, or at least that’s what it feels like.  By the time I got to work Friday, my back at the eyehook, was killing me.  That thing was digging into my back!  Especially when I sat down, which I do almost all day, that little tiny thing was gouging my skin.  I was pitying Paul.  Well, I thought to myself, I’m simply not going to be able to make it through the day with that thing poking me.  It not only hurt, but it was such a major distraction.  Well, I couldn’t rightly go home from work just because of an eyehook, so I did the next best thing.  I looked for something to cover it to make it more comfortable and don’t you know it, there was like nothing I could find that would work.  I was like, really?!?!?  I need some relief here.  So I started digging around in my file drawers and found the perfect thing!  A sock.  Yep, I keep a pair of those white footie socks in my sneakers at work.  I folded that thing over the top of my skirt at the eyehook and I had instant relief, it was perfect!  And Spurgeon was right, no one could see it because my sweater covered it.  So, my day got off to a bumpy start, but now I was in business.  The thorn in my side, back, was gone!  The Apostle Paul could really have used a sock for his thorn, whatever it might have been. 

Suffice it to say it was a crazy day at work, aren’t most days for everyone at work (regardless of where your work might be)?  Anyway, towards the end of the day we got into a little bit of a pickle.  A filing had to be done and the filer’s car was in the shop and had to be picked up by 5:00.  So, at 4:45 pm two others of us dashed to get her car while she was taking care of the filing.  The pickup didn’t go as smoothly as planned – it wasn’t one of those give me the keys I’m outahere kind of things.  I’m standing in the car shop as they try to run through the filer’s credit card on a new credit card machine – someone came in to help, while I stand there petting the cat, yes, a cat.  There’s the credit card machine helper, a mechanic or two and the really sweet lady in this room with me and then it happened!!  I look over at one of the young mechanics and then I look at the floor and what do I see?  My sock!  No kidding, my sock had fallen out of my skirt and was laying on the floor.  Who knows how long it had been there.  I casually walk over pick up my sock and say hmmm…someone lost a sock.  He looks at me with absolutely no expression.  I smile and stuff it in my purse.  It took everything I had not to completely lose my composure and fall on the floor hysterically laughing with my sock.  Needless to say the thorn was back in my flesh!

It got even more interesting because my credit card was the one that worked in their credit card machine for some reason.  So, obviously I couldn’t wait to get out of there, I’m laughing uncontrollably as I go out the door about my sock.  It just keeps getting better – the filer called, I had left my credit card at the mechanic’s and they were closing and I was to pick up my credit card at Lambchops, the bar next door.  I turn around, still laughing.  I go to Lambchops, they buzz me in, and lo and behold the bartender was the credit card machine helper!  The story just keeps going, but doesn’t involve my sock, so I’ll stop.  By the way, that eyehook was still digging into my back, now that my sock was in my purse.

I know, it’s a very long story, I’m sorry.  I try constantly to look for lessons from the Lord, and Friday happened to have a ton, but the one that stayed with me from morning to evening, was the thorn in my flesh.

That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses.  If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,  even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

2 Corinthians 12:5-7

All day long I thought of Paul.  Of course, my thorn was nothing like Paul’s thorn, I’m not comparing them, we don’t even know what his thorn was.  I’m feeling certain that it wasn’t a silly eyehook thorn.  But he does tell us how to handle those thorns of life, those tiny little thorns that no one else can see that distract and wound us.   

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 

2 Corinthians 12:8

Paul persistently presented his thorn to the Lord.  He prayed about it.  Spurgeon said “Anything is a blessing that makes us pray.” If we do not know Jesus, thorns will never be a blessing.   So even though our thorn may be pricking, festering and causing us endless pain, if it drives us to our knees, it is a blessing. 

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

What Satan means for evil, the Lord uses for good.  Paul’s weakness caused by the thorn brought glory to God.  Our thorns may be very different but they should produce the same fruits as Paul’s.  We are made strong when we are weak through the power of Jesus Christ.  Don’t forget that when you feel the poke.

If we are not constantly reminded we will quickly forget.

How true!  Anyone else out there shaking their head up and down saying right on! amen! I’m picking up what you’re putting down?  Think about it.  The Lord God gave us these magnificent, incomprehensible brains.  These brains govern our every thought, our every movement, our every action.  Our brains make our heart pump, our faces smile, our eyes cry, our minds love.  Really, it is quite extraordinary what our brains do when you stop and think about it.

But, one thing my brain is not so good at is remembering.  Yours too?  I write notes, make lists, tell another person to remind me, set alarms on my phone, email myself, calendar, tie a string around my finger – not really but some folks do.  All of this and more to remember to do what I’m “supposed” to be doing.  In part, it’s because we have very busy lives and there are just a lot of things to remember.  But, it could also be because we fill our brains chock full of “useless stuff” that takes up very valuable brain space, or at least that’s the case for me.

The Word of God is full of reminders, in fact, it is in totality a reminder.  A reminder of who God is.  A reminder of who Jesus is.  A reminder of what He’s done for us.  A reminder of how we are to live our lives.  A reminder of His power.  A reminder of His hope. A reminder… The entire Bible is filled with reminders.   His Inspired Word uses the word “remember” anywhere from 250 times to 357 times, depending on your translation.  Whatever those numbers might be in your Bible, it’s a strong message.  The inference of the word “remember” can be found many hundreds of times.  Does that tell us something?

“Remember” means to bring to one’s mind, to retain in our memories.  The opposite is “forget.” The word “forget” can be found anywhere from 60 times to 90 times, again depending on your translation. Well, I’ll tell you right now I’m super good at that.  No amount of Jeopardy, puzzles, mind games, or supplements on the shelves out there right now would change that. I’m sensing I’m not alone! I know another Person who is good at forgetting — when ours sins are forgiven, they are forgotten. Amen!

Here’s the thing, God knew we would struggle with remembering that’s why there are constant reminders. He knew the world would pull us in many different directions and evil forces would encourage us to forget. But, He gave us His amazing power through His Word and the Holy Spirit to combat those forces. Here are a few of His “remembers”:

We to remember God’s commands:

But from eternity to eternity

the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him,

and his righteousness toward the grandchildren

of those who keep his covenant,

who remember to observe his precepts.

Psalm 103:17-18

We are to remember our responsibilities towards each other:

They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I had made every effort to do.  Gal 2:10

We are to remember Jesus’s death:

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,  and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The Bible not only talks of our remembering, but it also talks of God’s remembering.

God always remembers his promises:

For he remembered his sacred promise to Abraham his servant.  Psalm 105:42

God always remembers his people:

The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow in worship before the LORD. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.  After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the LORD.”  1 Samuel 1:19-20

The Bible also tells us the results of remembering.

Remembering leads to rejoicing:

Come and see the wonders of God;

his acts for humanity are awe-inspiring.

He turned the sea into dry land,

and they crossed the river on foot.

There we rejoiced in him.  Psalm 66:5-6

Remembering leads to repentance:

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.  Matthew 5:23-24

Remembering leads to hope:

Yet I call this to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed,

for His mercies never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness!

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in Him.”

Lamentations 3:21-24

The only way we can remember is to be reminded.  The only way to be reminded is to be in the Word of God.

If we are not constantly reminded we will quickly forget.

I hope you’re digging into some study in this New Year that will produce fruit in 2023 for you. I know it can be hard, but oh how sweet the fruit. I have a dear friend whose motto for 2022 was “New Year, New Me.” As believers, that should be our everyday motto, being obedient and open to change will allow the Lord to sanctify and make us holy on a daily basis. Remember, believing in Jesus is just the beginning.

The New Year brought me into a study of Romans. Today is day 11 of the New Year and I’m still only on verse 8, it is rabbit hole city!

Let me say first of all that your faith in God is becoming known throughout the world.  How I thank God through Jesus Christ for each one of you.  Romans 1:8

This verse right here is one of the reasons I’ve been moving so slow.  Romans is chocked full of really cool, thought provoking scripture.  Remember, scripture is to be thought about, it does absolutely no good to read scripture or memorize scripture, if it doesn’t produce change in our lives.  If reading scripture is not causing us to think, we might as well not read it.  Harsh, but true. Goodness, I keep getting off track (another reason I’m only on verse 8), so I’ll get to the point.  When I read Romans  I was struck.  Verses 1-7 were some meaty greetings from Paul in which he immediately starts talking about the Good News.  I love it, he doesn’t wait to make friends, or wait for just the right moment, or wait to be asked, or wait for the right setting, he hops in with both feet to proclaim Jesus to a group of people he has never met (we should make note). Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome, Jews and Gentiles.  No doubt, the Christians (and others) had heard about the Apostle Paul, but in Verse 8 he’s letting them know, he has heard about them too.  What had he heard?  That the Christians in Rome had an excellent reputation and their strong faith was making itself known around the world.  This is what gave me pause and left me with many of my own questions to ponder. What do people say about me?  What do people say about my church?  What do people say about my faith?  What’s my reputation?  Is there something else I would prefer they say about me or my church? I’m a a verb person, so after mulling all that over, my next thought was what is the best way to get the public to recognize my faith, my Jesus? Have you ever thought about that?  How do I make my faith known to the whole world, or at least my little corner of it? Well, the answers came quite quickly, maybe because they are quite obvious.  If I want people to recognize my faith, to recognize my Jesus, I have to speak my faith and live my faith.  I have to act like Jesus would.   My life has to line up with my lips.  And just as important as what I do do to speak and live my faith, is what I don’t do. Over and over in Paul’s New Testament writings he talks about faith reputations.  Remember, if we claim to belong to Jesus, our words and our actions are reflections of Him, not us.  It is His reputation at risk, not ours.

The word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God.  1 Thessalonians 1:8

Paul’s message to the Romans and the Thessalonians should encourage us to ring in a New Year, New Me.  We must be the people who ring the word of the Lord everywhere we go to those we know and those we don’t know.

A person is either a missionary or a mission-field.

Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom and her family saved the lives of approximately 800 Jews during the Holocaust.  She grew up in a devoutly religious family and during World War II she and her family protected Jews fleeing the Nazi’s behind a secret wall in her family’s watch shop in Haarlem, Netherlands.  Betrayed by a fellow Dutchman, the entire family was arrested and imprisoned.  Corrie would be the only one of her family to survive their imprisonment and the Ravensbruck concentration camp.  After her release in December 1944, Corrie ten Boom became an author and eventually settled in California writing her memoir, The Hiding Place, and many devotionals.

Faith inspired the ten Boom family to serve society, offering shelter, food, money, a hiding place, to those in need. In this tradition, the family held a deep respect for the Jewish community in Amsterdam, considering them “God’s ancient people.”

I read the above quote a couple of weeks ago and can’t get it out of my head.  I have really been chewing on it – am I a missionary or a mission-field?  Is my life consistently in such disarray (so far from Jesus) that it looks like a mission field?  Or, am I consistently working on a relationship with Jesus that would give me the power and strength to assist on a mission-field?  Are you a missionary or a mission-field?

The word mission comes from a Latin word meaning “to send.”  Hmmm…  Where have we heard that before?  A mission is a special quest or a special assignment to bring aid, healing, support, education, evangelism, Jesus to other people.  One who is sent on this mission is called a missionary.  The place where the special assignment takes place is called the mission-field, where the need is.

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”    Matthew 28:18-20

As Christians we are called to go to the mission-fields and be missionaries.  In fact, we are commissioned to do that by Jesus.  He has given the instruction, we must take the action.  That’s obedience. 

Go, tell the world about Him. Who He is. What He’s done. He’s commissioned us as missionaries to the lost-world mission-field.

This post first published Christmas Eve 2018. As I read through it, I thought, goodness, this is a post I could read and apply every single day, remember, I write these lessons first for me and then for thee. It is a question I need to ask myself every single day – So, Beth, What Are You Going To Do About This Baby? It is a good reminder to me that because Jesus has come, I now must be-come. May the Everlasting Joy of Christmas be yours today and everyday…

You do know we’re having a baby tomorrow, right?  Had you heard that?  Are we ready for it?  Not Christmas silly, the baby.  There’s lots of preparations that take place before a baby comes, right?  Babies change our lives, completely upside down, right?  Not only a newborn coming into the world, but in a way when the baby arrives, we too are born, reborn.  Old habits, old routines, chucked right out the window.  Right?

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.  She gave birth to her first child, a son.  She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn. 

Luke 2:6-7

So, what are we going to do about this baby?  Anything?  Remember the story of Lazarus, Jesus’ friend?  Lazarus died.  Jesus raised him from the dead.

Many of the people were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.  But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.  Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together to discuss the situation.  “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. 

John 11:45-47

See there, the Pharisees and the leading priests were asking the same thing.  What are we going to do about this baby?

You know, a baby changes everything.  Babies, this Baby, changed the course of the world.  Will this Baby change us?  What will happen if we don’t allow ourselves to be changed, to experience new birth, to be reborn?

So, what are we going to do about this Baby?  You know, the one swaddled at birth and placed in a manger.  The one swaddled at death and placed in a tomb.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and He was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  He created everything there is.  Nothing exists that he didn’t make.  Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone.  This light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  John 1:1

The light that gives light to all mankind left behind the clothes in the manger and the clothes in the tomb.  He was born!  He did die!  He is risen!  Indeed.

So, what are we going to do about this baby?

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.  The stars in the sky look down where He lay.  The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the poor Baby awakes.  But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.  I love thee, Lord Jesus!  Look down from the sky.  And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay.  Close by me forever and love me, I pray.  Bless all the dear children in thy tender care.  And take us to heaven, to live with thee there.

So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us.

John 1:14

Today in the world about 14,708 babies will be born each hour.  Now in the early days birth was not quite happening at that rate, but it was happening.  After all,  God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply.  He told Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiple.  He told Jacob aka Israel to be fruitful and multiple.  So this is what was supposed to happen, right?  Babies were to be born.  Procreation was on. 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18

The Word became human by being born of a woman.  Mary.  At first glance it looks so ordinary, doesn’t it?  A woman has a baby.  Happens every day.  But if we really think about it, it is quite fantastic.  We all pretty much know this story.  It’s the Reason for the Season, right?  But do we really understand how extraordinary it is?  His mother found out she was pregnant by an angel not a doctor.  This pregnancy was not unplanned but a planned pregnancy from the beginning of time.  His parents were not married but betrothed.  His mother was a not a woman but a teenaged girl.  His father was not Joseph but the Holy Spirit.  He was born in a manger not a hospital.   There obviously were some extraordinary happenings surrounding the birth of this baby.

Here’s how Sinclair Ferguson describes it: 

Christ came into the womb of a virgin and emerged from it as a new-born infant.  He came to share our humanity from its beginning—an embryo cradled in the body of a teenaged virgin.

What a beautiful vision.  Cradled from womb to manger.  Although important, the most extraordinary part isn’t how He came or the events surrounding the birth, but why He came, that’s the most beautiful vision.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

The ordinary course of life starts with birth.  If we do not see the extraordinary in this ordinary, we will have missed Jesus.

Wednesday Read John 1:1-18.  What does The Word mean?  Write out your understanding of it.

Thursday Read John 1:1-18.  What do these scriptures say about Jesus being fully human and fully God?

Friday Read Genesis 1:1.  Who was there in the beginning?

Read Genesis 1:26.  Who created people?  In whose image were they created?  Hint – look for the pronouns.

Saturday Review your answers to the questions posed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sunday Spend time in prayer asking God to reveal to you how extraordinary He is.

Monday Read Luke 4:14-22.  What was Jesus sent to do?

Tuesday Spend time in prayer today praising God for sending the hope of the earth to release us from our sins and fears.  Praise God for sending The Word.

Names all the extraordinary happenings in these verses.  List all the things that only God could do.

There’s a phenomenon of nature I have noticed.  When I sit at my desk each morning facing east, I usually sit in the dark for a few minutes before I turn the light on just trying to wake up a little bit and try to center myself on the Lord God.  I open the window, which my desk sits in front of, so that I can hear.  I love the night sounds, we usually sleep with our window open, but I also love the morning sounds, or actually, the lack of day sounds.  Sure my feet sometimes get cold, but I just slip a blanket over my legs so I can feel, smell, and hear the day awaken.  I don’t want to miss that.

Back to the phenomenon…traveling sounds.  We’re planted with the mountain on our west and town to our east.  Driving to town sometimes seems like we live a far piece out, but listening in the early morning sometimes sounds like we’re built beside the interstate.  As I sit here writing, I can hear the interstate plain as day.  Vehicles, trucks traveling north to south, south to north.  My grandma used to say the trucks traveling past their house on Route 11 were “singing.”  That song is not one of my favorites.

The way we hear sound is very curious to me.  Granted, plenty of trees and natural barriers have been removed between the mountain and the interstate, nevertheless, plenty of barriers remain to absorb the sounds of the interstate too – ridges and hills, orchards, trees, leaves, brush.  But still…the interstate sound.  Granted it is sometimes louder than other times, depending on the density of trees and whether or not they have their leaves, depending on the density of the elements of the atmosphere too like smog, fog, rain, snow.

But, there is a certain psychology to sound.  Not only is it physical, it happens through your brain and your ears and for some through the eyes, but it is also psychology, sound happens in our emotions.  For instance, hearing a baby cry triggers happiness and causes us to go awwwww.  That same cry can also cause concern.  That physical sound not only triggers a physical response, but it triggers an emotional response as well.  Sounds have the ability to interact with our emotional hearts and create feelings.  Deep…sorry.

The interstate sounds remind me some of my relationship with God.  Sometimes I can hear Him so clearly moving in my world, singing His love song, His guidance song, His comfort song, His provision song, His salvation song and I react emotionally, with feelings, with my heart.   Like when a baby cries, as the song says, the Baby’s cry is the sound of love come down, He has come, Emmanuel!

At other times, though I may not be able to hear God’s voice, or distinguish God’s voice above the parade of the interstate noise, you know, the vroom songs of life.  My ability to hear God’s voice is dependent almost wholly on me.  Have I removed the barriers that keep me from hearing Him?  Have I cut down all the trees that are muffling the sounds?  Have I placed the barriers that block the chatter of the world?  Have the elements of the atmosphere of the world, pain, fear, anger, anxiety, made it difficult for me to hear His song and made it difficult for me to feel His song in my heart?

You know, in Jesus day, it wouldn’t have been the interstate that made it hard to hear the baby’s cry, it may have been a caravan traveling to hometowns for the government required census,  it may have been Herod’s angry cries, it may have been the sound of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus fleeing to Africa, the sound of the Pharisees, the sound of Pilate’s verdict, the sounds of betrayal and rejection, the sound of Jesus being nailed to the cross.  Today, even the thoughts of those sounds emit an emotional response for those who love the Lord.

How can we tune in to the Lord’s voice through the din of the world?  How do we distinguish the voice of the Living God from the cacophony of our lives?  What is the key to hearing God in our loud lives, in our noisy worlds?  The Word.  We cannot hope to hear the Lord if we don’t know Him.  Where do we learn to recognize the sound of His voice?  In His Word.  We can live as close to Him as we want to, The Lord does not set up barriers to keep us from knowing Him, from hearing Him.  We do.  He will not tear down the barriers we set up to block His voice.  We must.

I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying,

for he speaks peace to his faithful people.

But let them not return to their foolish ways.

Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,

so our land will be filled with his glory.  Psalm 85:8-9

He came to us, He pursued us – He is the Good News.  How will we respond to the sounds of The Most High, the sound of love come down?

Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem!  Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.  Luke 2:15

One of my centering reads (other than the Bible, of course), is a tiny little book by A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God.  I may have mentioned it before.  If you want help centering, in a genuine, direct, Godly way, this is a must-read.  Although written in the 40s, it doesn’t read at all like that. This is one of those little books that proves the timelessness of the Word of God and its teachings.   This book was written on a train bound from Chicago to Texas.  In one long, bumpy, loud, overnight train ride, the draft was completed.  In his pastoral journey, Tozer was assigned to the Alliance Church in Nutter Fort, West Virginia in 1919, before serving 31 years at the Southside Alliance Church in Chicago and becoming a regular on the Moody Bible Institute’s radio station segment Talks from a Pastor’s Study.

I opened this little book the other day to reground (try).  If you’re like me (I hope I’m not alone), this time of year, this season, sometimes leaves me chasing my tail with all the “stuff” that “needs” to be done.  It is exciting with preparations for Christmas.  The parties to attend, the gifts to purchase, the kids’ concerts, the Church play, the tree lightings, the parades, the family dinners to plan, the decorating, the baking, the wrapping (that starts with beautifully wrapped packages and ends with a ‘just stuff it in a bag’), and the list goes on and on.  If you are the Celebration Director in your family you may find yourself helplessly swirling around until you just flop somewhere.

As I was reading the book, I was reminded:

God formed us for Himself.  The Shorter Catechism…asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work,

“Question:  What is the chief end of man?

Answer:  Man’s chief end is to glorify God forever.”

A.W. Tozer

Our Father, our Creator, our Most High God, made us for Himself!  Roll that around in your mind for a minute.  The God of the Universe, the One who created from scratch, from the dust of the earth, our breath, our bodies, our minds, our spirits, formed us for Himself.  WoW!  That’s a little mind boggling to me – not necessarily the fact that He created me and you, although that’s super WoW too, but the fact that He chose to create me, the fact that he wanted me, even me, doesn’t just boggle my mind, it blows it away.

Tozer goes on to say:

God formed us for his pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.  He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile.

This is the time of year for “sweet mysterious mingling,” isn’t it?  Spend a second or two on that – “sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.”  It doesn’t get any sweeter than a baby, more mysterious than the events surrounding that Baby’s birth in a manger and truths yet unrevealed, more mingling than that Baby living in our hearts, for all eternity, more kindred than God in us, revealed in us, His name is called Immanuel.

We were created for divine communion and sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.  You know, like, I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God…communion with kin, united with family with God as our Father.  He wants to be together with us, He wants to live with us, He wants to live  in us.  He came as a baby in the manger so that we can see Him, so that we can know Him, so that we can be with Him forever.

Just thinking about that should make us want to fall to our knees and bring our worship, bring our glory, to God.  Thinking about how God sent His Son, Jesus, to save us for all eternity, should cause us to work out the “chief end of man,” which is the sole purpose for our very next breath.  Our sole purpose for being on this planet is to enter into the presence of God.  Unlike that Baby in the manger, we were born with a void, a hole, a space, a gap, a yearning, an emptiness so deep in our hearts that only the presence of God can fill it.  Only His sweet mysterious mingling can seep in around the cracks and crevices and bind together the shattered brokenness of our hearts into communion with Him.

During this Season, let each of us be sure to work out the chief end of man in our own lives. In all the busyness, let’s be sure to bring glory to the One whose season we celebrate.

Come to Bethlehem and see him whose birth the angels sing; come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King.  Gloria in excelsis Deo, Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory in the Highest to God!