Merry Christmas!
Oh my goodness! Where did the time go?
It's said that as you grow older that time seems to fly by. Maybe its a cruel joke or maybe its a merciful thing, I don't know. What I do know is that I've learned that if I don't make the most of every day, that I've missed out on that day's blessing, one that would never make an appearance again because it was unique for that time.
This year has been fraught with violence, threats, and fear and it seems to be getting worse, but...
But, there is so much more that is going on around us, and if we are not mindful of that fact, we will miss it. We will miss the blessings. We will miss life.
There's a song in the Christian community by Brandon Heath called Give me Your eyes. The chorus goes this way:
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
the ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see.
I absolutely love that song, not because it's by Brandon Heath, who is one of my favorite artists, but because every time I hear it, it reminds me to look around and see what I might be missing.
If we allow the world and it's problems to cloud our eyes, to put blinders on us so that all we see is what it wants us to see, we miss the beauty of Creation. We miss the beauty that rises from the ashes.
We miss the ability to show the world that Christians are more than a building, more than a religion, more than Westboro Church and others like them. We miss the chance to show the world the love of God that dwells in us through His Son Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
That small voice that you just ignored telling you to turn around? You just missed an opportunity to help an elderly person with the bag of groceries that just spilled on the ground. That slight nudge you just felt was the smile that you needed to give someone who desperately needed to see something pleasant instead of the unpleasantness they'd been experiencing.
This is the day that Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus. Was it actually the day He was born? Probably not, but its the day that history has set aside for Him. We celebrate God Incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. Jesus who left all of the riches of the Universe to become Man, live a sinless life, who told the world for three years of God and His love for fallen Man. He was tortured beyond what is humanly possible, crucified and died on a Roman cross. He who did not sin, took on the sins of the world, past, present and future. He was buried in a borrowed rich man's tomb, but did not stay there! He rose again and preached the Good News for forty days, then He ascended to the right hand of God where He stands to this day, waiting for God to tell Him its time to bring the redeemed Home. And all we have to do is accept a gift.
What an appropriate thing to get at this time of year! We exchange gifts with those we love, those we respect and sometimes just because we pulled a name out of a hat. Well, God has a gift that is available year-round...its the gift of Salvation. God offers to us this gift with no strings attached...we don't have to straighten out our lives, do good works or go to church to receive it. All we have to do is ask Jesus to forgive us for our sins and repent. We have to believe that He lived, died and rose again, and then ask Jesus to come into our hearts. The Bible says if we do these things that we are now a new Creation, saved by grace. God comes to us, filthy habits, dirty rags and all and offers us a Kingdom that will never end and we have a choice. We can ignore the gift, thinking it has strings attached, or we can accept it humbly and experience the knowledge that we are now a Child of the King.
Does that mean we will have a primrose path? No, but it will mean that the path that we were on will change. That we will see the things that we were missing. That we will have a heart for the lost, the weak, the poor, the orphans and widows. We will have the eyes to see the things we can change and have the will to make the change or at least start it.
Now the choice is yours. Will you accept the Gift of Salvation that God offers to you or will you choose to leave it? Whatever your decision, I pray that your Christmas will be a beautiful one, full of love, friends, and family. I pray that you will experience joy, laughter and love and for the coming year of 2016, I pray that it will be a year to remember and that it will be blessed beyond belief.
Merry Christmas, my friends, and a Happy New Year.
It's said that as you grow older that time seems to fly by. Maybe its a cruel joke or maybe its a merciful thing, I don't know. What I do know is that I've learned that if I don't make the most of every day, that I've missed out on that day's blessing, one that would never make an appearance again because it was unique for that time.
This year has been fraught with violence, threats, and fear and it seems to be getting worse, but...
But, there is so much more that is going on around us, and if we are not mindful of that fact, we will miss it. We will miss the blessings. We will miss life.
There's a song in the Christian community by Brandon Heath called Give me Your eyes. The chorus goes this way:
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
the ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see.
I absolutely love that song, not because it's by Brandon Heath, who is one of my favorite artists, but because every time I hear it, it reminds me to look around and see what I might be missing.
If we allow the world and it's problems to cloud our eyes, to put blinders on us so that all we see is what it wants us to see, we miss the beauty of Creation. We miss the beauty that rises from the ashes.
We miss the ability to show the world that Christians are more than a building, more than a religion, more than Westboro Church and others like them. We miss the chance to show the world the love of God that dwells in us through His Son Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
That small voice that you just ignored telling you to turn around? You just missed an opportunity to help an elderly person with the bag of groceries that just spilled on the ground. That slight nudge you just felt was the smile that you needed to give someone who desperately needed to see something pleasant instead of the unpleasantness they'd been experiencing.
This is the day that Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus. Was it actually the day He was born? Probably not, but its the day that history has set aside for Him. We celebrate God Incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. Jesus who left all of the riches of the Universe to become Man, live a sinless life, who told the world for three years of God and His love for fallen Man. He was tortured beyond what is humanly possible, crucified and died on a Roman cross. He who did not sin, took on the sins of the world, past, present and future. He was buried in a borrowed rich man's tomb, but did not stay there! He rose again and preached the Good News for forty days, then He ascended to the right hand of God where He stands to this day, waiting for God to tell Him its time to bring the redeemed Home. And all we have to do is accept a gift.
What an appropriate thing to get at this time of year! We exchange gifts with those we love, those we respect and sometimes just because we pulled a name out of a hat. Well, God has a gift that is available year-round...its the gift of Salvation. God offers to us this gift with no strings attached...we don't have to straighten out our lives, do good works or go to church to receive it. All we have to do is ask Jesus to forgive us for our sins and repent. We have to believe that He lived, died and rose again, and then ask Jesus to come into our hearts. The Bible says if we do these things that we are now a new Creation, saved by grace. God comes to us, filthy habits, dirty rags and all and offers us a Kingdom that will never end and we have a choice. We can ignore the gift, thinking it has strings attached, or we can accept it humbly and experience the knowledge that we are now a Child of the King.
Does that mean we will have a primrose path? No, but it will mean that the path that we were on will change. That we will see the things that we were missing. That we will have a heart for the lost, the weak, the poor, the orphans and widows. We will have the eyes to see the things we can change and have the will to make the change or at least start it.
Now the choice is yours. Will you accept the Gift of Salvation that God offers to you or will you choose to leave it? Whatever your decision, I pray that your Christmas will be a beautiful one, full of love, friends, and family. I pray that you will experience joy, laughter and love and for the coming year of 2016, I pray that it will be a year to remember and that it will be blessed beyond belief.
Merry Christmas, my friends, and a Happy New Year.
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