HAS CHRIST’S COMING CHANGED ME?

Luke 6:13-16, Ac 4:13

Precious Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit,

The Christmas season has faded from the calendar. The stores have marked all of their holiday items down to 50% and even 70% off the "before" Christmas retail price. The radio station in town that has played Christmas music for two months returned to its secular format on December 26. We are taking down the tree and putting the decorations in storage for another year.

Christmas Day has come and gone. I have thought much of Your coming to earth as God made flesh to live among us. But as I consider the first coming of the Lord, I must ask myself, "So what?" How am I different? How has Your coming changed me?

In order to answer that question I must ask it about others. "What change did Jesus make in the lives of the people who knew Him best?" You certainly turned things upside down for Mary and Joseph! The people of Bethlehem were never the same again. Their adoration and loyalty to You cost many families the lives of their infant sons. Perhaps some of the very shepherds who had adored You upon Your birth, now had empty cradles and shattered lives.  Anna and Simeon could die in peace because they had seen the Lord. The Wise Men were convinced they had met the Son of God, the King of the Jews. Each who encountered You in the Christmas narrative was forever changed.

What about those who knew You best in life and ministry? How did Your coming change them? Church tradition recites many of their deaths. James was the first martyr, thrown off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. Matthew was martyred in Ethiopia. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt until dead. Hanging on a Grecian hillside was Doctor Luke’s end. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. Bartholomew, Andrew, Thomas, Jude, Matthais, Barnabas, and Paul–all died martyr’s deaths. Only John lived out his full years, dying in his nineties. But it was not for a lack of trying. John’s would be assassin had attempted to fry the preacher alive in a caldron of boiling oil, but John had escaped.

Why were they willing, even eager to die for You? Because Your coming had changed them. They had met Messiah and were compelled to follow You to their own cross of sacrifice. Tertullian said it well, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

So, I come back to my question. I have traded an old calendar for a new. Christmas is a fading memory, and the question is still nagging at my mind. "How has Christ’s coming changed me?"

So, I follow. I follow You. I serve You. I obey You. I refuse to return to status quo.

In the Name of the God who never leaves me the same,

Amen.

I've Just Seen Jesus!

Luke 10:23-24 23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

Dear Jesus,

I long to see You, to encounter You, to know You.  Through Your Holy Spirit I can.  I do.  But I anticipate that face to face encounter in heaven, when I see You.  Throughout the centuries my longing has been felt by others.  It was especially acute in the centuries spanning the garden to the manger. 

That is what the Advent season is all about.  It is a season in the church calendar to evoke longing within us--a longing for Jesus.  Throughout the Advent season we have just concluded, I seek You in a quest to rediscover the longing of the ages.  As I ponder the brokenness of my world, I find myself longing for your soon return.  In those moments, I begin to rediscover the longing of humanity from the garden to the manger. 

WB Godbey wrote: "Jehovah preached the first gospel sermon to Adam and Eve in the garden, before their expulsion out of paradise, whose salient truth, 'The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,' assured them that a Deliverer should be born in their family, whose mighty arm would defeat Satan and regain paradise for them, which they should enjoy forever. Consequently they retreated out of Eden, their broken hearts cheered with the joyous anticipation of the coming deliverance and restoration. Such was their glowing enthusiasm that Mother Eve actually hailed her own first-born Son as the promised Messiah, exclaiming 'I have brought forth the man- Jehovah.' Now, when we remember that Jehovah is the Old Testament name of Christ, we see how they actually hailed Cain as the Redeemer promised in Eden. How crushing the disappointment when he turned out to be a murderer! 

"Thus the Old Testament saints lived in constant anticipation of the Messianic advent. The trend of things growing worse instead of better, evil predominating and constraining the Divine mercy to bring on the flood, in order to give grace a great victory over sin and perpetuate the hope of the world, then the post-diluvians continued to look for the promised Deliverer down through the patriarchal age. Through all the centuries of Judaism, the Scriptures, both the law and the prophets, unanimously holding up the Incarnate God, in type, symbol, and prophecy, the saints through the intervening centuries, from Moses down to John the Baptist, and especially the prophets, lived in longing anticipation to feast their eyes on the Shiloh of prophecy, and be permitted to behold with mortal vision the Redeemer of Israel, the Christ of God, and the Savior of the world. All these had lived and died in loving and longing anticipation to behold the Lord’s Christ, and ready, like old Simeon, to take the infant Redeemer in their arms and die of joy. 

"How beautifully here Jesus adverts to those thrilling facts characteristic of the saints of the last four thousand years! The same has been true ever since He ascended into glory, having filled and thrilled the hearts of His disciples with the positive assurance of His return. One of the most cheering omens in all the world today, is the wonderfully rapid development of this universal expectancy of our coming King, illustrating the consolatory assurance that He is even now bending from the skies, and whispering to His saints, 'Wash and dress My beloved, for I am coming.'" (WB Godbey on Luke 20:23-24).

So I long for Your return!  I want to see You.  Bill Gaither's song, I've Just Seen Jesus, expressed His disciple's joy upon discovering the reality of the resurrected Christ.

I've just seen Jesus, I tell you He's alive
I've just seen Jesus, our precious Lord alive
And I knew He really saw me too
As if till now I'd never lived
All that I'd done before won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus, I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
(William Gaither)

The longing of the ages is to see Jesus! To see You face to face!  The same longing of humanity from the garden to the manger, is the same longing from Your ascension to the Father until Your return. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

In the Name of my Savior and soon-coming King, Jesus,

Amen.

A Time Line

Matthew 3

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

Make His paths straight.’”

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for a New Year. Thank You for the privilege of life lived another day. Thank you for a dividing line that marks time--another year.

"... John marked a dividing line in history. Since John's proclamation had been made, Jesus had come; eternity had invaded time; heaven had invaded earth; God had arrived in Jesus; life could never be the same again. We date all time as before Christ and after Christ--B.C. and A.D. Jesus is the dividing line. Therefore, all who come after him and who receive him are of necessity granted a greater blessing than all who went before. The entry of Jesus into the world divided all time into two; and it divided all life in two. 'If any man be in Christ he is a new creation' (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is created all over again." (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 89).

So as one calendar is removed from the wall and another replaces it, I participate in Your incredible creative gift to humanity, time.  You transcend time.  Time does not confine or limit You. You are Supra-time.  Yet You create time for us to enjoy.  You create us with a need for daylight and dark, work and sleep, labor and rest.  You mark those divisions, and call it time.

Then You came to the world You created.  Transcendent Deity crossed the boundaries between timelessness and time, eternity and creation, heaven and earth... The Creator of time voluntarily took upon Himself the limitation of the time-bound. You invaded space in a manger, and nothing has been the same.  

So as dachshunds come down from the wall calendar, and mountains rise, I mark time.  I mark the end of one year and the beginning of another.  I am told that this year is worthy of a number. Not just any number.  This number is a memorial to the time when Ultimate Reality invaded the human experience.  The Holy Spirit conceived in the womb of woman.  God became man.  That changed everything!  Even my calendar.

Thank You.

In the Name of Jesus,

Amen.

Merry Christmas: God Sent us a Savior

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
If your greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

Source Unknown.

The Lights of Christmas

John 1:1-5, 8:12, Genesis 1:1-5, Luke 2:8-15, Matthew 1:1-11

Eternal Word,

Why do we have lights at Christmas? I think that it’s because of the lights of that first Christmas when You entered the world. Heaven shone the light of the angels upon the shepherds. Eternal Father positioned the star whose light led the wise men from the East to the house where You were staying. You are the Light of the world, and the lights celebrate Your arrival to a sin darkened planet.

It’s interesting to observe the secularization of Your birthday. I remember a book someone wrote a few years ago titled, "The War on Christmas." They author described the symbols of Your birth that are no longer politically correct, and that are being cast aside in an attempt to remove You from our lives. But in spite of all the anti-Christmas and anti-Christ rhetoric, Christmas fighters have not mentioned or attempted to ban one of Your most important religious symbols of the season. It’s the lights! Your light may be one of the most important symbols of this season.

"In the beginning was the Word." Your creative word called this world into existence out of nothing, proclaiming, "Let there be light!" Sometime ago I read that of the 800,000 words in the English language an average person knows 10,000 words and uses 5,000 per day. You spoke Your creative word, and worlds came into existence. Only God can do that, and You did.

Even the godless have to reckon with Your reality. I once read that near the end of his life, the godless philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, told someone: "I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God."

From the beginning of time, You were consumed with Light. You live in Light. Your first Word of creation was light, and I along with John recognize You as the Light. You are the Light of the world. Light has conquered darkness! Light conquered darkness in Creation. Light conquers the darkness of sinful culture from the first century to today.

Jesus, Light of the world, You are our victory over darkness. That’s why we have lights at Christmas. You are the Light of Salvation. You are the Light of the World. Light my world this Christmas. Help me to reflect Your Light to another.

In the Name of the One who is Eternal Light,

Amen.

Save Us!

Matthew 1:25, 21:9, Psalm 148:1

Dear Jesus, Savior,

Save us!  “Save us” is the cry throughout the centuries.

When the Hebrew people called the name of their General Joshua, they were crying out “Save us!”  You raised up this leader to be a savior to his people.  What did he save his people from?
Joshua saved his nation with a good report of the land of Canaan. When the 10 spies rebelled with an evil report, Joshua saved everyone under 40 years of age when the people refused to enter Canaan at Kadesh-Barnea.  Joshua saved the Hebrews during forty years of wandering in the desert.  Joshua saved his nation at the flood-tide of the Jordan.  He saved his nation in the conquest of Canaan.  He saved Rahab, the harlot,  at Jericho, and she became one of Your ancestors. He pointed us to You, the One who would “save his people from their sins.”

Hosea, the prophet, saved Gomer, his slave-wife, from the life of prostitution into which she sold herself.  God broke Hosea’s heart for the spiritual prostitution his people had committed against You.  Hosea sought to save the people of Judah who had prostituted themselves after the gods of other nations.  Hosea pointed us to You, the One who would “save his people from their sins.”

Your birth and death were marked with “Save us.”  Mary and Joseph named You Jesus–Hoshea in Hebrew–because You would save Your people from their sins.  On Palm Sunday, the crowds mobbed You crying “Hosanna, to the Son of David!”  They spread their coats on the road as a pavement for You as You rode the donkey into Jerusalem.  “Hosanna, to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

What did it all mean?

“Save us!”

The Hebrew people thought You would be their Savior from international military oppression.  One nation after another–Babylon, Egypt, Rome–had oppressed them.  They wanted a political savior.  They wanted a military savior.  You came for something more.  True salvation. You came to save Your “people from their sins.”  You simply want me to cry from the depths of my soul, “Hosanna, Jesus!  Save us now, Savior!”

Hoshea.  Hosanna.  Jesus.  Save us.

Amen.

Why do so many babies have to die?

Matthew 2:13-23, Jeremiah 31:15

My Precious Lord,

Why do so many babies have to die?  I remember standing by a grave side as a twenty-four year old minister.  I knew little about death, and even less about the death of a baby.  I remember that the baby was stillborn.  It was the young couple’s first child.  The grandparents were grief-stricken.  The mother, still weakened by childbirth could barely stand.  My senior pastor was out of town, and I was called upon to minister to the family at a simple grave side service.  They requested that I read some Scripture and pray.  I did.  If felt miserably weak, helpless, as if I were no comfort to them whatsoever.  Why do so many babies have to die?

And then, it all came home to me.  In 2015 our daughter lost a baby at 20 weeks of pregnancy.  How could I feel so much love for a little one whom I have never even met?  The women of my family have experienced 5 miscarriages of which I know between them.  Mom reminds me of the baby she miscarried before she conceived and bore me.  Why do so many babies have to die?

I remember a favorite high school teacher remarking, “The old must die.  The young may die.”  Then he died of electrocution in a construction accident at age forty-six.  I was 17 years old, and this was my first brush with deep grief.

I hear the tragic stories of babies dying from sudden infant death syndrome.  Recently, a family member told me of a married colleague who was pregnant, and could not afford to birth and feed a fourth child.  Selective abortion was their tragic choice.  Millions multiply this awful sin.  Why do so many babies have to die?

Herod’s  paranoid, delusional mind could not face the possibility of a competitor.  He had already killed and assassinated others his psychosis had suspicioned.  A newborn king of the Jews?  Survival was not an option!  His throne would not be challenged!  His lineage would not be threatened!  No other king of the Jews must be allowed to live!

Your parents secreted You out of Bethlehem.  Your earliest months and years were spent as an alien in a foreign land, Egypt.  You learned to walk as an undocumented alien.  You learned to talk as a foreigner with a foreign tongue in a strange land.  The earliest sand Your mother brushed from Your feet was Egyptian sand.

In the wake of Your departure from Bethlehem, babies died.  Herod killed them.  Josephus did not record it.  Not so much as a blip on the screen of history.  Twenty or thirty dead Bethlehem babies is the estimate.  Not as many as wars and genocides, but each one left an empty cradle and a grieving mother.  It happens time and time again.  Why do so many babies have to die?

Lord Jesus, Lord of life, we are living in a broken, sin-cursed, hurting, grieving world.  Speak peace, hope and life into my world, filled with doubt, questions, confusion...  and dying babies.

In Your Name which is Hope,
Amen.

I Can't Wait

Genesis 3:15, 49:10, Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 9:2-7, Micah 5:2, Revelation 13:8

Precious Savior,

I remember the longing and anticipation I felt as a child waiting for Christmas morning so.  I remember studying the old Sears and Roebuck Wish Book and dreaming of Christmas.  I remember saying, “I can’t wait till...”  But alas, we had to wait.  I remember waiting until that Christmas morning.  I had asked for a BB gun.  I had it all picked out in the Wish Book.  It was lever action, modeled after the 30-30 lever action rifle.  It looked like the guns on the cowboy movies.  It looked like the gun that won the West.  I remember that Christmas morning when I saw the long narrow package under the tree.  James and I both had one.  We had to wait until Dad read the Christmas story.  “I can’t wait...”  We had to wait until Dad prayed the Christmas prayer.  “I can’t wait...”

As soon as Dad said “Amen,” it was like the starter’s pistol at the track meet had fired.  We were off!  We tore at the paper!  I remember getting through the paper to the box.  It was my BB gun!  I tugged at the huge staples at the end of the box.  Dad pulled out his pocket knife to work at them.  They finally came loose and I slid my new BB gun out of the box.  There it was, my new BB gun!  I had said, “I can’t wait!”   But I had waited, and it was worth it.

Perhaps my waiting for Christmas gives me an insight into the longing of the ages–the wait for Your promise.  The wait had started in the Garden of Eden.  The wait for the promised offspring of woman that would set Your people free from the bondage of sin.

Isaiah describes humanity waiting in the dark, until that darkness was penetrated by God’s promise of the Prince of Peace, the Messiah.  Help me to wait in anticipation for You to shatter darkness.  Help me to see You as my hope and deliverance in the face of drudgery, death and oppression.  You are Immanuel, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Righteous King, the Divine Servant, the Anointed Preacher, and the Mighty Savior.  You are worth the wait!

As I wait for You to come in a fresh and new way, fill me with wonder at Your first coming.  As I ponder a loving couple, a virgin mother, a long trip, government taxation, angelic hosts, shepherds, and a packed village, help me to make room for You.  I am leaving the VACANCY sign of my heart lit for You.  I wait with anticipation of Your fresh arrival to my heart, dwell in me.

“O come to my heart, Lord Jesus.  There is room in my heart for thee.”

Amen.

Sexless Scandal

John 1:1-5, Luke 1:26-55

Precious Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

The miracle of a baby is one of the most thrilling miracles of all.  Witnessing the miracle of birth is one of the premier soul-stirring experiences of life.  In the birth of my children, I witnessed the smallness of myself, the greatness of God, and one of the most significant contributions I can make to Your Creation!  I have held my own newborn infants.  I have cuddled them, changed them, and kissed their indescribably soft skin.  Miraculous!  And You created all of this!

The miracle of a virgin-born baby, Fathered by the Holy Spirit, is the scandal of religion!  Your plan to introduce God into humanity was one of the riskiest plans of all time.  You risked God being a baby in a world where infant mortality was high. You risked God being birthed by a virgin girl in a world that might stone her as an adulterer.  You risked Your Son suffering cruel rumors of illegitimacy throughout His childhood.  You risked Joseph’s reputation.

When You perform a miracle, You perform it in a big way!  Creating a bit of a scandal is not beneath You!  You can even use scandal to advertise Your miraculous act!

The miracle of a baby who would become the Savior of the world!  God made flesh!  He was born without the taint of sin.  He lived a sinless life that no other person was able to achieve.  He was perfectly holy.  His accusers said that He had to die for it!  You, Holy Father, said that He must die for it... for us... for the sins of the whole world.  He must be the blameless sacrifice, and the only way there could be any redemptive merit to His sacrifice were if He were the sinless Son of God, God made flesh.  He had to be born of a virgin–a sexless scandal.

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the miracle of the Virgin Birth.  I cannot wrap my mind around it all.  I cannot comprehend Your perfect plan envisioned in eternity past.  I cannot comprehend the Holy Spirit’s brooding over Mary and conceiving the Christ in her womb apart from physical copulation.  I cannot comprehend that You, my Lord Jesus Christ, would participate in such a humiliating plan as to be born as a baby.  I cannot comprehend all You gave up to identify with me and my kind... to save us.  I cannot comprehend an entirely holy life, without ever a sin.  I cannot comprehend the voluntary sinless sacrifice of Yourself.

Although I do not understand it all, I believe.  I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin girl.  I accept by faith all of the provision You make for me through that scandalous act.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

What a Risk!

John 1, 3:16, Hebrews 9:26, I Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8

Heavenly Father,

I have recently been pondering the risk You took by sending Your Son, Jesus, to earth.  When I think about it, I am amazed that any Father would risk so much with His own Son.  I never liked to expose my children to risk.  I remember feeling obligated to run to my daughter’s defense and protection.  When I tried to protect my son from risk, he finally told me, “Dad, I’m old enough to fight my own battles.  Don’t try to fix it for me.”

Surely, my instinct to protect my own children is part of Your image stamped on me in Creation. You made this way.  But Your likeness is diminished in me because I suffer under the curse of the Fall.  If I feel this God-given desire to protect my own, You must feel it all the more so. How could You, the Loving Heavenly Father, take such a risk with Your only Son?

You risked His life!  Life expectancy in the first century Roman world averaged twenty to thirty years.  If one lived to age ten, life expectancy might extend to age 45!  The average life span was lowered by a 25% or higher infant mortality.  Nearly one-half of all babies born never saw their tenth birthday!  Yet childbirth was the delivery system You chose to introduce the Savior of the world!  What a risk!

You risked His being an inconvenience.  Parentage by the Holy Spirit is a once in a Creation event!  You performed repeated miracles and angelic announcements to convince even Mary and Joseph, the main players in the saga, of the veracity of such a miracle.  Today, such a conception would be regarded as an inconvenience, and would be ended.  What a risk!

You risked His being an embarrassment.  Apart from Your angelic proclamation, Mary would have been irreversibly embarrassed, exploited, divorced, or even stoned to death.  Her family would have suffered shame.  Perhaps they did anyway.  Your Son would have suffered cruel shame and ridicule.  Perhaps He did anyway.  What a risk!

You risked His rejection.  You placed a radical message of love in Your Son’s heart, and we killed Him for it.  What a risk!

I don’t think I would be willing to risk my children like You risked Your only Son, Jesus.  I am humbled to think that You would take that sort of risk for me, for my sinful soul, for my salvation–all because You want relationship with me.  Thank You.

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the risk You took for me, and for the entire human race,
Amen.

I'm Running out of Time to Get Ready for Christmas!

Luke 2:21-40

My Loving Lord,

The holidays are hectic.  In the midst of the artificial, I am inclined to forget the real.  Glitz, glamor, and lights sparkle and shimmer.  Shiny wrapping conceals contents unknown, precious or base.  Snow covers a brown earth, turned muddy by spring.  Sales and advertising attract and allure me toward the shopping mall.  My credit card statement climbs higher and higher.

I am preparing for Christmas, but am I making the right preparations?  Am I preparing, or am I participating in a parade of pretense that misses the meaning of Christmas altogether.  Am I constructing a sort of glitz and glamor of Christmas that obscures its true meaning?

My Christmas preparations are consumed with shopping, wrapping presents, dashing from parties to programs, house-cleaning, cooking, and entertaining.  I am exhausted.  I have too much to do!  I get so tuckered out with it all, I don’t know if I will have the time or strength to even get to the Christmas Eve service at church!

Am I missing something?  Preparation is about priority. Are my priorities misplaced?  Christmas is about Your coming.  Do I even know how to get ready for Christmas?  Lord Jesus, how should I prepare myself to celebrate Your birth?  Teach me.

I think of Simeon waiting at temple.  Perhaps Simeon was a retired priest, lawyer, or even a past president of the Hebrew Sannhedrin.  He waited for You in the temple, assured by the Holy Spirit that he would see You, Messiah, before he died.  A lifetime of preparation and waiting lived for a moment of assurance and hope!

I think of Anna waiting at temple.  She had spent a lifetime preparing for Your arrival.  Widowed at a young age, now over one hundred years old, Anna lived in a side room of the Jewish temple.  Anna had readied herself through decades of prayer, fasting, and waiting, and then Anna met You!  A lifetime of preparation and waiting lived for a moment of assurance and hope!

I think I understand a little bit more.  You are teaching me that I must prepare myself to receive You afresh this Christmas, by waiting in preparation in Your Presence.  I must make knowing You my primary priority. So I wait.

In the Name of my precious Savior, Jesus, for whom I wait,
Amen.

Grandpa's Shotgun

I never got to know my Grandpa well.  He died before I turned three years old.  My only memory of him, apart from a few photographs, is his giving me a spanking in the bathroom of his home in Northern Kentucky.  As a boy, I enjoyed staying at that home with my saintly widowed grandmother. 

I was in my mid-teens when Grandma had to break up housekeeping and move in with my parents.  Actually, Grandma had two rooms, one at our house and a second at my aunt and uncle’s home in Ohio.  My dad and my aunt shuttled Grandma back and forth between their homes every two or three months for the final 10 years of her life. 

When Grandma moved out of her home that she had shared with Grandpa, my brother James and I helped dad move load after load of furniture and possessions.  Some things came to our home in Kentucky.  Other things went to my aunt. 

Among Grandma’s possessions was a shotgun that had belonged to Grandpa.  Grandma opened a cherished ancient tin box labeled “Sucrets” to reveal trinkets and treasures.  She lifted a slug of scared lead, and informed me that this slug had been fired from Grandpa’s shotgun when he killed a deer in some ancient hunt.  Curiosity and wonder filled my young mind as I felt the weight of the lead slug in my hand. 

There were two old firearms that belonged to Grandpa, an H & R 12 gauge shotgun, and a 22 revolver.  Dad informed James and me that these two treasures were our bequests from Grandpa, our memory, our connection to an ancestor we would never really know. 

James and I cherished our guns.  I laid claim to the shotgun, and James laid claim to the revolver.  I shot my first squirrel with that shotgun.  I blasted cans and glass jars with it. 

When James was about 13, he took the shotgun out into the Appalachian foothills that we called home.  He had spotted a lone domesticated goose whose ownership was unknown.  The goose was wandering the river bottom farm land along the North Fork of the Kentucky River.  James helped work on that farm.  The goose proved to be an irresistible target to a 13 year old boy with a shotgun and a pocket full of shells.

James brought the goose home to Mom and asked her to cook it!  The tough old bird surprised our teenage teeth.  The longer we chewed, the bigger that goose meat grew in our mouths.  The only thing that James got out of the goose, besides a good story, was a nickname, “Goose,” and he bore that moniker throughout his early high school years.

James and I thought that the old gun needed a makeover.  Someone suggested to us that the barrel needed “blued.”  We found the supplies at the local Maloney’s discount store, stripped down the shotgun in Dad’s shop, and set about an ambitious project as gunsmiths.  Carefully following the directions, we cleaned the barrel of its bluing.  We sanded the wooden stock, removing the ancient varnish.  We re-blued the steel pieces of the shotgun, put a fresh finish of varnish on the stock, and admired our restoration of Grandpa’s cherished shotgun.

James decided that the newly refinished shotgun needed a trial run in the woods.  We had discovered a loose firing pin in our restoration project.  If not handled carefully, the firing pin would fall out of the gun when the hammer was cocked.  After that trip to the woods, we never found the firing pin again.  Now, the old gun was simply a useless piece of décor, a sad reminder of a grandfather we would never get to know. 

It was twenty years before I discovered a friend with incredible handyman skills.  Among those skills were metal work and machining.  I told him about my grandfather’s old shotgun.  The gun had followed me from youth to marriage and fatherhood.  The gun had been stored in one closet after another in different homes in which I had lived.  Suddenly, there was hope that it might fire again.  My friend Jim expertly held the old gun.  He studied the firing mechanism.  He said that he thought he could make a firing pin!

I watched as Jim took a heat-tempered drill bit and cut it to size.  He placed it upon a metal lathe and began shaping.  Once shaped, he fit it perfectly in its rest in the firing mechanism.  We just needed a spring.  A spring from an ink pen would do!  Hope was birthed that the old treasured shotgun would fire again.  It did.  I inserted a shell, locked it into place, pulled back the hammer, and the 12 gauge roared to life!

A few years later, my wife and I bought a little cabin in our Appalachian hills.  One of the rooms in the cabin became the cowboy room.  I made a log bed out of limbs from an old beech tree.  Lariats, horseshoes, worn out cowboy boots, hats, and bandanas graced the décor.  And there, above the window, grandpa’s shotgun graced the room from its rest in a couple of horseshoe hooks.  I pulled the shotgun down at Christmas to shoot some mistletoe out of a black gum tree.  Apart from an occasional firing, it enjoyed its slumber.

After 10 years in the old shotgun’s place of honor, my wife and I moved from Kentucky to Mississippi.  We rented the cabin in the hills to vacationers.  In preparation for renting the cabin, we removed our most cherished possessions, including the shotgun, which found its temporary home in the bottom of an old cedar chest.  That bothered me.  I was bothered that I did not have a place to display the old gun. 

At Thanksgiving, our family always gets together in the hills of Kentucky.  My sisters come home from Florida.  My brother, James, lives in the Bluegrass.  My wife and I make the pilgrimage to our homeland.  We have a Thanksgiving feast, followed by an early Christmas gift exchange.  One year, my sister said, “Next year, let’s not spend any money on gifts.  Let’s just bring something from our homes.  It may be a useful something that we give.  It may be a family heirloom that we share with one another.”

I knew what my gift must be.  The shotgun.  And I knew whom I wanted to have it.  My brother, James.  I placed the shotgun in two large gift bags.  No one knew the contents of the oddly shaped package.  It was overlooked by one family member after another.  Finally, it came James’ turn to pick.  I urged him toward the package.  He moved that direction, and lifted the awkward weight.  Seated, he began to open it.  He knew the contents immediately.  Tears glistened in James’ eyes as he caressed the smooth stock and broke open the barrel.  Memories flooded his mind and mine.  A look of understanding passed between us. 

Cherished stories of youth filled the next moments, and continued to flood my mind.  As children, my closest sibling in age was my brother, James, as we are separated by a mere 20 months.  Sibling rivalry, competing, rooming together, fighting, living, and loving had been a part of our youth.  Now, as graying, middle-aged executives, we were bound together yet again by family, Christmas, shared experiences, a cherished old shotgun, a grandfather we never really knew, and a legacy of love—brothers.

At this Christmas Season, give.  Give generously.  

The Incarnation

Romans 5:6-21, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:12-20, I Peter 1:13-23

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

What were You thinking when You became human?  What was in Your mind when You came to earth in the form of a baby?  Why would any god set aside all of the privileges of being God?  God just doesn’t do that!  But You did!  And You planned it that way.  Your coming to earth as the Savior of the world was not an afterthought.  It was Your plan all along.

You know what we need.  We need a Savior.  Sin and rebellion has so twisted and distorted our human character that we are estranged from You.  We are separated with a chasm that we cannot cross.  We are darkened in our understanding, corrupted in our moral nature, and desperate for You.

The prophets said You were coming.  They called You names like Immanuel, Messiah, Branch, Joshua, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  They were telling of the details of Your birth 700 years in advance!

What a plan!

And then God became flesh.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin girl, born into poverty and relative obscurity, and raised by an earthly surrogate.  You went from the carpenter shop to the cross because You were born to die!

What a plan!  God–born to die!  No other god, no other religion, no other idol would ever construct a bold myth to match the truth of Your Incarnation.

Thank You for Your plan, Holy Father, to send Your Son to be the Savior of the world.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for implanting the seed of God in Mary’s womb.  Thank You, Jesus, for all You left behind to become the Savior of the world.  You endured the shameful rumors of illegitimacy.  You became poor that we could be rich (II Corinthians 8:9).  You embraced the cross, raised Yourself from the dead, and returned to the Father to pray for us!

God made flesh.  Why did You do that?  It is too great for me to comprehend.  All I can do is to thank You and offer myself to You.  I love You.

Amen.

A Courier for the King!

Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 40:1-5 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

John 1:6-9 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world."

John 1:19-28 "Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'
20 "He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.'
21 "And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?'
"He said, 'I am not.'
"'Are you the Prophet?'
"And he answered, 'No.'
22 "Then they said to him, 'Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?'
23 "He said: 'I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said.'
"24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, 'Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?'
26 "John answered them, saying, 'I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.'
28 "These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing."

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

I have been pondering the role of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus.  As I have pondered, I have been stirred to thanks, wonder, and personal challenge as to what I must do as a courier for Christ.

John was obedient.  He humbly accepted the role of forerunner to the Christ, but humbly refused the title of "prophet." He was often alone.  Obedience to the Father's call drove him to the deserts. Perhaps he studied with the Essenes, the third sect of first century Judaism, near Qumran. His emphasis upon light and darkness, repentance, and baptism seems to reflect the Essenes' influence. John embraced the image of being an oddity.  He was counter-culture in an age, much like our own, that insisted upon conformity to social prescriptions.

William Barclay writes: "So John is regarded as the courier of the king. But the preparation on which he insisted was a preparation of heart and of life. 'The king is coming,' he said. 'Mend, not your roads, but your lives.' There is laid on everyone of us the duty to make life fit for the King to see" (Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 27).

You have challenged me with John's example of obedience, courage, and challenging the prevailing culture's assumptions through Your Word. Empower me to call people to "Mend, not your roads, but your lives." Help me to build a life that is fit for You to see.  

In the Name of the King who is coming,

Amen.