Christmas Hope

Reality sets in as another Christmas has arrived and another year is about to begin. During the course of time, much changes, and yet many things remain the same. The change in our culture during my lifetime has been startling. We have abandoned truth for individual happiness. At the dismissal of right and wrong, man is doing what is right in his own eyes. Darkness deepens as our culture moves away from the Light and into the abyss of self centeredness and ignorance. What remains the same is the reason for season. Jesus Christ is born. The incredible grace and mercy of our Creator is always enough to sing about-no matter how deep the darkness, and sordid the sinfulness of man. Because Christ came and because He lives and is coming again, there is always hope for mankind. This hope penetrates the darkness, and confronts our selfishness with a call to repentance and faith. As mankind looks in the mirror this Christmas season, we must confess we are masters of an ever increasing mess. The Anointed One has come and men love darkness instead of light-some things don't change. A child is born, a Son is given and the message of hope rings loud and clear at this Christmas time. Thank you Father for the gift of the Son! I have hope!

Advent Hope

Hope is not about escaping the reality of today, it is a way of living in time, in the moment, no matter how painful and disappointing that may be. Hope is knowing that each day, each moment is working for Christ's people a greater glory (2 Cor. 4:16, Rom. 8:18). We live in hope, and our hope is in His name-Jesus Christ. His kingdom, His rule over us today is our foundation for hope. I believe, therefore, I hope. This hope is not in Mohammed, Ghandi, Joseph Smith, Mother Mary, L. Ron Hubbard. These are mere mortals who need to find hope outside themselves. Our hope is in the One who came from above, who ascended back to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. We must repent for placing our hope in anything but Christ. All around the birth of Jesus was the annoucement of hope. Good news of great joy-a Savior is born-Glory to God in the highest. When Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, it was a call to hope. A call to look forward, to live forward, to believe something greater is still to come and all that we encounter today is working toward that end. God is not dead nor does He sleep-Christ's people are a people of hope. Christmas is a time to rejoice in the hope we have in Christ.

Advent Hope

The irony of the incarnation is that God's perfect self expression was not what anyone could have come up with on their own. No man would have written the story with the Eternal God beginning as a baby with a dirty diaper, dependent for life upon a Jewish teenager. It's the great come down-the Word became flesh. They taunted Jesus to come down from the cross, but the great come down had already taken place. Jesus the Nazarene was from above. He was heaven's gift. Unlike Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Ghandi, Mother Mary, Confucious, Jesus was from above. All others are only men, Jesus is the God-Man. An inexplainable mystery, but a mystery with a face on it in Jesus of Nazareth. John 3 speaks of the great come down. Of Jesus being from above. Unlike John the Baptist, or any other prophet, priest or king in Israel's great history, this King was sent from the Father full of grace and truth. Hope lives because God has responded to the need of man with the perfect gift from heaven-a child was born, a Son was given!

Advent Hope / Matthew 12:21

Matthew 12:21-In His name the nations will put their hope. The NLT reads, 'and his name will be the hope of all the world'. This is a hard lesson for arrogant mankind to learn. We are the enlightened species and we can solve all the problems of the world, etc. The hope of the nations is not in politics, religion, military might, economic strength, government assistance, etc. The hope for mankind is the person of Jesus. In His Name-there is the power to bring peace to the most troubled heart, to bring light into the darkest life. Our greatest sin is that we continue to look away from Jesus. Man loves darkness because his deeds are evil (Jn. 3). Repentance is for 'bad' people, and we are not bad, just uneducated. At this Christmas time, let us hear the invitation of Almighty God to put our hope in the Son. Those who came to Jesus in the gospels, those who came expressing their need, humble and contrite, willing to submit to His authority, went away filled with hope and life. Joy to the world the Lord is come-let us put our trust in the Name above all names, Jesus Christ.

The Face of God

E. Stanley Jones said, "Christianity put a face on God and Jesus is that face." Moses asked to see the face of God and was spared the experience. Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord and claimed to have seen the face of God. Joan Osborne's song, "What if God was one of us?" asks the question, "If God had a face, what would it look like?" The people around Jesus were certain it wouldn't look like Jesus the Nazarene. The Good News of the Kingdom is that in the face of Jesus the Nazarene we see the God of all glory. Eventually the disciples were able to say, 'we beheld His glory-the glory of the One and only Son sent from the Father full of grace and truth (Jn.1).' We have seen-they did see the true and living God in a new dimension. The representatives of Judaism had marred the image of God with their legalism, judgmentalism and general lack of love for everyone else. Jesus looked with compassion on the broken, the lost and the least. Jesus revealed the prodigal God whose love seemed to know no limits. He invites you to look into His face. The God of all ages has revealed Himself in the glory, simplicity and purity of Jesus the Nazarene.

Blessed

The Beatitudes offer an alternative picture to everyday life. Our Creator and Redeemer identifies what makes for the blessed life. Christ is the center of this life, the source of this life. To be blessed is to have Christ in you, the hope of glory. To be blessed is to feed upon the Bread of life. To be blessed is to have the witness of the Spirit that declares I belong to the King, I'm a child of His love. To be blessed is to find a righteousness from God in Christ that sets me right from the inside out. To be blessed is to discover the gift of living in the Father's house. To be blessed is to not get God to do what you want, but to align yourself with the Father's heart, live under His authority and for His glory. Paul proclaims this new life in Ephesians 1-we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Thank you Jesus! I want to live blessed!

Fifty Five

I remember when the speed limit was 55-that was a good speed for the 73 Pinto with a top end of around 73. Now I celebrate 55-which reminds me that life is short-we are a vapor, quickly vanishing. The cemetary is full of markers reminding us that life has no guarantees on duration. Death comes, sometimes it comes in a rude manner. Today I count my blessings. I am grateful for a great wife, two beautiful daughters and a great son in law. I am grateful for a mom who still prays for me, for a dad who showed me the Way, who walked the talk. I am grateful for the good people of Christ-who love, give, serve, pray, and stay faithful even when it would be a lot easier to be selfish. Today I read Ps. 103 and Eph. 3:14-20 to begin the day. Both remind me of amazing grace, of the incomprehensible nature of God and the awesome provision of salvation in Christ. God is able. God is slow to anger, compassionate, abounding in love. At this point I sing, 'all the way my savior leads me what have I to ask beside' and 'just as I am without one plea but that Your blood was shed for me.'