Silent Night
Father, I pray for focus over the next couple of weeks. There is a lot going on and I don’t want to give anything my second best. May I do it all for You. Amen.
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Some of my Facebook friends will have already seen the picture that goes with today’s blog post but the more I thought about it, it lends itself to a story.
First of all, this is a picture of my front yard taken from our little porch. Light fluffy snow had started to fall mid-afternoon before I headed down to load up my high school and middle school students. It wasn’t a crazy, slippery snow (though I was cautious!) but it was just a beautiful softly falling snow.
We had watched the 6:00 pm weather and the larger metropolis south of us had barely a trace. So, I took a picture to show that we had a fair more accumulation – enough to cover the ground. and with a nearly full moon shining through the tree, it made a beautiful photograph.
I recently read an ad on accuweather.com about snow. And I learned a couple of things. Have you ever noticed that after a substantial snow has left the landscape shrouded in white that the great outdoors often becomes noticeably quieter?
As it turns out, there’s a scientific reason behind the calming silence, with the characteristics of snow playing a big role in how sound can travel.
When light, fluffy snow accumulates on the ground, it acts as a sound absorber, dampening sound waves much like commercial sound absorbing products.
A professor of engineering who studies acoustics stated that snow is… porous, and typically porous materials such as fibers and foams…absorb sound pretty well.
So my brain got to buzzing and when I put together the nighttime snow picture, the quietness brought on by snow, and the season in which we find ourselves – Christmas! – my brain immediately flipped to, what else but, Silent Night!
Now don’t take this too literally. I know that Jesus more than likely wasn’t born on December 25th. I know that it’s not unusual for it to snow in Israel but that snow and Christmas aren’t connected like they are in the part of the world where I live.
But just go with the simple connection of how it came into my mind and read a couple of simple but profound verses of this beloved hymn.
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light;
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
He Went as Usual
Father, it is much later than I like but I just couldn’t stop what I was doing. You and I were working on this coming Sunday’s sermon and You were speaking and guiding me so clearly that I just couldn’t stop! May it be a blessing to those that hear. May our time be a blessing, as well. Amen.
Luke 4:14-16 (<<click to read the passage)
Frequently, I see and hear excuses for why people don’t attend church. Let me share one from a slightly different angle.
12 Reasons Why I, as a Pastor, Have Decided to Quit Attending Sporting Events
1. The coach never came to visit me.
2. Every time I went, they asked for money.
3. The people sitting in my row didn’t seem very friendly.
4. The seats were very hard.
5. The referees made a decision I didn’t agree with.
6. I was sitting with hypocrites – they only came to see what others were wearing!
7. Some games went into overtime and I was late getting home.
8. The band played some songs I had never heard before.
9. The games are scheduled on my only day to sleep in and run errands.
10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches, anyway.
12. I don’t want to take my children because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
Now this list is shared with a little tongue in cheek on my part but as I read through today’s passage something important was pointed out. At the beginning of verse 16, it says of Jesus,
When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath…
First of all, my Life Application Bible states, “During the exile when the Jews no longer had their Temple, synagogues were established as places of worship on the Sabbath and as schools for young boys during the week. [They] continued to exist even after the Temple was rebuilt.”
So, verse 16 states that Jesus “went as usual”.
Just for review, who is Jesus? He is fully God and fully man. Do you think that God needed to go to worship? And if you really give it some thought, wouldn’t His local synagogue had been a little sub-par, especially when compared to the majesty of heaven? But He went “as usual”.
Hebrews 10:25 encourages us by saying
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. NLT
Sunday is coming – and if Sunday doesn’t work others meet on Saturday night. Find yourself a place to set down the burdens you carry every day. Jesus will welcome you with open arms! Don’t miss out!
Dec 11th, 2019, Wed, 8:41 pm
Firm but Flexible
Father, thank You for giving me the opportunity to interact with others that You love. Sometimes it’s a joy. Sometimes it’s a challenge. But whatever the case every interaction is a chance to grow and love.
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The day before Thanksgiving we had some very heavy winds. For the most part, our area did not suffer any ill effects, though others lost power. We had a few branches come down but our biggest casualties of the wind were a couple of dead ash trees falling.
The trees that fell hadn’t been dead for more than a couple of years (victims of the emerald ash borer beetle) but when trees die, the sap stops flowing and they begin to dry out. The flexibility that life gave them ebbs away with time they become rigid.
Strong vibrant trees with solid penetrating root systems can withstand some pretty harsh gusts, for as the winds blow, they can bend, they can move – having some give and take when buffeted.
As we walk this journey of life one thing that is important for us to be, is flexible, as well. As a follower of Christ, I believe that our relationship with Him helps us with that.
A couple of things… First, we are not perfect – I know I am not! (Don’t even get me started about irresponsible drivers!) Jesus calls us to love as He does, but that doesn’t come easy.
Secondly, since creation we have struggled to keep ourselves set apart for God – that is, being holy. It is our goal but unfortunately, a side effect of that is that we start to become legalistic.
From dictionary.com:
legalism (noun)
1 – strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit.
2 – Theology.
a. the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works.
b. the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.
Becoming legalistic ends up making us inflexible spiritually speaking. It can even lead to spiritual death. The idea that salvation is gained through good works is dead wrong! We can do absolutely nothing to earn our salvation for it is found only in Christ.
This was part of the problem with the spiritual leadership in Jesus’ day. They followed the Law to the letter! They abided by the entirety of the Law, as well as everything they added to it! They were letter followers, not spirit followers – in more ways than one!
We’re not perfect and even when we try to do what is right in following God, we can end up way off in left field. When it all comes right down to it, Jesus alone is the example by which we must live. He understands our imperfections. He, the Author of the Law, never went down that road of legalism. Each situation He encountered, He responded to in the uniqueness in which He found it. He was flexible.
Lord Jesus, You know that we struggle to live as You would have us live. We are weak. We are easily distracted. May we diligently seek Your heart and in so doing, may we, through the love you generously pour on us all, may we be firm but flexible as the many storms of life come whipping by. Amen.
Dec 10th, 2019, Tues, 12:29 pm
Double-edged Sword
Father, as I set my mind on time with You, I have wrapped up preparation for a wedding ceremony that will take place in just a few short days. It will be a joyous time and even now I pray for this young couple that Your hand would be upon them in a mighty way, guiding, directing, protecting and sustaining. Amen.
Luke 4:1-13 (<<click to read the passage)
Quite often God brings multiple things to mind when I read through a particular passage. I have addressed two from this record of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. God led me in writing both posts but even when I sat down to write the first one, I felt that I needed to write this one.
Every time Jesus was tempted in this passage, how did He respond? He quoted Scripture! In Paul’s epistle (letter) to the Ephesians, he spoke of followers of Jesus putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Most pieces are defensive in nature – a helmet, breastplate, shield, etc. But he also admonishes us to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” v.17 (NLT) and that, my friends, is not a defensive piece of armor but an offensive one! We protect ourselves with the other pieces but with God’s Word, we fight!
Read this passage from Hebrews 4:12 (AMP),
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Just processing that first line is amazing! When we open our Bibles, we tend to see ink on paper. But it is, oh, so much more than that! The words before us are God’s words! And we do not serve a dead God or an absent God or a disinterested God! We serve a God who is very much alive and active in every aspect of our lives! The only reason He may not be is that we have held Him at arm’s length. We must welcome Him to be active in our lives – that is an aspect of the free will that we are granted by our Creator.
So like God Himself, His words are very much “living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective].” It is like nothing else! In our finiteness, we do not have the ability to replicate the effect.
How many times do we read through a passage and we get the same thing out of it? But then we read it once more and – KAPOW! – something new, something fresh, something impacting comes out of it! It is alive! And coming into contact with it forever changes us!
The writer of Hebrews compares it to being “sharper than any two-edged sword”. I find it interesting that in the notes of the Amplified Bible it says that, “In addition to “sword,” the word in Greek was used…for the knife (scalpel) used by a surgeon.”
The word of God slices to the core of the issue in our lives and again when we come in contact with it, it forever changes us. And it just popped into my head but I would say that we are changed on a spiritually molecular level. The very core of who we are is changed!
Lord Jesus, may we devour Your word. May it fill us, heart, soul, and mind. May we pursue it changing us on a spiritually molecular level! Amen.
Dec 9th, 2019, Mon, 7:18 pm
Resist, Don’t Give In
Even without being in retail, December is running full steam ahead! With my pastoral responsibilities and other things being on my plate, Father, I would ask for a portion of Your strength and wisdom to address each thing with the utmost importance they deserve. Amen.
Luke 4:1-13 (<<click to read the passage)
When I sat down Thursday and wrote “Wide and Deep”, my intent was to address Jesus’ temptation after He was led into the wilderness. We may ask, “Why in the world would Jesus need to be tempted?” And that is definitely a fair question.
Hebrews 4:15 gives a fair answer.
For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin. (AMP)
Secondly, Jesus had to undo Adam’s work. My Life Application Study Bible states,
Adam though created perfect, gave in to temptation and passed sin on to the whole human race. Jesus, by contrast, resisted Satan. His victory offers salvation to all of Adam’s decedents.
Romans 5:12, 14-19 explains (it is a lengthy passage but so important that we understand what Jesus – Christ – did for us),
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all people [no one being able to stop it or escape its power], because they all sinned… Yet death ruled [over mankind] from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who had not sinned as Adam did. Adam is a type of Him (Christ) who was to come [but in reverse—Adam brought destruction, Christ brought salvation].
But the free gift [of God] is not like the trespass [because the gift of grace overwhelms the fall of man]. For if many died by one man’s trespass [Adam’s sin], much more [abundantly] did God’s grace and the gift [that comes] by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to [benefit] the many. Nor is the gift [of grace] like that which came through the one who sinned. For on the one hand the judgment [following the sin] resulted from one trespass and brought condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift resulted from many trespasses and brought justification [the release from sin’s penalty for those who believe]. For if by the trespass of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one (Adam), much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in [eternal] life through the One, Jesus Christ.
So then as through one trespass [Adam’s sin] there resulted condemnation for all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.* For just as through one man’s disobedience [his failure to hear, his carelessness] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous and acceptable to God and brought into right standing with Him. (AMP)
*Salvation is available to all people who respond and place their personal trust in Christ.
Lord Jesus, we are most grateful for Your undoing what we in no way could undo. Only because of Your actions are we able to once again have that wall of separation torn down that stands between us. May we diligently seek to not re-erect what You have taken down. Amen.
Dec 8th, 2019, Sun, 7:50 pm