On my morning walk a couple of days ago, I saw that one of my neighbors has started putting up their outdoor Christmas decorations. This got me wondering if it’s too early to start celebrating Christmas.
Of course, there’s no definitive answer to this question, so I wanted to offer my opinion. I think that from a commercial aspect, it does seem too early. Many stores are already having their “Black Friday” sales, and we’re already seeing Christmas-themed TV advertisements. That’s a bit much.
But on the other hand, for those of us who celebrate the birth of Christ as the world- and life-changing event that it was and is, is it ever too early to start celebrating the day God came to us in human form? Advent is a season of hope, joy, love, peace. It’s the time of year more than any other when we catch little glimpses of light breaking into the darkness of this world.
And it’s all because of Jesus.
Why wouldn’t we want to celebrate that for as long as we can?
I’m going to go put on some Christmas music, even if my wife rolls her eyes at me.
There are some Christian praise songs I really like that talk about the power in the name of Jesus. Thinking about them, though, got me wondering: how can there be power in a name? I mean, the thought of there being actual power in a name seems almost mystical to me.
So, let’s unpack a couple verses from the Bible to see if there’s anything to this.
In Exodus 3, Moses first encounters God from a burning bush. This is when God calls Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses clearly does not want to answer this calling (it’s clear because Moses offers several excuses why he’s not the guy for the job). One thing Moses asks God is who he should say sent him to the Isrealites to lead them from bondage. This is God’s response:
“This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Fast forward to the New Testament. In Matthew 18, right after the Last Supper, Jesus and 11 of His disciples are in the Garden of Gethsemane later that night. Jesus’ other disciple, Judas Iscariot, brings Jewish soldiers and officials to show them where Jesus is so they can arrest Him. Jesus asks them who they are looking for, and they respond that they are seeking “Jesus the Nazarene.” And here is how Jesus identifies Himself:
He said to them, “I Am.” (Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.) When he said, “I Am,” they shrank back and fell to the ground.
I realize that sometimes the way they talked in the Bible seems strange to us, so it’s possible to chalk this phrasing up to that and miss this entirely. But “this “I AM” is not some archaic phrase that everyone used to say, like “thee” and “thou”. On the contrary, it was phrasing that God had reserved for referring to Himself.
And we can see in the passage from John that when Jesus referred to Himself this way, everyone around Him was knocked to the ground.
To me, this is a great example of there being actual power in God’s name.
For an example that I’ve experienced in my own life, I’ll tell you that in times when I’ve felt darkness closing in all around me and I’ve thought to whisper, “Jesus, help me,” I have physically experienced the darkness running away from me. Simply by calling on the name of Jesus, I’ve been suddenly overcome by a peace that defies explanation. Of course, this begs the question why I don’t always call on His name when I’m under attack–my best guess is that it’s probably because I think I can handle it on my own. That seems ridiculous now as I write this, and I wish I could give a better explanation, but I’m trying to be honest with you so maybe you can learn from my dumb choices.
My suggestion to you (and to me) is that the next time you feel under attack–overwhelmed, tempted, stressed, greedy, etc.–simply call out the name of Jesus and see what happens. This isn’t an incantation, though. It’s an invitation.
When you invite Jesus into your heart, He will protect you. He fights our spiritual battles for us, and He knows how to win.
This past week, we were blessed to have our 2 daughters and their significant others visit us. This included my grandson. Our time together was certainly one for the scrapbook of our lives, but the sad aspect of it is that our delightful time together had to come to an end. Unfortunately, we had to end the visit with tearful goodbyes, which are definitely terrible. I’m grateful for the blessing of our time together, but now I’m sad that it ended too quickly.
After dropping our older daughter and grandson off at the airport this morning, I turned to the Bible for consolation. This verse came to my mind:
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
The good news that my Good Shepherd is always with me and will never leave nor forsake me–so I’ll never have to say goodbye to Him–gave me comfort for sure, but it didn’t alleviate my sadness as much as I had hoped.
So then I started wondering if we would ever get to a time when we no longer have to say goodbye to loved ones. The only time I could speculate about was once we are all in heaven, which unfortunately will be after even more painful goodbyes than what we went through with the departure of our daughters.
Even then, I’m not sure that there won’t tearful goodbyes in heaven. I mean, for my wife and me, our ideal heaven would include having our 3 kids and their families living in our neighborhood, but what if that’s not the case for them? What if heaven for us means that we have the mountains on one side of our neighborhood and the beach on the other side, but that’s not their idea of heaven?
The Bible surprisingly does not speak much about heaven, so we are left to wonder and, to some extent, fantasize about it. Maybe heaven will be so awesome that everyone will lead the life of their dreams together, even if their dreams are different. So even if it’s not what heaven looks like for my loved ones, perhaps we will get to experience eternity not only with Jesus living on our block, but also in close proximity to our loved ones from many generations past and future, What if, in this way, we’ll never have to say goodbye again?
I have to admit that I’m a fan of Star Trek and most of its children and grandchildren. One consistent thing across all variants of the show is that as soon as any sort of bad guy started attacking the Enterprise (or other starship), the first thing Captain Kirk (or other captain) would do is order, “Raise shields.” One thing I always wondered, though, is why they would wait until they were under attack before they’d raise their shields. I mean, if I were flying through space that could be inhabited by Romulans or Klingons (when they’re bad) or the Borg, I think I’d raise my shields before I did anything else, not wait until someone was trying to blow me out of the sky.
This made me think of the following admonition from Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ:
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Since we never know when flaming arrows from the evil one will be flying towards us, why would we ever go anywhere or do anything without raising our shields? There’s a lot more I could say here about the defensive tools Paul mentions or the single offensive weapon he refers to (sword of the Spirit), but instead, I thought it would be better to suggest that you think and pray through what these things mean to you.
Also, remember how I had mentioned in a previous post that I learned from my pastor to start each day, before I even get out of bed, with a simple prayer: “Holy Spirit, come”?
With these things in mind, I have one further suggestion. Why don’t we try amending that simple morning prayer like this: “Holy Spirit, come. Raise shields!”
I don’t know what your “anyway” is, but God pours His grace all over it. I don’ know what your past is like, but God has poured His grace all over that, too. Same thing with your sinful behavior and thought patterns. God has tossed us headlong into His ocean of grace.
If you’re anything like me, this is the best news you’ll ever hear.
I have plenty of baggage in my past–things I wish I hadn’t done or said, but I can’t undo or unsay them. And even though I feel like God has helped me grow and made me a better person, I am, unfortunately, still shocked sometimes by something I do or say or think. I get so disappointed in myself and wonder how I can ever think I’ve grown at all. I’ve failed God, or maybe God has failed me.
Maybe this is you, too, my friend?
But here’s the thing: this is shame. And it is the tool of the evil one, who would do anything to separate us from God.
But, thankfully, God has done everything to bring us back into His arms. The moment we ask for forgiveness, He picks us up, dunks us into His river of mercy to wash off the filth, and sends us on our way (but not before reminding us to go forth and sin no more, even while knowing that won’t be possible for us).
The Bible is God’s love letter to you and to me. Here’s one of the reasons I believe that to be true: because He shows by one example after another that He loves us anyway. Here are just a few:
God still loved Adam and Eve, even after they deliberately disobeyed a directive from God because they had believed Satan’s lies.
God still loved Moses, even after he killed a man and despite Moses telling God he didn’t want the assignment God had for him.
God still loved David, even after he committed adultery and then had that woman’s (Bathsheba’s) husband killed to try to cover it up.
God (in the form of Jesus) still loved the Samaritan woman at the well, even though she had cast aside 5 husbands and was not married to the man she was currently living with.
God (Jesus) still loved Peter, even after Peter swore that he didn’t know Jesus because he was afraid for his life.
God (Jesus) still loved Thomas, even after Thomas doubted that Jesus had really been rasied to life after His execution.
God (Jesus) still love Paul, even after Saul (Paul) had tried to eradicate His church by persecuting His followers.
So, you see, it doesn’t matter what your or my “anyway” is. God loves you no matter what, and He loves me despite all the ways I’ve let Him down. For that, I am and will be forever grateful.
At New Life Church (my Colorado Springs church) today, the insightful Pastor Brady Boyd preached from 1 Kings 17. He taught about the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16). Due to a 3-year drought that Elijah had announced, this poor widow and her son had lost all hope.
In fact, when she encounters Elijah, she is preparing her last meal for her and her son before they starve to death. Talk about hopeless.
Then came Elijah, who initially appears to make things worse for her. Upon hearing what she was doing, Elijah–seemingly callously–tells her to make bread for him before feeding her son or having anything herself. He tells her, “Don’t be afraid” (v 13), which seems to be another strange demand. However, he offers her a small glimmer of hope when he follows up with this promise:
“For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”
Still, this is a tough situation for this woman. She is asked to trust God not only with her life, but also her son’s. On my best days, I like to think that I would trust God with my life, but honestly, I don’t know if I could say that I would trust Him so completely with my child’s life.
But here’s the thing: God blesses them because she is willing to hold on loosely to her and her son’s lives. He keeps His promise, and the flour and olive oil never run out.
So as it turns out, Elijah brought this woman hope in the form of a promise from God. This becomes an example for us, not only as another lesson that God keeps His promises, but also to remind us that we are to be carriers of hope to the people we meet. And just as Elijah faithfully delivered a message that initially made no sense (“feed me before you or your son eat, even though you’re about to starve to death”), so we are also called to convey hope to our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone else, even if what we say is nonsensical to them.
Hope does not always make sense. But it carries us through the darkest of days.
This is what Jesus did. He spoke hope into a hopeless world, even if what He said didn’t make sense to most people who heard Him. His message lit up the darkness, chased it away. His life and death showed us once again that God keeps His promises.
That’s the message of hope that we are to carry with us everywhere we go, and share freely.
As I sat preparing my heart for Communion at church this morning, an image flashed into my mind for a moment: I was kneeling at the foot of the cross. My face was in the dirt because I felt so unworthy to be there. I am unworthy to be there because Jesus is hanging on the cross due to my sins. The only perfect person who ever lived, the only person who never committed even the tiniest sin, is taking my punishment for me.
Well, I have to tell you, that was a very uncomfortable moment. I mean, what if someone at church realized I was the reason Jesus was being tortured to death?
But then a drop of blood landed in the dirt next to my head. And then another landed on me. And then some more.
Normally, that would not be a pleasant experience, to have someone’s blood dripping all over me.
But in this case, it was. I was cleansed, made cleaner than any shower could ever make me. I felt God’s presence. I felt Him assuring me that this was the plan all along–that He desperately wanted me to be part of His family and a personal friend of His, and He knew that I wouldn’t be able to make myself worthy on my own, no matter how hard I tried. He knew that I’d screw up. Again and again. So He devised this plan to make me worthy.
In the strangest of ironies, His blood would clean me and make me whiter than snow. His blood, when I rub it all over me, would make me impervious to the attacks of the evil one and would help me to ignore the thousand good reasons he gives me every day to step out of the Light and into darkness.
I knelt at the foot of the cross unworthy to enter into God’s presence, and yet He made me worthy by spilling His blood all over me. What a strange but thrilling story!
And here’s a really spectacular thing for you, too: He did the same thing for you, even if you don’t yet know you are unworthy, yet made worthy!
Thanks be to God!
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”
I am in a season in my life where I have been learning more and more to trust God–that He will come through for me and my family and the world in ways that far exceed what any of us could have expected. I must admit, though, that His timing doesn’t always align with what I’d like for it to be. But, of course, He doesn’t work for me–I work for Him!
For example on the positive side, it was a real shock when I lost my job in June. However, God came through in a “manna in the desert” sort of way, and within a week, I had landed a consulting gig. I was (and still am) amazed by such a quick blessing to answer my prayers.
On the other hand, though, at about the same time, we had put our house in Colorado on the market to try to sell it. This was a very difficult decision for us, but I felt like it was consistent with (or at least not opposed to) God’s will for our lives. We had planned to eventually move to Florida to retire, and this seemed like a good start to our glide path into retirement. However, even though the real estate market in Colorado had been very hot, it seemed like it cooled off about we week before we were ready to put our house on the market. Ugh!
The situation is frustrating and actually rather baffling–neither one of our realtor duo can figure out why it’s not selling, nor can anyone else in their real estate office. I believe very strongly that God can do anything, and we have been praying for this for months, but still nothing.
But still, this is part of trusting God: knowing that He is working for our good, even when we can’t tell.
In a church we are trying out near our new home (Generations Christian Church), the sermon today was the last in a series on the book of Daniel. Among other things, he pointed out one of the odd little passages (there are many in this book), in chapter 10 in which Daniel has a vision of an encounter with an angel. In this conversation, the angel says:
But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
You don’t see this verse on many refrigerator magnets. So, basically what’s going on is that Daniel had been praying and fasting for weeks, but had not seen any results. God had sent an angel to help him with his request, but that angel had gotten tied up fighting an intense battle in the spiritual world–so much so that God sent another angel to help the first angel. All of this had happened without Daniel having any idea that God had sent two angels so He could answer Daniel’s prayers!
So, What Does This Mean for Us?
This means that not only do I (we) have to trust Him for positive outcomes, but I (we) also have to trust the timing in which He provides them. We have to trust that He is working for our good, even when we can’t see it. In fact, much as it pains me to admit, it could even be that the timing for the answer to this particular prayer could be a precise reminder from God, as King Solomon learned:
“…In its time.” In God’s time. Not in my time, no matter how much I wish it might be otherwise. And yet, at least I know that it will be beautiful when it does happen.
Yesterday I was blessed to perform the wedding ceremony for my son and his new bride. I talked about how if they nourish and cultivate their relationship with one another, they will always have at least one person on their side, no matter how harsh life and the world can get at times. I’m thankful that I have that in my wife like she has in me, and I pray we modelled it well enough for our son that it’s a lesson that stays with him thoughout his marriage.
This also reminded me, through my wandering mind’s free association, of some other really great news. So, here goes.
First, I’ll point out that in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul commanded husbands:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Let’s follow this simile comparing Jesus to a husband a little way down the path. This sort self-sacrificial love is the way I want to and try to treat my wife, but sadly I usually come up short.
Next, we can say that Jesus takes His devotion to us even one step farther. In addition to sacrificing Himself like a lamb on our behalf, He is also the God-man part of the triune God. The same God who created the whole universe from nothing. The same God whose power and capabilities we can’t even begin to fathom.
So, this same Jesus who was willing to die to take the punishment you and I deserve is also able to do even more than we can ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20). Which means that if He as our groom is on our side, what does it matter who is on the other side? Is there anything we can’t accomplish or endure?
Or to put it another way, we can see how Paul described this really great news in his letter to the church in Rome:
Master's Canvas - Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter 