The Word Became Flesh

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1:1-4, 14a

Every now and then I try again to wrap my mind around the fact that God has no beginning. He always was. And my head wants to implode. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has no beginning, no ending, no boundaries to where and when He can go. He is in all places and times at once.

His strength and power are limitless.  There is nothing He does not know.  Every star, every planet, every body of water, every being was created by Him.  Light and darkness obey Him.

And when it came to solving the problem of our sin and separation from Him, He could have solved it any way He wished. He could have stayed on His throne without leaving behind His heavenly kingdom or rightful place beside the Father.

But in His infinite wisdom, Jesus came down off His throne and its majesty, and allowed Himself to be born wrapped in all the boundaries of humanity.

And suddenly His throne was a million miles away.

He entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father as He submitted His care to human hands.  Instead of being wrapped in royal robes, He was wrapped only in cloths, a helpless and vulnerable babe, lying in a trough made for beasts He created.

For our sakes He left His nobility and became poor. He left His majesty and felt pain.  He left the angels’ praises and knew rejection.

From the moment He was born and throughout His life, Jesus showed us we can trust our heavenly Father, even when we feel as helpless and vulnerable as a baby. No matter who or what circumstances seem to be in control of our lives, our heavenly Father is always in control.  And we can trust Him.

We can rest in the arms of Jesus and know that He knows. And He has a plan.

 

May God bless you, and I wish you a very, merry Christmas!

Jesus is the Answer

I sat across from the woman who’s been making my nails presentable for a couple of years now. She smoothed the jagged edges while we discussed the day’s horrific events. Another client sat next to us, giving us information as it unfolded on the internet in the palm of her hand.

His mother was dead, too.  They can’t find his girlfriend.  He was 24. No 20.

My nail miracle-worker began to tell me about a client she had seen not that long ago.  He sat across from her and told her that he saw no purpose for living. Within two days he got sick and died.  So many people living without purpose, she said.  I nodded. 

Jesus gives us purpose, I told her.

Twenty-four people are dead, no twenty-six.

And like the rest of the country, we began to ask why.

And inevitably after the whys come the finger-pointing.  We want to blame something, someone…  We want to list the whys and fix it so it’ll never happen again.

I know.  I’ve asked why about a hundred painful things in my own life.  I want to fix it so it’ll never hurt me again.

The best I’ve been able to come up with so far is sometimes there are just no answers. Not in this life anyway.  There are no whys to grasp and wrap in a neat, little, labeled package, keeping them forever locked away so they never hurt anyone again.

No answers as to why a young man would want to cause so much pain. Nothing concise as to why other young men before him took the same path.

No clear-cut answers to why any of us hurt another, whether it’s with a gun, a knife, or cutting words.

Except that we live in a world diseased with sin. Including our own.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23

And the only cure is the blood of Christ.

Unless we turn to God, we have no purpose, and we act and react in our natural, sinful state. We bully, we become angry, we refuse to forgive, we reject, we neglect, we belittle, we lie, we cheat, we steal. 

Little by little, day by day, our sins affect us and the people around us. The darkness of sin seeps into our hearts and twists our minds so that good is bad and bad is good. 

And through the world the enemy of God whispers in our ear that there is an escape to the pain of our sin.  So we pick one up–a bottle, a baggie, sex—any sex outside the God-given bounds of marriage—pornography, depression, violence. 

But we will inevitably discover that our intended escape is really a dead end that only added to the pain we were trying to forget. 

Unless we turn to God, we will attempt to be our own god and lord it over others weaker or unable or unwilling to fight back: a spouse, a friend, an employee, anyone on the other side of our computer screen, the elderly, children.

Unless we turn to God and invite Him to overwhelm us with His grace and love and forgiveness, a lifetime (no matter how short) of our own sins and the sins of others heaped upon us will overwhelm us.

Add into the mix a mental illness and a society that continues to attach stigma to it which makes it even more difficult to admit and seek help, and the mind can be even less capable of handling the stresses of this world. 

And in a world that glorifies violence as the answer, some will pick up a gun. Or a knife. Or a bomb.

It’s as simple, and complicated, as that.

It’s easy to sit in self-righteous judgment of someone who’s ended a life.  But God looks at the heart. Our hearts.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28

All sin destroys.

Each choice to sin, without repentance, is a step away from God. Sometimes we’ve taken so many steps we lose sight of Him. The good news is that it’s always only one step back.

At any time in this process, God invites us to turn to Him and ask for forgiveness.  He is always waiting with open arms.  And when we do, He smoothes our jagged edges.  He pours out His love. He works miracles in our lives.  He gives us hope and brings us peace.

Whatever the question is, Jesus is, was and always will be the answer.

We live in difficult times and we need Jesus every minute of every day.  We need to stay close by His side through prayer and the study of His Word.  We need the Holy Spirit to continually flow through us so we can be a light to the dark world and show God’s love no matter what.

It’s time we stop conforming to the world and let Jesus live through us.  It’s time to stop playing around with our faith, put away sin and start living to the glory of God. The world needs us to show them Christ, right now. 

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”  Philippians 2:1-11

Grace and peace to you,

Love is Patient

 

Love

is

patient.

Love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.
 
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Growing up I always felt I was on a different path.  I was drawn to that person who was different, the outcast.  The boy in the wheelchair.  The child whose parent had died.  The girl who stank.

You see, I had these long, skinny arms and legs and was painfully shy. Grade school was a little bumpy. But it made me more compassionate and I found myself wanting to be a friend to the kids no one else wanted to be friends with.

I didn’t know God yet, but He knew me. And He was working something much more important into my life than being popular.  He was teaching me humility and sacrifice.

He was teaching me to do the right thing even when it isn’t easy.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1 Peter 4:12-14a, 19

When we accepted Christ we entered into a different world. A world, seen and unseen, that is hostile toward us.  A world that hates Christ and anyone who follows Him.

For too long we can cling to our worldly idea of how we want our lives to be.  How we think they should be.  We want to be liked. Successful. Free of pain. Maybe drive a nice car.  Live in a comfy house.  We think that if we do the religious do’s and not the religious don’ts we’ll be rewarded with a life free of discomfort. Then when something jumps out at us from the forest we’re surprised.

Nope, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Following Christ means we will live a life of sacrifice and suffering.  If we’re not suffering for our faith maybe we’re not fully following Jesus.

He didn’t stay on His comfy throne. He came down to us.  He went out and met with those who were suffering.  He walked long days and prayed long nights.  He touched those no one else would touch.  He healed on the Sabbath when He knew He’d be reviled for it.  He spoke the truth when He knew He’d be crucified for it.

When we walk with the Lord, we can expect suffering. A faith that’s lived rightly is a faith that will be opposed. Embrace a life of sacrifice. It’s a faith that does the right thing even when it’s hard. But there’s a rainbow coming.

If the world hated Christ, who are we to think it will love us?  It won’t. The world will mock us, persecute us, ridicule us, make us the outcast, and even more as the Day of the Lord draws nearer.  There may even be times when a brother or sister in Christ will oppose us.  God’s ways are radical and misunderstood.  And some are still living with that comfy ideal.

We have a chance every day to leave our comfy lives behind for something eternally better.  We can choose to serve no matter how inconvenient. We can choose to uncompromisingly live out our godly beliefs no matter how intolerant they may seem to the world. We can choose to speak the truth no matter who disagrees.

We can choose to live radically for Christ because He radically lived, and died, for us.

And when we suffer we can rejoice that we are on a shared mission with Christ.  We have a message to get out and a calling to fulfill, come hell or high water. And our hardships are serving us to prove our faith purer every day.

A day will come when all suffering is done.  We’ll celebrate as the glory of God is revealed and with Him we will rejoice as the victors!

Q4U: How are you able to continue living for Christ through suffering?

Grace and peace,
Dorci