Christmas Season [4]

Merry Christmas everyone!

A year later I find last year's post comforting and challenging. There is comfort in the reality that the Christmas Season is truly a game-changer (e.g., the beginning of the downfall of Satan's kingdom). Yet there is also challenge because the implications of the Christmas Season call for a response. Quite often the response(s) it calls for are challenging.

So, as this year winds down and another is about to begin, let me ask you a serious question. Are you more in love with Jesus today then you were a year ago? Got an answer? Good. Now let me ask another question. What is your evidence?

Hopefully you can answer the initial question with a "Yes," and then give a few examples to substantiate your answer.

Ready for another question or two? How would people around you know that you are more in love with Jesus today than a year ago? What would their response be if someone asked, "Hey 'Steve,' you are good friends with 'Bill,' right? Is he more in love with Jesus today then he was a year ago at this time?" What would his answer be? What would be his evidence?

If you are like me, there are some things that come to your mind which can cast doubt on an initial "Yes" answer. If this is the case for you, please do not dismiss the doubtful thoughts. In light of the Christmas Season, please do the following...
A) Pray about the doubts. Is there validity to them? If so, there is no need to try and hide or deny them. This will certainly not be beneficial for anyone in the long run.
B) View these areas, if valid, as room for growth in your walk with God.
C) Confess these areas to God and seek help from others (i.e., confession both to God and community along with accountability).
D) Leverage this "most wonderful time of the year" (i.e., the Christmas Season) to your advantage and seek to bring about change (i.e., sanctification) in these areas.

The Christ Event (Jesus' Birth, Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension) was a death blow to the kingdom of Satan. He is now bound, and while this does not eradicate him, Satan has been limited. For example, his ultimate weapon of death now has an ironic (for him) twist. Every time a follower of Jesus dies, no matter how the death comes about, they go to be in the presence of God. What a beautiful victory! A victory that no doubt enrages the father of lies (Jn8:44), accuser of the brothers (Rev12:10), and deceiver of the whole world (Rev12:9).

However, my focus is not on Satan in this post. No, my focus is on you (and me). In light of the Christmas Season, what godly changes are in store for you this year?

For some, step "c" above would be a huge step. Quite often confession and accountability are not done well in Christian circles. Yet do not let this deter you. Rather, be a catalyst to bring healthy confession and accountability into your community. Furthermore, do not view changes in light of the Christmas Season as daunting...view them as exciting.

The most free, safe, secure, at peace, and full of joy we will ever be is in the middle of the Father's will for our lives. Yet do not make the mistake of defining "free" and the remaining descriptors above in the way the world views them. Remember, there is a ruler of "this world" - and he is not Jesus (cf. 2Cor4:4). Yet because of the Christmas Season, his days are limited.

Rather than suggest a list of godly changes for this coming year in light of the Christmas Season, I will suggest one - for everyone. This change is necessary if you are going to have long-term growth in your walk with God. This past week I was given a great reminder while reading Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament by Christopher J.H. Wright. He basically said revivals for the people of God in the Old Testament revolved around the written word of God. His examples were the reforms under Josiah (cf. 2Kgs22-23) and Ezra (cf. Neh8).

I think you can see the connection for us between the word of God for Israel (the written word) and the Word of God for us, the fulfilled Israel, in the person of Jesus. Interestingly, Jesus also had a high view of the written word of God.

In light of that, read the Bible this coming year. You may be surprised with the changes it will help to bring about in you. There are many reading plans to take a person through the entire Bible in a year. You can choose from a chronological approach, one that gets you through the OT once and NT three times, and many others. I am going to follow a thematic approach this year.

Oh yes, and in light of the Christmas Season, do not delay this godly change another moment. Start reading in your Bible today...putting it off until the "new year" is not wise. Why put off growing closer to God?

Also, if and when you miss a day, do not get down on yourself. Simply pick it up the next day. Remember, God is a God of grace...He certainly does not want you "down on yourself" for missing a day in His word. He would much rather have that pain of missing propel you to not missing another day instead of it leading to a prolonged period away from His word.  

Oh yeah, last thing. I will encourage you to add a simple prayer in light of the Christmas Season for 2013; "God, give me a growing desire for Your word - to read and heed it." You will need strength that is not your own to read and apply God's word. The enemy, though defeated, is still strong and can deceive you. Yet the Spirit that lives within us is more powerful than him. Praise God for that.

In light of the Christmas Season, may you have a blessed new year in the eyes of the Lord!!!

Christmas Season [3]

The New Year getting closer every day. In light of that, along with the more important Christmas Season, here is a post from last year. Once again, in a few days I hope to revisit this post with some more thoughts. Do I agree, where have my thoughts changed, how has it impacted me, etc.?

Here is a post from 12/31/11 - Christmas or Christmas Season [2]

The old year is nearly gone and the New Year is almost upon us.  For many this conjures up thoughts of parties, a new beginning, bowl games, and resolutions.  I must confess, for the past several years (10 or so) I have not been a fan of “New Year’s Resolutions”.  However, in light of the Christmas Season I have started to think of them differently. 

A reason I have had an aversion to New Year’s Resolutions is simple; why wait?  E.g., in 2012 I am going to 1) lose weight, 2) get organized, 3) spend less & save more, 4) quit smoking, 10) spend more time with family, etc.   I am not opposed to any of those things.  Yet in the past I would think, “If they are so important…why wait?  Why not start to change now…?”  Have you ever been around someone going on a diet – or gone on one yourself?  If so I am certain this is familiar, “My diet starts in three days (or next year)…so I have until then to eat whatever I want…”  Add into this way of thinking any New Year’s resolution and it can be twisted into a free for all time period because after all, "in 2012 I am going to do better."  However, after a week (estimates and statistics vary), three out of four New Year’s resolutions will have been broken (click on the 1/6/10 radio spot in the new window).  There are a variety of factors for why New Year’s Resolutions fail.  One is the simple fact that change is difficult.  Yet I wonder if a “last minute free for all” also sets us up for failure.    

Be those things as they may be; why am I having a change of thinking toward New Year’s Resolutions?  It is tied into the reality of the Christmas Season.  When our focus shifts from a day (or a few family gatherings) to a celebration of the Incarnation, and its implications, the stage is set for everything to change.  Indeed, it brings fresh meaning to “out with the old and in with the new” (cf. 2Cor5:17).

All that makes a New Year exciting in the minds of many needs to be brought under the Lordship of Jesus – the Christ.  After all, “New Year’s Day” is found within the Christmas Season.  Yet what difference does this make?  For starters, it ought to bring about a shift in some, if not all, of our resolutions.  Why not resolve to get to know a neighbor down the street (even next door) and begin praying – earnestly – for them to submit their life to Jesus?  Why not get accountability in this task of neighbor evangelism?  Why not, in light of the Incarnation, seek to live an incarnational life among people who really need to know God’s love?    

In other words, with a New Year nearly upon us, what changes for the sake of the Kingdom will you make?  Take some time today and reflect on the past year in light of the Incarnation.  What difference has it really made in me?  What would others say?  Have I loved those who are “unlovely” (e.g., a bad boss, an unfriendly neighbor, a social outcast, etc.) in the eyes of the world?  Have I loved what is unlovely in the eyes of God?  How has the reality of the Incarnation impacted how I have spent money?  Etc.

Yes, the Christmas Season changes everything – even the approach a follower of Jesus ought to take with a New Year upon us.  Oh yes, and as far as a “free for all” prior to making a big change at the start of a New Year, this is still problematic.  Yet if a change is to be lasting it must be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God…and this takes prayer. 

So how about something like this?  View Advent as a time of fasting and prayer as we long for the return of Jesus.  During this time I am certain the Holy Spirit will reveal some changes God desires in your life.  Next, view the Christmas Season as a springboard to put these godly changes into practice.  This sounds a lot better than the typical approach to the New Year and resolutions.  And you know what?  I bet a lot of the things in a typical “resolution list” will work themselves out as byproducts of growing closer to God. 

Merry Christmas – and let our hearts turn even more to having the New Year honor the One who owns all of time anyway.