Let Go of Anything Weighing You Down  

Are you making any resolutions for the new year? We tend to see the flipping of the calendar as the starting line of a new race – one in which we are committed to running better. Sometimes we decide that this is a good time to add some new or different activity to our lives. We might start the year determined to exercise more, to eat healthier foods, or to begin some long-planned project. Some of us may commit ourselves to greater involvement in certain spiritual disciplines, such as more regular church attendance, Bible reading, and prayer.  

While adding certain things to our lives can be beneficial, we often have to do some subtraction first. Before Christmas we went to see our granddaughter dance in a performance of The Nutcracker. She did a marvelous job, but it was somewhat bittersweet. She had decided to give up dance and to make this her last performance. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy this activity anymore, but there were other things she wanted to get involved in. Therefore, she needed to let go of an activity that required such a commitment of her time in order to make room for something else.

   I have found myself having to do that as well. I hadn’t planned on it, but it became somewhat of a recurring theme as this year has wound down to a close. I sensed God leading me to let go of a couple of areas of ministry in which I have been involved for many years. As circumstances and priorities had changed in recent times, my perspective concerning these particular activities had changed as well. I think I had been hanging onto them primarily due to the length of time I had been doing them and due to the blessing they have been. However, the Lord’s direction seemed to make it clear that it was time to let go.

 It reminds me of the Bible verse which says, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). As a new year begins, we have a race to run and new opportunities to pursue. However, we may need to “lay aside” a few weights in order to be better able to do so. I am not talking primarily about sinful actions, although this verse includes those and anything in our lives that falls into that category definitely needs to be forsaken. But I am focusing more on other “weights”. Many of those can be good activities. They can even be worthwhile ministries. Yet we may need to let go of some of them in order to make room for what the Lord wants to include in our lives as we move forward.

In my case, I clearly have heard the message to let go, but I am not yet sure what the Lord may have in mind to replace those activities I am giving up. Sometimes we may be called to make room for something else, but then have to simply keep waiting and trusting until the Lord opens that new door of opportunity.

What may the Lord be calling you to lay aside as we head into this new year? Have you just been hanging onto something because it has been a part of your life for so long that it is hard to give it up? Is it still a vital part of God’s will and plan for your life? We have a race to run in 2023. Under God’s direction, be willing to lay aside anything that would hinder you from running it well.

 

Celebrate and Proclaim the Savior’s Birth  

We recently attended the Christmas program involving one of our younger grandsons. This choir of preschoolers did a great job of singing their holiday selections, often adding hand gestures and other motions to the lyrics. While we enjoyed the entire program, one of the highlights came when they joined their voices to perform the song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” I’ve noticed previously how children seem to ramp up the volume when they get to this particular song, and this occasion was no exception. It was so obvious that a smattering of laughter went through the audience as the kids began to belt out those familiar words – “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere; go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!” This group was so enthusiastic in its rendering of the song that it could almost be described as shouting rather that singing. At any rate, their passionate performance seemed fitting for the subject matter as it reminded all of us that the birth of Jesus is great news that deserves to be shouted from the mountaintops.

As we have gone through this Christmas season, hopefully we have all been focusing on the importance and significance of Christ’s birth. Through the sermons we have heard, the songs we have song, maybe even catching some quiet moments of reflection while reading our Bibles and devotionals, I hope we have experienced some fresh personal inspiration concerning the great gift God gave us of His Son.

However, this good news isn’t meant to be kept to ourselves. As Mary did, we need to ponder these things in our hearts, but they are not to stay there as our own hidden treasure. This good news is meant to be shared. Like the shepherds, we need to spread the word about what has been revealed to us and what we have experienced. If we know that a Savior has been born, and if we have experienced the blessing of the salvation He came to provide, then we need to let others know about it so that they can receive the blessing too.

As Christmas Day approaches, who do we need to tell about the birth of our Savior? How can we shout the good news from the mountaintop? Let’s not just celebrate this occasion with joy in our hearts but also with some degree of the enthusiasm those preschoolers exhibited. This is great news! This is truth that our world needs to hear. There are people around us who need to experience the deliverance from the bondage to sin and guilt that Jesus came to provide. Let’s not fail to let them know about it or to remind them of what the celebration is really all about.

We live in a time when it is tempting to keep silent about such matters. If we speak too loudly about the truths of God’s Word, we are likely to be ridiculed, scorned, or rebuked. Maybe we need a renewal of the childlike enthusiasm we witnessed at that Christmas performance. If a Savior was truly born in Bethlehem, if God really did come in the flesh, and if Jesus went on to provide a way for us to have a right relationship with God and to receive the gift of eternal life, then that is news worth getting excited about. And it is news worth sharing with others.

So let’s celebrate the birth of Jesus this weekend, but let’s make sure we go beyond simply our own personal commemoration. Communicate this wonderful news to others who need to know about it. Go tell it to whomever is willing to listen. Jesus is born! And He came to save us from our sins.   

 

Jesus Considers You to Be Worth the Trouble  

After setting up my outdoor nativity scene, I noticed that the lone sheep among the group of characters was not lit up. I had plugged each figure in before taking them outdoors, so I knew it had been working just a few minutes beforehand. As I subsequently examined my baaaa…d patient to try to diagnose its problem, the bulb mechanism accidentally slipped through the hole and into the belly of the sheep. Between the smallness of the hole and the winged clip on the mechanism, it turned into quite an ordeal to try to retrieve the miniature light fixture. As my wife and I worked together to fix this issue, I remembered how this same figure had suffered from some previous serious malfunctions over the past couple of years, requiring the replacement of its electrical cord. Those memories combined with my current frustration resulted in my declaring at one point, “I think this sheep is more trouble than it’s worth.” I wouldn’t have given up on baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a wise man, or the shepherd, but I felt like a sheep was not necessarily an essential character in the scene. Nevertheless, we ended up being able recover the wayward part and ultimately got our sheep shining again.

I am thankful that our Shepherd didn’t give up on us. The Bible points out that “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). We have all sinned, interrupting the connection between us and our Creator. We have all been guilty of going our own way rather than God’s way. We have all malfunctioned and haven’t received the light of Christ or failed to let it shine through us as God intended.     

Yet God didn’t look at us and say, “Those human beings are more trouble than they’re worth.” No, the Shepherd went to look for His lost sheep. Jesus talked about how a shepherd with a hundred sheep will leave the ninety-nine in order to go after the one that is lost. This is a picture not only of how the Lord pursues the lost today, but what He did when He came to this earth to provide the means of our salvation. When you think about it, Jesus went to a lot of trouble for us. And He considers us to be worth it.

Jesus left His glory in heaven to come to this earth. And our Shepherd didn’t just come looking for us – He became one of us. He took on flesh and blood to become one of the sheep Himself. Eventually, He suffered and died as the sacrifice for our sins. As the rest of that verse in Isaiah 53 states, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And the amazing part of it is that our Shepherd believes we were worth the great price He paid for our salvation.

We may not be prominent figures in the landscape of this world. We may be relatively insignificant sheep standing to the side while the Marys and Josephs and wise men get the spotlight shone on them. However, we are important to our Shepherd. He considers you to be worth the effort for Him to come into this world. He believes you, with all of your sins, faults, and weaknesses, are worth fixing. He wants to shine His light in you, as well as make you a light to the world around you.

 Let the truth of the Incarnation – God becoming flesh – the Shepherd becoming a sheep – remind you that the Lord went to a lot of trouble for you because He loves you and considers you to be worth it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His Son…” And He did it for you.

 

What Kind of Soldiers for Christ Are We?  

As I drove down the road, I noticed a large toy soldier as part of a Christmas display in one yard. What especially got my attention was the movement of the figure’s arms in a regular up and down direction, making it appear as if he was marching. The size and motion combined to make this character appear rather impressive and intimidating. However, the next day as I went past that same location, I noticed that the soldier had toppled over backwards. His arms were still going, but now it communicated a very different picture. He seemed weak, helpless, with arms flailing as if to say in harmony with the elderly lady in an old TV commercial, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Which picture more realistically portrays us as soldiers of Christ? We pointed out last week that Jesus didn’t come into this world in order to gather a military army with the purpose of setting up an earthly kingdom, as the Jews were mistakenly expecting. Nevertheless, He was raising up an army of followers who were to have spiritual power, divine authority, and a transformative influence on those around them. Jesus pictured His church as being such a formidable force that the gates of hell would not be able to stand up against it. So, what has happened to us? Where are the mighty soldiers turning the world upside down for Christ? It seems more like we have been toppled – still wearing our uniforms and going through motions but not accomplishing the mission entrusted to us.

Maybe we are displaying what Paul described as being one of the characteristics of the last days – people who will have “a form of godliness but denying its power” (II Timothy 3:5). Many who profess to follow Jesus have forsaken the clear truth of His Word. Therefore, they are finding themselves blown over by every wind of false doctrine, half-truth, and deceptive teaching. Or they find themselves defenseless against the attacks of a world that lashes out at those who don’t bow down to its unbiblical values and practices.

Additionally, many of us in the church have ignored or refused to accept the idea that we can actually be more than conquerors through Christ in this life. We claim the victory of having our sins forgiven and having the assurance of a home in heaven, but we don’t make use of the ability Jesus gives us to live triumphantly for Him in the meantime. We seek forgiveness when we do wrong, but not the cleansing to keep us from straying in the first place. We want Jesus to be part of our lives, but not to be the center and the One in control. We want the Holy Spirit to live in us, but we don’t seek His fullness and His empowering that Jesus promised was available to us. We worship God while still letting our love and loyalty of other things in this world surpass our devotion to Him.

There may be areas of our world today where the church is marching forward as it should. However, we should be concerned about what we see around us in our society and in many other places today. We are called to be the light of the world, but we seem to be flickering and growing dim. We are called to be salt of the earth, but we appear to be losing our flavor.

Let’s seek the power Christ promised His followers. Let’s pray for the Lord to help us become that mighty, overcoming army He envisioned His church to be. May we be the soldiers who march forward with truth and love to impact our world for good and for God.    

 

Let’s Accept the Biblical Picture of Jesus  

Last weekend both our daughters posted pictures of their families going out to cut down or purchase their live Christmas trees for the season. I was struck by a particular picture of one of my sons-in-law and grandsons standing by the evergreen of their choice. While the boys were decked out in festive Christmas shirts, their dad was standing there wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. Granted, the weather was relatively mild, and that wasn’t unusual attire for my warm-natured son-in-law, even in the dead of winter. But the reality just didn’t seem to fit with the picture we typically have in our minds of people picking out their Christmas tree. We usually envision someone dressed up in a Christmas sweater or heavy coat while sporting a sock cap or one of those woodsman hats with floppy earflaps. There was nothing wrong with my son-in-law’s appearance – it just wasn’t in line with some people’s traditional expectations.

 Maybe that helps us better relate to the Jews who had certain expectations about their coming Messiah. I am not excusing their rejection of Jesus, but sometimes I wonder if we would have done any better under the circumstances. Their traditional image of a Messiah included crowns and thrones, swords and white horses. They pictured a king and military commander. Was it any wonder that they failed to recognize or accept reality when Jesus arrived on the scene? Certain aspects of His image just didn’t seem to fit – no palace, no sword, no riotous rebellion – instead there was the manger, the humble service, and the cross. Instead of military authority, there was spiritual authority. Instead of human power, there was divine power. Instead of setting up a political kingdom, He focused on a spiritual kingdom. They let their traditional expectations get in the way of accepting the real Messiah for who He was.

Let’s be careful that we don’t do the same today. God has expressed Himself and His will most clearly through His Son. Jesus is “the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). God has preserved a reliable divinely-inspired record of who Jesus is, what He is like, what He taught, and what He did during His days in the flesh on this earth. We’ve been given a picture of the Savior. Let’s not ignore it, reject it, or attempt to rewrite it if certain aspects don’t line up with what we prefer Christ to look like.

There are some today who refuse to accept the Jesus who exposed sin, warned of an eternal hell, and died as the sacrifice for our sins. They want to see Jesus as simply a kindhearted Teddy Bear who doesn’t condemn anybody for anything, who advocates for socialism, and who would likely be driving an electric vehicle. On the other hand, others picture Him as the angry Judge eager to rain down fire and brimstone on evildoers, wearing His MAGA hat while draped in the American flag, and who would likely be driving a pick-up truck with a rifle in the gun rack.

Too many of us allow our views of politics, social issues, and personal preferences shape our view of Jesus. Instead, we need to get back to what the Bible says about Him. Let’s allow the reality of who Jesus truly is shape the way we look at those political and social issues. Let’s be willing to change our views and opinions based on the real picture of Jesus, not reshape Him to fit what we think He ought to be.

The Jews failed to recognize their Messiah when He came. Let’s not miss Him today through our own misguided perceptions about what we think He ought to look like. Get back to the Bible and see Jesus for who He really is.