Advent 2023 – Christmas Wish List

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
What do you want for Christmas? Jewelry? Clothes? Something for your house? A car or a cruise might top your list. How about a Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range model air rifle? (Say it with me: “You’ll shoot your eye out!”) When I was a kid all I wanted was paper and pencils. Or you might prefer the one-size-fits-all cash gift. Then again – maybe your Christmas list is less tangible – something that can’t be wrapped up and put under the tree.
If you wish for peace, Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27). Peace in our hearts only comes through Jesus Christ. Maybe you’ve lost your Joy. David wrote, “You will fill me with joy in Your presence” (Psalm 16:11). Joy is found in Immanuel – the God who is with us. If you need hope this Christmas, hear God’s words in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” In the Lord’s hands, we have hope – for this life and for all eternity. Do you wish for love? “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). Not just a little, not even a “bushel and a peck,’” but poured out on you lavishly, without measure and overflowing. If freedom tops your list you can find release – the Psalmist says “O Lord, truly I am your servant . . . You have freed me from my chains” (Psalm 116:16). The blood of Jesus breaks the chains of this world. Maybe you just want a little rest this Christmas. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Just sink back into His arms and let Him carry your burdens and you.
Whatever you long for this Christmas, you can find it in Jesus. There is nothing on your list that He cannot provide. He is the greatest Gift of all and your heart’s deepest longing. This gift is more precious than jewelry, toys, or clothes wrapped in paper and ribbons. He is peace, joy, hope, and love wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Run!

I was studying late last night and got hungry. Suddenly an image popped up on my screen – a Mason jar full of cornbread and milk. I remembered the leftover corn muffins from supper the night before. I made a beeline to the kitchen.

This is exactly how satan works to draw us into temptation and sin. James described it perfectly – “ . . . each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (Jas. 1:14). Let’s reconsider my snack attack in light of this verse. I had a desire – I wanted something to eat while I studied. I saw an image that tapped into my love for cornbread and milk and aroused my desire. I knew where I could find what I wanted and I went after it. In less than five minutes I was enjoying my treat.

There’s nothing evil about cornbread and milk – except maybe the quantity I eat. But what if that deep desire has been for something else? What if I was craving alcohol or drugs or porn? What if I was addicted to gambling or – pick your own poison. What might satan parade before me then?  And how easily would I have fallen? Just as easily as I did for my favorite snack. Don’t be fooled – satan can read you and me like a book. He knows all about those secret desires we try to hide. He knows what to dangle in front of us to persuade us to follow right into a trap. Paul lamented this internal pull of sin in Romans 7 saying sinful desires still lived in him and waged war within him (vv. 14-23).

So what recourse do we have? We run. We flee from those evil desires (2 Tim 2:22). Paul said, “. . . when you are tempted, [God] will provide a way out” (1 Cor 10:13). Take it. Don’t stand there and try to talk yourself down. Run from the temptation. Get as far away from it as possible. Run to a trusted friend. Run around the block. Put down the phone. Shut off the T.V.  Go play with your kids. Do whatever it takes to distance yourself from the temptation.

Maybe you have even bigger temptations than cornbread and milk. Believe me, I do too. But God promised a way out. Look for it and run to it, Beloved. Freedom is on the other side of the door.

A Brand New You

One of my responsibilities is to cover my boss’ classes when he must be away. He had to be out one day and we were talking about what I needed to do as “the sub.” We laughed as I recalled some mischief I pulled on substitute teachers in the past and then I said, “That was before Jesus. I don’t do that stuff now.”

Paul had that same message. In Romans 6 he talked about the difference between who we were before Jesus and who we are now. Before Christ, we were dead to righteousness and a slave to sin. We “used to offer the parts of [our] body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,” (v. 19). Throughout his letters, he describes some of the things in which we indulged in our pre-Christ state. Things you would expect like murder, sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, anger, drunkenness, selfishness, lying, stealing, envy, greed, obscenity, and things you might not expect like foolish talk, coarse joking, and gossip. All those were part of your “BC” – before Christ – life.

But now that you are in Christ, that’s not who you are anymore. Let me say that again so you can hear: YOU ARE NOT THAT SINFUL PERSON ANYMORE. Paul said, “But now you have been set free from sin” (Rom 6:22). But now, you are a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), dead to sin and alive to righteousness. You are not bound to obey your old sinful desires and the temptations of the world. While they may have given you a moment of pleasure, they also produced a heavy burden of guilt. Paul asked, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?” (Rom 6:21). The implied question follows – Why do you want to indulge in them again?

Here is the good news: you are not who you once were. “You have been set free from sin” (Rom 6:22). You can leave those sinful desires and actions behind and live for Jesus. Paul said, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light.” (Eph 5:8). I don’t know about you but that gives me tremendous hope. When those old familiar desires rise up and the enemy dangles that favorite temptation before you, you can say – “That was the old me – I don’t do that now.” And you can walk away. You really can Beloved. Because that’s not who you are anymore.

Independence Day

Today is the birthday of the United States of America. It is the day when our founding fathers declared our independence from England and our freedom as a self-governing nation. They said that we were no longer subject to England’s laws or taxes and were not beholden to any other government. King George had no control over the twelve colonies across the ocean.

Paul told the believers in Rome that in Christ Jesus, not only were they free from condemnation because of sin but they were also free from the power and control of sin (Rom 8:1-2). Please don’t rush past that. You need to understand what Jesus has done for you. You and I were, in the sight of God, doomed because of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam and Eve. That in itself was enough to condemn us eternally. Then we acted on that sin nature, piling our evil acts up like a mountain of evidence against us. We deserve nothing less than death.

But God also saw that we were under bondage to sin. We were slaves to our passions and slaves to temptation. We had no power on our own to resist the evil in the world and the lusts of our flesh. And so Jesus died to set us free. Why then Christian, do you and I still live as if we are under the authority of sin? Why do we give in to our evil passions? Why do we open the door wide to temptation?

The Declaration of Independence boldly and clearly declared that we are set free from English rule. Paul very clearly stated: “You have been set free from sin” (Rom 7:10, 22). How foolish would we be if 247 years after declaring our independence we continued to pay taxes to now King Charles?  How foolish are we when we run after sin as if it is still our master? As an American citizen, I don’t have to submit to the English government. As a Christian, you don’t have to submit to sin. Or to say it another way: that means you do not have to sin.  

I know some of you reading this are not citizens of the United States and the Fourth of July means little to you. But no matter where you live, you can have freedom from sin in Christ Jesus. Receive Him as your Savior and Lord and mark this as your spiritual Independence Day.

Dads and Daughters and Forgiveness

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13).

My Dad and I had a rough time starting in my early teens and for some 20+ years after.   The details are not important, but the pain was very real.  There was a long stretch of time that we did not speak at all and when we did begin to reconnect it was infrequent and strained and awkward.  And honestly, I was okay with a minimal relationship.  I had moved away from my hometown and was busy raising my family, working, and making my own life.

Sure, I knew the importance of forgiveness and had told God “I forgive him.”  But God required something deeper from me—and for me.  My brother wanted us to come for dinner for Dad’s birthday.  I would have just as soon sent him a card but my brother insisted, and so we agreed to go.  A couple of days before God took me to 2 Corinthians 2:7-8 and told me very pointedly this word was for me regarding my Dad.

“Now you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.  I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.”

Wait, God wanted me to forgive, comfort, and reaffirm my love—for my Dad’s sake?  That seemed a bit unfair, after all, I was the injured party here!  I was the one who had lived all these years with “excessive sorrow.” Shouldn’t he be made to comfort and love me? Didn’t he owe me something?  God patiently heard my arguments (read whining), but kept coming back to the same point: “Are you going to obey me?”  “Lord,” I answered, “I will do as You have said, but only because You said it, not because I want to. 

That year had presented a lot of health challenges for my Dad, and when I saw him in a motorized chair with his oxygen, it gave my heart such a shock.  My Dad was so frail. I felt a piece of ice crack around my heart. Still, we sat on the opposite ends of the table but my eyes kept drawing back to him. As we left I walked ahead of him, moving chairs and obstacles out of his way.  We took some pictures in the parking lot and my sister-in-law positioned me directly behind my Dad in his chair.  I put my hands on his shoulders, and he reached up and pulled my hands lower so that I was bent over him in a hug.  Another piece of ice broke away.  On our way home she sent me the picture and suddenly the frozen dam broke and flooded my eyes.  I didn’t see the man that I had been so hurt by or so angry with.  I saw my Dad with such a glad look on his face with my arms wrapped around him.  The thought came to me: “This is not the same man who hurt me,” Forgiveness rushed into my heart, filling all the places where the bitterness had taken root.  The person in that picture was someone I truly loved.  And then God spoke to my heart: “You are not the same girl so full of pain and anger anymore.  I have carried you and I have been your Father all these years and my love for you has washed away your pain and bitterness.  Now you can love your earthly father with the love I have poured into you.”  My heart had been set free.

Forgiveness is a gift that God gives to every person who will receive it.  Forgiveness is a gift that you and I are also called to give, but the truth is, we are often the most blessed.  Forgiveness sets us free because bitterness is the heaviest burden known to man.

I know that someone is reading this and thinking, “But you don’t know what this person has done to me!”  I chose not to go into detail about our past, but it was deep and painful and affected every aspect of my entire life.  When I forgave my Dad, it was an act of obedience to God, not because of a warm-fuzzy feeling on my part.  But that step of obedience broke the dam of bitterness and God took away that pain and anger.  He changed my heart.   Perhaps God is waiting for you to look up from your tangled emotions and simply say, “I’ll forgive them because you say so.”  That Beloved, is the first step in the direction of true freedom.

Who Will Be Your Master?

One of the great scourges in U.S. history is slavery. It was a common way of life (and not limited to the South) but often a horrific way of life. We don’t like to think about slavery, but it was a reality that cannot be erased or knocked down. It is also a teaching point as it gives us a true vision of how sin treats men and women.

Paul addressed slavery in the context of our spiritual lives in Romans 6. He said we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. Slaves had no say in how they lived. They went where they were told, did what they were told, and operated at the discretion of their master. In the context of this passage, Paul said the same thing applied to either sin or righteousness. The difference in the life of a slave was in the master. Sin is a tyrannical, wicked master bent on inflicting as much abuse as possible on the slave before finally paying them their full wages: death (6:23).

But those who are in Christ Jesus are slaves to righteousness. Yes, still slaves, but to a much different master. A master that treats the slave with grace and kindness and cares for and about them. While the wages of sin is death, the gift of God to the righteous slave is eternal life (still v. 23). That in itself is enough cause for Joy, but look what else our Master gives us: the resurrection from the dead (v. 5), grace (vs. 14-15), holiness (vs. 19, 22), and strangely. freedom (vs. 7, 18, 22).

In verse14 Paul wrote: “Sin shall not be your master . . .” I’ve always understood that as a command: “Sin must not be your master” but taken in the full context I believe it is a word of assurance that sin will not be our master. The KJV renders the verse “Sin will no longer be your master.” Twice Paul said “You have been set free from sin” (vs. 18, 22). That’s good news for those of us who bear the scars of our former master.

Paul frequently tells us that we are not who we once were because we belong to a new Master now. You need to remind yourself of that every time your old slave driver comes calling. Beloved, you belong to righteousness now. Sin has no claim on you.

The Problem is Sin, The Answer is Jesus

My back hurts. Low and on the left side. I “googled” my symptoms and found out that I may have endometriosis, kidney stones, IBS, sciatica, muscle weakness, muscle imbalance, and muscle strain. These are due to how I sit, how I stand, how I sleep, how strenuously I work out (bwahahaha), and how I twist my back when I swing a golf club. No, I don’t play golf, but I’m looking for any excuse here because I know what’s really wrong with my back – it’s my front. It’s all the excess girth sitting in my tummy area. I’m trying to lose weight, but then Reese’s made Peanut Butter Cups with potato chips.

When you and I look at the world and the horrible things that human beings do to one another we want to ask “Why?” The news broke yesterday of another tragic shooting that left many families grieving.  Immorality is being celebrated and paraded. Babies are murdered in what should be the safest place on earth – their mother’s womb.  I shake my head and wonder, “Why?” Even in my own life, when I do things I know I should not do, I look in the mirror and ask myself the same question. I suspect you do too.

But I know why, and so do you. Sin. Sin opened the door wide for all these evil things to become part of the human story – part of me and part of you. Sin breeds hate and greed and selfishness and lust and every manner of evil. It is the curse of rebellion against God. When Adam and Eve bit the fruit, mankind was doomed to live in enmity with God, condemned by the sinful nature that has invaded every person for all time. Except one. In Romans 7, Paul lamented that sinful part of himself. He also asked a question – but it wasn’t “Why?” He knew why. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (v. 18). He asked instead, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v. 24). And then he answered his own question: “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25) Jesus Christ changes everything. He breaks the curse of sin and He transforms our hearts so that redemption – not sin – is our forever story.

Beloved, you were born a sinful creature, but God sent His one and only Son to set you free. You know what the problem is, and now you know the answer. Won’t you come to Jesus today?

Roots and Fruits

 

I spent most of my growing-up years on the move. As a military family, we picked up stakes and set up “home” somewhere new every few years. From Texas (my birthplace) to Okinawa, Georgia, Alabama, Germany, and back to Alabama again where my Mom said “Done.” I look back on those years with fondness now, but as a kid, I just wanted to settle down somewhere and stay. I wanted to put down roots.

As an adult, I look back over my life and see the seasons when I wandered away from God; those times I thought I could manage my life better on my own. I made some very foolish moves to get away from the structure of church and “rules.” I didn’t want roots. I wanted the freedom to do “my thing” and make my own decisions. But I wasn’t really free. I was just running like a grown-up lost girl. I am so thankful that Jesus came on a mission from the Father to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

And when He found me, do you know what He did? He gave me roots – not in a place or even necessarily in a church (though I love my church family) – He gave me roots in Him. Roots that are strong and fixed in the rich soil of His love. Roots that hold firm when the storms of life blow through. Roots that draw deeply from His Holy Spirit. Roots that produce. Isaiah declared “[You will] take root below and bear fruit above” (2 Ki 19:30). What’s amazing is those deep, strong roots go with me wherever He may lead.

Beloved, Jesus came to give you an abundant life (John 10:10), a life that is meaningful, rich, and rewarding.  Deep roots make luscious fruit. Come settle your soul in Him.

Come Glorify the Lord

The news shows and magazines are all doing their year-end reviews, looking over the storylines and headlines of the past 12 months.  While there are a few bright spots in the year, there was mostly tragedy, sadness, suffering, and sorrow.  We just celebrated the angel’s announcement “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14).   But where is the “peace on earth?”  What happened to all the “goodwill?” What went wrong?

I believe the answer to these questions, in fact, the answer to all our questions about the state of the world can be satisfied in the first words of this verse:  “Glory to God in the highest.” The Westminster Catechism, created by the church in the 17^th century declares that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” When we fail to give God the glory He deserves, it diminishes our ability to enjoy Him and the life He has given us. Paul said that this is the sin of mankind: to know the truth of God but refuse to glorify Him (Rom 1:21). That arrogance sends us spiraling into the abyss of darkness and depravity.

 But if we glorify God, we can see and receive the Light of Life. Our hearts know the truth and we are set free to enjoy God as He intended. And that affects everything else.  It changes us and our human relationships. We think and act on the presence of God within us. We are kind and gracious. We are peaceful and loving. We are humble and compassionate. And the world takes notice.

David gave us both a pattern of worship and reasons for worship in 1 Chronicles 16: 7-36. We worship God when we give Him thanks, remember His goodness, seek Him, tell His story, hold Him in high esteem, sing to Him, and praise and worship Him. We glorify God because He is God and there is none like Him. He is faithful. He cares about us and for us. He is great and worthy of praise. He is splendid and majestic and mighty. He created all things – including you and me – and holds all things together. He is our Savor and Redeemer. He is eternal. And if all that wasn’t enough, He is good and His love endures forever.

Do you want to see peace on earth? Or maybe just peace in your life? Start by giving God the glory He deserves. Beloved nothing else will change your heart and your world more.

Advent 2022: Christmas List

What Do You Want for Christmas? Jewelry? Clothes? Something for your house? Maybe a Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range model air rifle? Or you just might prefer the one-size-fits-all cash gift.  Sometimes our wishes are pretty big – my son wanted a LEGO® Star Wars Death Star (retail 499.99) – needless to say, he did not get it.  Some of us are satisfied with a bit less.  When I was a little girl, I just wanted paper and pencils – guess I’ve always been a writer at heart. Maybe your Christmas list is less tangible – something that can’t be wrapped up and put under the tree.  If you wrote it out it might say “peace” “joy” “hope” or “love.” Maybe your list includes “acceptance” “freedom” or “rest.” 

To the one who asks for peace, Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27).  For the one who has lost their joy David wrote, “You will fill me with joy in Your presence” (Psalm 16:11).  If you need hope this Christmas, hear God’s words in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Do you wish for love? “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1).  This same verse fills your desire for acceptance – God calls Himself your Father and He accepts you as His child.  If freedom tops your list you can find release – the Psalmist says “O Lord, truly I am your servant . . . You have freed me from my chains” (Psalm 116:16).  Maybe you just want a little rest this Christmas.  Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). 

Beloved, whatever it is you long for this Christmas, you will find it in Jesus.  There is nothing on your list that He cannot provide. He is the greatest Gift and can fill your heart’s deepest longing.  No, it won’t be wrapped in paper and ribbons sitting under your tree.  You’ll find this priceless gift wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12).