The Other Side Of Christmas

     There is a lot of emphasis at Christmas time on "Peace on Earth", and "Joy to the World".  These are wonderful sentiments and deserve to be thought of whenever we think of what God wants for us.  He sent His Son Jesus to bring the "joy of the Lord" into our hearts.  God is love and wants us to have His love filling our lives. 

     What we need to keep in mind is the reason for Jesus coming to earth - it is that because of  sin we are evil by nature.  Peace and Love are completely foreign to our nature unless we receive God's Spirit into our hearts.  Jesus says:  "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  (John 8:44) 

     As sinners we are by nature just like the first sinner - Satan, the devil, "that old dragon". (Revelation 12:9)  Satan wants to kill and destroy, and without a living daily connection to Jesus humans will also kill and destroy.  When Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the Wise Men came to see him, we often forget the other side of the story.  When they didn't go back and tell him where to find Jesus, Herod sent soldiers to kill all the children 2 years of age and younger.  That evil still lives and works through anyone who is not living for God. 

     Jesus came to this earth not just to show us how much God loves us, but to make it possible for us to be transformed into His likeness.  Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived a perfect life, a life of perfect obedience to God.  Then He died to pay the penalty for our sins.  Now He can take our sins away, He can get rid of them completely.  But He also will give us a new heart.  New desires and the power to live as He did - in complete obedience to God.  The death of Jesus means nothing unless we accept the new life He offers us.  If we do not chose to live the life of Jesus, then we will live the life of the devil.  We are either children of God or children of Satan.  There is no middle ground.

     The next time some horrible tragedy happens ask yourself how sin looks now.  Looking at the end result of sin vow to give yourself to Jesus without reserve.  God hates sin and wants to destroy it, but He wants to save people more.  So He waits a little longer, enduring the agony sin brings, hoping He can get us to see the horribleness of sin and come to Him for cleansing.  With His transforming power working in us we can be separated from sin.  Then sin can be destroyed without destroying us.  As it is written:  "Call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."  (Matthew 1:21)  

Christmas Tree Christians

     Christmas trees can be beautiful things.  When they are decorated by someone who has a real "artist's touch" they can make the beholder stop and admire the beauty of the decorations.  (Of course they can be really tacky too.)  The thing about a Christmas tree though is that it is all show.  The decorations have to be attached on the outside.  Inside the tree is dead, or dying.  It has been cut off from the source of its life.  Then we decorate the outside and put it up as something to admire.

     Let me share some interesting passages of Scripture.  In Jeremiah 10:3-4 we read:  "The customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not."

      The reference here is to the making of an idol.  I can hear someone saying:  "My Christmas tree isn't an idol.  I don't worship it."  Maybe, but let's let the Bible interpret itself.  Speaking of idols Psalm 115:8 says:  "They that make them are like them."   In what way might I be like that Christmas tree?

     In Mark 7:21-23 Jesus says:  "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile the man."   Inside I am dead.  In myself is just a rotted, bug infested core.  And so from that death comes all kinds of evil wickedness.  We do our best to cover it up.  We decorate our poor mortal bodies with jewels, fancy clothing,  and decorations of all kinds.   The general rule is the more I pay attention to the outside, the worse I am on the inside.

      But more than these things,  we also try and decorate ourselves with "love, kindness, charity," and other  "good works".  We try and show off our "Christian Virtues", when in reality they are just attachments on the outside.  We do good things and enjoy being rewarded, or noticed, for our "good deeds".   Jesus said:  "You refuse to come to Me that you might have life.  I receive not honor from men."  (John 5:40-41)  He is the source of life, and was unmoved by the praise or condemnation of people.  He lived with no outward show, but with humility and meekness.  His life flowed out from what was within.

     So it must be with us.  Christ says to us today:  "I am the vine, you are the branches.  He that abides in Me brings forth much fruit.  Without Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:5)  We are not to call attention to the outside, rather let us concentrate on our connection to Jesus.  Study to be constantly connected to God through Christ.  Then His life will flow out naturally, and people will see the beauty of holiness and be led to glorify God.  As it is written:  "The king's daughter is all glorious within."  (Psalm 45:13)

Warmth From Coldness

     These are the times that tests our soul, our innermost being.  Each decision I make is weighted with eternal consequences.  As never before our destiny is being decided by the choices we make today.  I wish I could say these words with the force with which they are impressed upon my mind. 

     We allow ourselves to be so easily distracted.  The devil doesn't have to work to get us.  It is more like he just plays with us.  Like babies we are so easily amused.  A little feather to our nose,  a little poke in the belly -- and we lose any thought of what we might have been concerned about and become lost in laughter and hilarity.  Or perhaps a frown from someone and we lose our sense of joy and start crying and screaming thinking we have been terribly abused.   We have all seen babies and how they react to such small things, yet I am afraid we are still babies in our similar reactions, though we look like adults. 

     It is past time that we grow up in Christ.  God is able to make us spiritually adults a lot faster than we are willing, He wants to lead us faster and farther than we have yet developed.  That is why we are not yet in heaven.  Jesus would have come already but He waits for us to become sincere in our desire to get there.  However, we are now in the time and place spoken of by all the prophets of God.  The times of ease and prosperity are gone.  The blessings of God have been despised.  Greed and violence have become the norm.  The lessons God wanted us to learn in peace will have to be learned among storms and tragedy.

     Too many of us are taking on the temperature of our surroundings.  In physics the second law of thermodynamics says:  without outside intervention, everything eventually reaches  a state of equilibrium.  Over time everything would become mush, with a lukewarm  temperature.   This is what Satan is trying to accomplish with us today.  He wants all the world to mindlessly follow whatever he says.  He wants to be the king of mushy garbage. 

     However, Jesus is inoculating people with His life.  They are going in the opposite direction from the rest of the world.  I repeat - OPPOSITE!  The path of God is not the same as the rest of the world.  It is not parallel to the world, it is not similar in any way.  The God of physics is the God of the spirit, and He is not willing to leave us in our closed system.  He will inject His life into us if we are willing, if we submit, if we give Him our self.  Please note carefully and with prayer in your heart the following word from our Lord through His last day messenger.   "When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few--this will be our test. At this time we must (1) gather warmth from the coldness of others,  (2) courage from their cowardice, and (3) loyalty from their treason."   {5T136}  (emphasis & numbering supplied)   

     Our entire focus must be on our Father God Who gave us everything when He gave us His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.  As things get worse let us press closer to Jesus.  The greater the trial the more we must ignore it and keep our eyes on the Captain of our Salvation.  It is our privilege to live in the light of Heaven.  Let Colossians 1:13 be repeated continually when daily trials come.  "He did rescue us out of the authority of darkness, and did translate us into the kingdom of His dear Son."