Merry Christmas Eve, readers and friends!
I promise to be short-winded today, really.
I was reading through the Christmas story today. Not out of religious duty, moral obligation, or self-imposed guilt, but simply because I needed the focus. The holidays are lovely and well, but I gotta be honest; they're also demanding, chaotic, and exhausting. I don't want to just survive another holiday this year. I want to really grasp the magic and wonder and joy of the season. I want Christmas in my heart more than I want any Christmas under a tree or in a stocking.
That foundation being laid, I'm going to take you to Luke 1, and we'll start in verse 39:
Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."
Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment. Wow.
I'm not going reiterate the miraculous virgin birth for you, or the beauty of a baby that would deliver the world from sin and death. I'm pretty sure that picture has been amply painted. But what about you? What about your Christmas? What about God's promises to you? What heaven-ordained fulfillments are you still waiting on? Do you still believe?
Christmas is the season of believing, and I'm all for it, but December 26 will be here shortly. Don't let the hope of Jesus die with the tree or the lights. His word is full of promises, and the promises are ours for the taking 365 days a year. Elizabeth was old and barren when John was conceived- I would imagine that hope was a far off feeling. God's word may have appeared null and void, but it wasn't. He didn't forget Elizabeth, He didn't forget Israel, and He didn't forget Simeon, just like He hasn't forgotten us. Let that truth sink into your heart. His personal word and promises to you still stand. He hasn't forgotten you.
Merry Christmas, friends. May hope and peace be yours in abundance.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
An afternoon vocabulary lesson
I think Jesus likes vocabulary; or, He knows I'm a giant word nerd and speaks accordingly. Both are win-win scenarios, so I'm not too terribly caught up in trying to decipher truth from perception. Not this time, anyways.
Undone. Have you ever stopped to consider this term? I hadn't...and then, I heard it approximately 15,000 times in a week's span and decided I ought to give it some thought.
Undone: adjective: not fastened or tied, not done, unfinished, defeated or destroyed
I'll be honest. At first glance, that definition did nothing for my life, spirituality, or other common knowledge. It felt like a waste of paper, so why did "undone" keep pervading my language transactions? I had to dig deeper.
By "digging deeper," I mean I was reclining in an over sized chair, soaking in some Arizona sunlight, and attempting to steal a short nap, but my inquisitive nature wouldn't take a break. It just sounded more introspective and scholarly to phrase it, "dig deeper." I guess that cat is out of the bag. It's okay, though, because it goes to the raw honesty of my interactions with the Father and that which I relay to you as a result. I'm not a Bible scholar. I've never been to Bible school, and I don't claim to be a spiritual superstar. I don't spend a trillion hours a day locked away in a study praying and fasting, and after five and a half years of really loving Jesus, I literally just learned that there were two disciples named Simon. That's important for you to grasp because I don't want you to imagine something about me that is over-exaggerated or untrue. God speaks to me very simply, often times in the day-to-day dealings of my commonplace life. If you take nothing else away from this post, be encouraged that if He can speak to and teach me, He'll certainly be able to do the same for you.
But back to undone. What does it really mean to be undone? Undone in the presence of God even? I initially dismissed the defining word "destroyed," because I thought it lacked value. It felt oppressive and undesirable. The mental image I attached to the term gave me anything but a warm fuzzy feeling. However, the longer I sat, my thoughts were rearranged. Maybe destruction is exactly what I (we) need. I won't speak for you, but maybe destruction is exactly what I crave.
Destruction: noun: the act or process of damaging something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired
So many things within my heart and mind need a final destruction. A destruction I can't carry out in my own strength, intentions, or efforts, but rather a destruction that comes only through the power of Christ. A tearing down of strongholds (sin, fear, doubt, shame, lust, greed, pride, hate, or whatever other stronghold you battle) that we simply can't manage via our own self-sufficiency. I want the strongholds to be utterly destroyed. Yes, I want to be undone.
Undone carries a hopeful tone, too. I want to undo my patterns of thinking, doing, and living. I want to overhaul my viewpoints and get rid of stupid and religious thinking. Such an undoing is inexplicably and powerfully redemptive. See Romans 12:2 if you want proof.
Finally, I am unfinished business, and such a state delights me. I forever want to keep this truth in the forefront of my thinking and living. I always want to hunger and seek after more. I don't want to live satisfied, because if I lack nothing, than I have need of nothing. May it never be.
Undone. Have you ever stopped to consider this term? I hadn't...and then, I heard it approximately 15,000 times in a week's span and decided I ought to give it some thought.
Undone: adjective: not fastened or tied, not done, unfinished, defeated or destroyed
I'll be honest. At first glance, that definition did nothing for my life, spirituality, or other common knowledge. It felt like a waste of paper, so why did "undone" keep pervading my language transactions? I had to dig deeper.
By "digging deeper," I mean I was reclining in an over sized chair, soaking in some Arizona sunlight, and attempting to steal a short nap, but my inquisitive nature wouldn't take a break. It just sounded more introspective and scholarly to phrase it, "dig deeper." I guess that cat is out of the bag. It's okay, though, because it goes to the raw honesty of my interactions with the Father and that which I relay to you as a result. I'm not a Bible scholar. I've never been to Bible school, and I don't claim to be a spiritual superstar. I don't spend a trillion hours a day locked away in a study praying and fasting, and after five and a half years of really loving Jesus, I literally just learned that there were two disciples named Simon. That's important for you to grasp because I don't want you to imagine something about me that is over-exaggerated or untrue. God speaks to me very simply, often times in the day-to-day dealings of my commonplace life. If you take nothing else away from this post, be encouraged that if He can speak to and teach me, He'll certainly be able to do the same for you.
But back to undone. What does it really mean to be undone? Undone in the presence of God even? I initially dismissed the defining word "destroyed," because I thought it lacked value. It felt oppressive and undesirable. The mental image I attached to the term gave me anything but a warm fuzzy feeling. However, the longer I sat, my thoughts were rearranged. Maybe destruction is exactly what I (we) need. I won't speak for you, but maybe destruction is exactly what I crave.
Destruction: noun: the act or process of damaging something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired
So many things within my heart and mind need a final destruction. A destruction I can't carry out in my own strength, intentions, or efforts, but rather a destruction that comes only through the power of Christ. A tearing down of strongholds (sin, fear, doubt, shame, lust, greed, pride, hate, or whatever other stronghold you battle) that we simply can't manage via our own self-sufficiency. I want the strongholds to be utterly destroyed. Yes, I want to be undone.
Undone carries a hopeful tone, too. I want to undo my patterns of thinking, doing, and living. I want to overhaul my viewpoints and get rid of stupid and religious thinking. Such an undoing is inexplicably and powerfully redemptive. See Romans 12:2 if you want proof.
Finally, I am unfinished business, and such a state delights me. I forever want to keep this truth in the forefront of my thinking and living. I always want to hunger and seek after more. I don't want to live satisfied, because if I lack nothing, than I have need of nothing. May it never be.
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