Focus, Focus

We took my nine year old great niece out for a day of shopping. We and she had a specific list of must buys. Of course, with a child shopping during the Christmas season things fell apart very quickly. Our must buy list turned into, “Ooooo, can I have this? I want this. I really need this. Please, get this for me.” The lights and glitzy displays didn’t help because stores want to compel us to buy. Everything is meant to distract from the real shopping list to the spur of the moment purchases and over spending.

The adults kept telling my little niece, “No, you don't need this. This is not the reason we are here. Focus, focus.” That is, until we got distracted.  It was quite humorous when she began to tell us to focus.

It’s easy to lose our focus during the holiday season. We get distracted with all the Christmas hype and turn our attention away from the reason we Christians emphasize this time of year. Isn't the first part of the word “Christmas” Christ? Sometimes we forget that.

In all of the extra bling we have added and are exposed to at this time of year, let’s spend a little time in focused thankfulness and worship.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking away from everything else, focus on Jesus,

the one who initiated and perfected our faith.

He focused on the future joy and blessing while He endured a death on the cross not giving a thought to the shame of the moment.

Now He is seated in a place of honor at the right hand of the throne of God.

I know we have to do a lot of things at Christmas but having to do a lot of things shouldn't consume us. We have to decorate our houses. We have to buy the gifts. We have to bake the goodies. We have to learn the music for the Christmas cantatas. We have to make the costumes for our children’s nativity programs.  We have to visit the relatives. And all this is added to our already busy daily schedules.

But for a moment, let’s look away from all of this and look to Jesus. He is the “reason for the season” (I wasn't going to fall into the overused phrase trap but there it is. I did.) He is the originator, and founder of our very faith. He continues to make us into His completed and acceptable and perfected ones.

We can take our flawed messed up selves and stand before God unflawed and faultless because of Christ. Now that makes me want to say, “Merry Christmas to all!”

I'll be telling myself the very thing I told my little niece this Christmas time.

No, I don't need this. I need Christ.

This is not the reason I am here. He is the reason I'm here.

Focus.

 Focus.

Sprinkled Wherever You Go

I just made my eight hour car trip over the river and through the woods to my family Thanksgiving gathering. And wouldn't you know it, the weather was not cooperative. Oh, it never really rained but it never really sunned (Is this a word?) either. You would think that traversing four states would bring some weather change. But, no.  It spat, sputtered, and drizzled the whole way.

In reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, I realize that being sprinkled on wherever I go is not a bad thing. And I'm not talking weather here.

The Christians in 1 Peter were being forced to move all over the place. But God didn’t leave them to wander off alone.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

in the sanctification of the Spirit,

for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

He had sprinkled them with His blood wherever they happened to land in their exile. Now this may sound kind of gruesome but not to their understanding of what this sprinkling meant. They had been used to the whole sacrificial offering sprinkling of blood thing initiated in Old Testament as the covenant promise from God. They had been told about the new covenant. Christ was the last and final all-encompassing sacrifice for their sin. The new covenant meant that they were sprinkled with Christ’s blood (not literally) once to atone for their sin that before had to be repeated over and over again with an animal sacrifice. No matter where circumstances took them they were covered by Christ’s love, grace, peace, and forgiveness.

I thought about this being sprinkled. The windshield wipers were on, off, slow, fast, or however the weather dictated. But there were always the sprinkles of rain wherever I went. I just imagined that this is what my covering for sin from Christ might look like. Always forgiven. Always covered. No matter where I am, always Christ is with me. Given grace and given peace wherever God leads me in this world.

And this sprinkling of grace and peace is multiplied on us. This word multiplied in Greek means maximum capacity. While I’m glad I only got drizzles while I drove, I’m equally glad that I had maximum capacity of grace and peace as I drove. And I have this increase of grace and peace all the time. Good to know and good to live in.

Sprinkled wherever I go

Sprinkled wherever you go

With a maximum capacity of grace and peace

Wherever we go

I think I'll look at sprinkles of rain differently in the future.

Potato Salad Alert

My family celebrated Thanksgiving a little differently. We had ham (not turkey,) Sweet potato pie (not pumpkin,) and potato salad (not mashed potatoes and gravy.) It was in reminiscing about our quirkiness that I remembered that my sweet mom always made three kind of potato salad to appease everyone: with pickles and onions, with pickles no onions, with onions no pickle. Woe to the meal that only had one potato salad option.

It was in this recollection that I realized that I have more expectations of food at the table than people at the table. And if that isn't bad enough in itself I do not even consider who is not at the table.

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27

I sit at the Thanksgiving table with food all around me looking for my expected food choice and forget really that I have been blessed with FOOD (expected or not, Mom’s recipe or not, what I requested or not.) God has blessed me with food, water, family, and shelter; the fundamental needs for survival.

And across the ocean in the country of the Philippines there are people right now without food, water, family, or shelter. That is only one example of the needs all around me. And I just close my eyes and pretend I don't even know this. I shut out those screams of people struggling to survive the day and complain if the food doesn't meet my dietary anticipations. How petty. How cruel. How unchristian. How have I let myself get to this point?

God doesn't give me a, “Sorry, my bad,” way out on this oversight. He puts me in the line to receive curses. What? Really? So I looked up the Hebrew word we translate as curses.  Do you know what this word really means?  Yep, it literally stands for “curses” And what does that mean?

Curse - a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.

Wow, I think God is serious about this. If I have been given the blessings by God, He wants me to share these blessings with those who need. No hoarding. No grumbling about what I didn't get. But concerned about what I can give.  So this Thanksgiving I'm going to keep my eyes, heart, and hands open.

 I’m going to look for ways to give love to my family, help for the helpless, and hope for the hopeless.

It’s going to cost me money, time, and expectations.

I'm not even going to be alarmed about what kind of potato salad is on the table.

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with Praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.

I don't know where the exclamation marks came from. They are in this Psalm in my Bible .It is my understanding that the Hebrew language didn’t use punctuation. But since the Hebrew words say to shout the joyful noise I guess the exclamation marks make sense in this song of praise.

We need to be vocal about our thankfulness. We need to joyfully shout it. Thanksgiving is not isolated to the historical time of year in this country. Our thanksgiving is to be shouted over all the earth. I don’t thinks it is to be relegated to a Thursday in November. It is meant to be a heart response all of the time.

My mother had this philosophy down pat. She had osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and was in constant pain. But when anyone looked at her deformed hands and feet and asked with sympathy, “How are you doing?” She would smile and say, “I’m thankful.” Some days were harder than others but that did not stop that precious little stooped shouldered lady. She was thankful. She was thankful all the time.

We use this Psalm a lot in churches during the Thanksgiving season. We think over the past year and how God has been faithful with His blessings to us.  Wouldn't it shock all of us if someone stood up while we were saying this Psalm and said, “Excuse me, aren't we supposed to be shouting this?”

 No, no, don’t worry. I don’t have plans to do this. 

But I’ll be thinking of it.

Psalm 100

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks!

Forgiveness, A Hard Pill To Swallow

I thought I was a pretty forgiving person. I mean, I taught first grade at a Christian school and forgiving was the mantra I taught, and taught, and taught. I know what it means and I know how to do it. I know Bible verses to pull out at a moment’s notice to reinforce this character quality:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them,
so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins ... Mark 11:25

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ... Matthew 6:14

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ... Matthew 6:15

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. ... Luke 11:4

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you ... Mark 11:26

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are
doing."  ... Luke 23:434

Oh yeah, I can deliver the forgiveness speech. And I know that a teacher is accountable to lead by life not just by instruction.

I found out, though, that I'm not as forgiving as I thought I was. I found out that when my expectations of promises given fail I tend to be pretty unforgiving, especially if it was promised to me.

Some of the promises given to the American public by our president in regard to our health insurance have failed utterly. I’m not president bashing because he went on national TV and apologized for the parts of the promise he couldn't deliver. And, of course, it was the parts of the plan that detrimentally affected me and my future health care.

 My first thought was, “Oh yeah, you can apologize all you want too but it doesn't fix my problem.” And then the Holy Spirit’s conviction bashed me. What makes this man asking forgiveness any different than any other person asking me to forgive them? Nothing. Just because it is done through the air waves and directed to the general population doesn't mean I should treat his apology differently. It doesn't matter his motives or agenda or genuineness, he apologized and now God is looking at my response.

Through gritted teeth I muttered, “OK, I forgive him.” But the Holy Spirit bashed me again. I reviewed the above verses in my mind and realized that muttering through gritted teeth is not the way I want God to forgive me.

I’m eating a lot of American apple humble pie right now.

And all of this health care reform has become a great spiritual lesson for me.

Hey, that is a beneficial by-product I hadn't counted on.

Forgiveness is a hard pill to swallow but it is fully covered by my heavenly insurance.

Just Do It, You Win

I hate to exercise. There, I admit it. My name is Jan and I am anti-exercise addicted. But my doctor encourages me to do it anyway. So I do, maybe, sometimes.

I was very surprised to see that a company that encourages exercise uses a Greek word as its logo. And the word is “nike.” I found this word in 1 John 5:4

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

The word for victory here is “nike.” A form of this word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:57.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory is over the Christian’s adversary. Our enemy is inherited because we follow by faith the One that Satan, sin, and the world opposes. We follow Jesus Christ. And in our following we are challenged by Satan and his influence over our world. It shouldn't surprise us that the Christian walk is not always easy. It is not always popular. It is not always “going with the flow.”

But we have overcome. We have not just been assured of victory by our God. We have been given victory even before the battle. I like the odds of being on the winning side.

My Pastor Wade is taking us through Revelation. And this not a direct quote (I can’t write as fast as he talks) but he said something like this last Sunday. “Satan can only impose delay tactics when it comes to our victory… God is in charge of all events in heaven and earth… The power of evil and sin is not and never will be equal with the power of God… We are supposed to be so immersed in our worship of Christ that when we are in an obvious spiritual battle we completely trust Christ and His ultimate victory.”

I wanted to stand up and cheer. I wanted to shout, “We won! We won! We have victory over battles we haven’t even fought yet! Isn’t this great? We are the champions!” I didn't do this, however, because I think someone would have gently escorted me out of the building. But I did want too.

Our faith is challenged but we have defeated the challenger. Our love for God is confronted by those who love the world but we have overcome. Our joy is temporarily muted but we have the ultimate joy in our victory through Christ.  We live in victory.

When it comes to the Christian life we “just do it.”

 And we just win.

We don’t have to fight for victory, we fight from victory.

Thank you, Nike, for your reminder. You make me want to exercise. 

Helping Me Up, Helping you up

A few years ago, a first grader and I fell down a step on a field trip. I was holding his hand and we were going down together. Well he hopped right up and I stayed down. I'll never forget what he said, “Let me help you up. That must have hurt you more because you had farther to fall.”

While I was studying the final words of Ephesians, I was reminded of this helping hand.

May God's grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 6:24

That word for grace is so very meaningful and carries more significance in Greek than we give it credit for in English.

 The Greek word for grace here is “charis.”  Charis in its expanded meaning is; 

1. A gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ
2. His favor as He leans toward us to help us in our earthly situations 
3. Christ freely extending His help and love toward those whom He favors 
4. Christ giving himself away and reaching for us

As I incorporated this meaning for the word grace, I began to really realize the reach of Jesus’ love to me. And it’s a long way down to reach me because usually I fall farther into sin than I want too. And I imagine Jesus reaching down with love to help me up and out of the mess I create and saying, “Let me help you up. You must be hurting because you fell so far.”

And as the end of the verse infers, this is the reason I can't help but give Jesus my love in return. As He leans toward me I want to lean toward Him. As He reaches down to help me up I want to confidently place myself in His forgiveness. The farther I fall, the farther His grace reaches.

I pray this Ephesians prayer for myself:

My Gracious God, reach down and help me up.

Bring Your blessings down as You lean toward me with aid in all my situations.

Let me not forget Your favor.

Thank you for Your precious gift of forgiveness.

I love You.

And this is my prayer for you:

May God’s grace eternally reach down and help you up.

May His blessings be brought to you as

He leans toward you with aid for all of earth’s situations.

May you realize His favor toward you.

May you accept His precious gift of forgiveness.

May you always love our Savior, the one who helps you up.