Friday, December 23, 2016
The Hidden Gift
It
was the greatest gift ever given! It was
the most valuable and rare gift known to man.
It sparked gift-giving for millenniums to come. But it was hidden so
well that no one spotted it until it was miraculously announced to them. Even then, it was hard to believe.
Since
the story is not told nearly as often as it used to be, maybe we should glance
back at the historic events that changed the entire world – to the extent that
we measure all time with reference to the coming of this one hidden Gift. Here is a snippet as recorded by St. Luke.
“… because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to
go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the
village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took
with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for
her baby to be born. She gave birth to
her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him
in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. That night there were shepherds staying in
the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among
them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were
terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring
you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has
been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You
will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host
of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in
highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the
shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that
has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary
and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone
what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were
astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them
often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for
all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (Luke
2:4-19 NLT)
God’s greatest gift to us
was the gift of himself in shoe leather.
He came as a baby, hidden in a cave.
The way He came speaks volumes about who God is and how he thinks. Here are just a few observations you may have
spotted in this account:
·
God
doesn’t need approval or the help of the rich and famous.
·
God
uses ordinary people, but often asks them to take extraordinary risks.
·
God
shares his plans with unimportant and obscure blue collar workers.
·
People
who recognize a valuable gift will wrap it carefully and care for it.
·
People
who believe in the supernatural will have amazing experiences.
·
People
who experience God’s gifts will praise and glorify God.
·
God
is so confident, He will hide Himself from the proud or self-involved and offer
himself to humble believers.
Sometimes the best things
in life are hidden. Sometimes the best celebrations are private. This Christmas may be challenging like the
first one was for Jesus’ parents, but you will find God’s hidden treasures if
you search diligently and believe.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Do The Math
Do
the Math
I love Math, because you can (pardon the pun) count on
it. 2 + 2 = 4. It always does. It does in every culture. It is a principle of life that mankind has
discovered. Math works because it is made up of rules that have proven
true. Although more math concepts have
been discovered throughout history, we never change the basic rules. If we did so, we would only be fooling
ourselves.
The basic moral laws of God are no different than the laws
of Mathematics; they are truth. We have
discovered much of that truth. These truths work in every generation and in
every culture.
Oddly, mankind has a bizarre habit of “bending or
stretching the truth” to fit his druthers.
This has consistently proven to be foolish and yet it persists as the norm
rather than the exception. Often, great civilizations of yesteryear were built
on a few solid building blocks of truth, such as family, selflessness, honesty,
personal responsibility, or faith. Such
truths allowed those cultures to experience progress. Unfortunately, in spite of clear lessons from
history, new generations rose up and “messed with the math.” They tried to make 2+2=5. This kind of behavior has caused the most
“successful” world civilizations to collapse of their own weight.
The Ten Commandments are some great building blocks that
are immovable. Societies can remove them
from their public buildings, ban them from their schools and even imprison those
who hold to them, but those truths will still be the rules to live by. They will also be the rules which all mankind
will be judged by. Do the math.
One of the most important truths on which an individual can
build their life is the truth about becoming a part of God’s Kingdom. After Jesus died, rose again and ascended
into heaven, His disciples went to Jerusalem to wait for the “power” he
promised them. On the Day of Pentecost
Jesus disciples and followers (including his mother) were all filled with that
power and “spoke in tongues.” Those who
observed this amazing event heard Saint Peter preach a convicting sermon and
asked him the all-important question: “What shall we do to be saved?”
Peter responded by succinctly expressing the path to
salvation like this: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38 KJV)
It doesn’t matter how many years mankind lives, or how many
fads come and go, or how societies morph, Acts 2:38 is the truth about how we
can be born again. To change that is to
contaminate it, not to improve it. Do
the math.
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