Christians - Are We Walking The Walk Or are We Like The Amazing Fat Melting Jiggling Machine?

The commercials were convincing.  The evidence overwhelming; pictures before and the after.  It was astounding! Potbellies magically transformed into rippled, six-pack abs that, until now, could only be sculpted with months or years of crunches, sit-ups, and leg lifts.  But now it was possible without the work, without the pain, even possible while watching your favorite soap-opera.  What was this magic?  The "Fat Melting Jiggle Machine."

My mother, God bless her soul, called Sears and Roebuck to place her order and two weeks later we all lined up for a try.  Mom was first.  She put the belt around her waist and flipped the switch. I'm not sure what made us jiggle more, the machine or gut laughing to the point of tears as we watched the show.  Now my mother was thin to begin with so it wasn't a fair test but suffice it to say, the machine didn't live up to it's maker's claims.  No weight loss, just a lot of jiggling fat and laughing kids. The correlation is this: you can talk all you want, make great claims. and even try to sell to the masses but if it doesn't work, if it doesn't live up to the hype, if it's all show and no go then its a lie.  We as Christians often are a lot like that.  This is not a condemnation but more of a wake-up call or at least a nudge towards self-examination. 

It seems that the "Holiday" season always reminds me of how far we as Christians have come from delivering the real goods to those around us.  I watch with a broken heart, the commercials on TV with cars, laptops, and video games wrapped with big, red bows.  The sitcoms have their holiday specials and our mailbox is filled with various Christmas and Holiday cards.  We go to parties and eat too much cake and maybe drink too much punch. In all of it is Jesus lifted up?  Is God really glorified?  The answer may be yes but for many it probably isn't.  I wonder what God thinks as we go about our festivities from Black Friday through New Years.  I wonder what he thinks as his children go into the word but look no different from it.  I know what you're thinking, "What a Scrooge!!"  Those who know me might even say, "What a hypocrite."  And in many ways they may be right. I struggle with sin and failure like the rest. I enjoy giving good gifts and gathering with people I love.  I enjoy meeting new people. What convicts my spirit is how little Jesus is talked about and how little God is worshipped in this time when we are suppose to be celebrating one very amazing moment in time.  The incarnation of God. The moment when God came to earth dressed in "swaddling clothes" lying in a manger.

What does this have to do with a fat melting jiggle machine?  Well, what we say we are has a lot more to do with the actual fruit than it does with our lip service or our church affiliation.   What we advertise ourselves to be and what we are may be two different things.  Now I realize that we all have areas in our lives that we struggle with but this is about who we are when we interact with the world.  If a nonbeliever encountered us at an office Christmas party or in a line at Macy's would he or she notice something different about us?  Would Jesus show through.  We can say we are Christians, go to church every Sunday and Wednesday night, and pray when acceptable but what really matters is what we do.  God has been showing me this about myself in my place of work.  Am I revealing Christ to those around me?  Do I walk the walk?  Or am I just a silly jiggling machine? Sadly, sometimes I'm the latter.

Here's a question to ponder.  If Jesus walked into your office, your home, your party what would you do?  How would you respond?  Would you be excited because the party was all about him anyway?  Excited because the tree and decorations were all for him and to celebrate him?  Or would you dive to hide something you didn't want him to see? When we're in a place where people need to know Christ, places where lost people need life, where broken people need to be healed, where blind people need sight, and hungry people need to be fed, what do we do?  Well, for most of us, me included at times, we just partake in the same conversations, the same jokes, the same activities and God gets set aside like last years Christmas tie.

Before you get upset with me and click off this page please ask yourself two questions:

1) Do I know Jesus?  If you don't I want to tell you that Christmas is the celebration of God loving YOU. I mean REALLY loving YOU, so much so that he sent his one and only Son into the world to die for you.  To pay the punishment that you and I deserve and to provide eternal life. The Bible says that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  If you're feeling God's Spirit drawing you to him and away from sin then it's time.  Jesus said "come to me all you who are weary and heavy ladened and I will give you rest."  Confess your sins to him and believe.

If the answer to the first question was "Yes" then  move onto #2

2) Does my life, do my actions, and do my words lead people closer to God?

I love Christmas.  I love the celebration.  I want to see lost people saved and this time of year is a wonderful opportunity to partake in God's plan to seek and save the lost.  Be careful if you claim Christ. It's no small responsibility. Be the real deal.  Be different. Be light.  Be holy.  Be love.

Peace,  David

Christmas - The Rest of the Story

A baby in a manger, a small group of wisemen, and a shepherd boy. . .  decorated trees, presents, and a large bearded man in a strange red suit.  What's it all about?  I've heard people say it's about spending time with people you love and about "holiday cheer." I've heard people say it's about hope and love and counting our blessings.  OK, I can accept that, kind of.

As our worship team gathered at church last week to discuss our Christmas eve. service I had an unsettled feeling.  What if Christmas was just about the baby Jesus.  I mean it's an amazing thing, God coming out of heaven in the form of a poor baby.  This alone is almost beyond comprehension but what does it mean?  I mean how does God being born in the flesh bring us hope?  What if that was the end of the story?  The wisemen pack up their camels and head back East.  The shepherd boy goes back to the hills to tend his sheep.  The bright star fades away.  Mary and Joseph load up the donkey and take their baby boy back to Nazareth. Life goes on as usual.   The first Christmas was a beautiful thing but without the rest of the story it makes little sense.  Why was I unsettled? Why?  Because I think many people and certainly many Christmas celebrations make no connection between the manger and the cross.  As a matter of fact, many Christmas celebrations leave Christ out all together.  But that is a different issue, one that I will likely address before Dec. 25th.

How was this this little baby in the manger hope for the world?  What was the problem with the world anyway?  Famine?  Disease?  Discrimination?  War?  Sure, all these things were going on and people were in need of help.  But what could a baby do?  As the baby grew, he did feed the hungry (5000 at one time with a couple fish and a few loaves of bread), healed the sick (He even brought a few dead people back to life), and brought dignity to the outcast (a prostitute, a tax collector, and a group of lepers) but as far as I can tell we still have the same problems today.  Maybe it was just a short term fix.  Maybe he was just to be just an example.  Was the baby born to show us the right way to live so that we could have a better world?  Maybe.  I think that was part of it but we must have missed it somehow because we're clearly no better off than we we were 2000 years ago.  At least as far as the eyes can see.

There must have been something more.  There must be more to the story.  If the baby was to really bring hope and peace to the world then there must be something that we're missing.  We have to hear the rest of the story.  That was it!  That was why I was unsettled.  I needed to make sure that when we tell the story of the baby in the manger we CAN'T leave out the part about the grown man and the cross.  It was why he came (at least a major part of the reason).  Without the rest of the story, we could lump Jesus in with the rest of the people who brought us hope (Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and the like).

Here's my point: Jesus (Emanuel "God with us") came to save us from something WAY worse than famine, WAY worse than disease, WAY worse than war.  He came to save us from ourselves.  He came to save us from the power and the penalty of sin.  He did that not as a baby in a manger but as a man on a cross.  Three days after he was placed in the grave he rose bodily and was seen by hundreds of people then ascended into heaven. This is the rest of the story which makes that amazing day in Bethlehem so amazing, even more amazing (if that is possible) than God being born in human flesh.

Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.  He came as a sinless man to become sin for us.  He came to give his life as a ransom for many.  He came to conquer the grave and to give us the hope of eternal life.  That's the rest of the story!  When you see Christmas lights, hear carols, buy gifts, and bring cookies to the office party please don't forget the baby Jesus and when you remember him don't forget the rest of the story, Calvary.  If you are a follower of the Savior than don't forget to tell others the rest of the story.  Someone you know just might need to hear some good news!

Peace in Christ (both the Christ child and the risen Savior)

David

Come to the Cross to See the Christ of Christmas

Well, it's 4:30AM on Christmas morning and I can't sleep.  I'm sitting in front of the fire place and as far as I can tell no one has come down the chimney, the chocolate chip cookie is still on the plate, and the milk is still in the glass.  Oh yeah, I'm the dad and I have to eat the cookie again but this year my youngest son told me that he didn't believe in Santa Claus and he's quite sure I'm the one who eats the cookie so why did we still put out the cookie?  Why?  Because I like cookies.

And, why am I up at 4 AM?  First off, I have been awake since 3:30AM and, as strange as this may sound to some, usually when I wake up at 3:30AM God put's something quite strong on my heart and I have to do something about it. Sometimes its a verse of scripture, sometimes it's a dream, and other times it's a message I need to put forth. I've asked God (very politely of course)  if it would be possible to move this regular meeting to 9AM but so far he seems content with the current time frame so who am I to press any further?  OK, so what's the reason for my insomnia today?

Christmas.  I mean, CHRISTmas.  The celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ.  Yeah, that's it!  Not Santa, not the big pine tree in  my house, the presents, the cookie and milk, the reindeer, the yule log, the crowded mall, the Grinch, or even Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (I know that last one really hurts). And, before I get a bunch of comments about Christmas being the remnant of a pagan holiday, December 25th unlikely being the factual date of Jesus' birth, or the fact that the early church didn't celebrate the birth of Jesus (The Church didn't proclaim this date and celebration until 440 AD), I want to say, "I know all of that."  But so what?

The point is that Jesus, the Christ, WAS born and his birth was both miraculous (not to say that every birth isn't quite miraculous) and his birth was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened.  I know you've likely heard these verses before or read them at the bottom of a Christmas card (if you actually read the card before the twenty dollar bill from Aunt Mildred fell out) but I want you to really ponder them today:

"But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."  (Micah 5:2) 

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."  (Isaiah 7:14)  

God spoke though these prophets nearly seven centuries earlier, proclaiming that the Messiah (the Christ) would be born of a virgin (quite an amazing feat!) and would be born in the VERY insignificant and small town of Bethlehem. They predicted he'd be born of the tribe of Judah (only a one in twelve chance) and that he'd be born of the line of David.  This is very helpful for a man of such weak faith as I.  I like some reassurance for my faith. I would be like Thomas, poking my fingers in the wounds and then saying, "My Lord and my God!"  So, do I think God woke me up this early to prove to you that Jesus was the Christ?  Maybe, but I don't think so.  I think it was something even bigger.

I think it was to fast forward 33 years from the birthday of Jesus (whatever the real date is) to a cross on a hill and then to an empty tomb around the corner.  You see, until I came to the saving knowledge that what this God-man did on the cross at Calvary, his birth meant little to me. Yeah, it was a fun holiday and I could get a bit sentimental about the baby in the manger but the magnitude of the event didn't hit me until I came through the cross. When I finally understood that Jesus, who was both fully God and fully human, came to earth to pay the penalty for our sin (the atonement) and to make us right with God (reconciliation) and that through his resurrection, he conquered death, I finally was able to look at CHRISTmas and sing, "Oh holy night..." and really mean it.

I think we contemplate it backwards.  We can certainly grasp the birth of the baby Jesus with our minds before we come to the cross but we really can't celebrate Christmas with our hearts until we know him as Lord through that cross.  Even though the virgin birth was amazing, the transaction that bought our freedom came on Easter and when we cling to him on Easter and know our need for his love and his grace and his sacrificial gift, we can then finally see past the tinsel and wrapping paper and worship him on this wonderful December morning!

I want to thank you for spending the past year with us and with those who have participated in the I-61 Project.  I want to invite you to drop us a comment, a question, a concern, or a prayer need any time.  We love to get into the Word and would also be honored to pray for you or with you.  If any of you have been on the fence with regard to Jesus Christ, we would be glad to chat with you and answer questions as best we can.  Drop us a note!

May God grant you a VERY blessed CHRISTmas!

David and the I-61 Project