Dressed for Christmas

 

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

—Jude 1:24

How many mothers and grandmothers take pride in dressing their children in matching, festive, adorable Christmas outfits? Most, I would say. They want to show the world, through their holiday greeting cards and long-kept family albums, the pride of their lives: their children.

Never have I seen such pictures of children showing their runny noses, dirty or torn shirts, or their sagging dirty diapers, or with the children squirming and crying for the camera. Even though, from time to time, these same adorable children can look this very un-adorable way, moms always work to put their little ones in the right light for others to see.

Our God does this with us! He brags about us, dresses us in spiritual finery, and speaks of us in glowing terms, even while He knows, all to well, our defects and ugly secrets. Even at creation, we find that God dressed us in the image of His very own spectacular splendor. Psalm&mnbsp;8:5 says of Jesus:

You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor.

Now that outfit comes complete with a crown! Since we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we, too, become dressed in His glory by our loving Father. Jesus wants us to look perfect, so He provided a way through His death. Colossians 1:22 tells us:

Now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

Jesus presents us to the Father as perfect in Him. Not only did He wash and cleanse us, dress us in His glorious righteousness, but He has seated us for our portrait in the heavenly realms to show off His riches that we now wear! Ephesians 2:6-7 reveals:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in the kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Our enemy, Satan, may accuse us day and night (Revelation 12:10), but our Savior and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, claims us as His own. Having put our faith in His work, He showcases us like a proud parent and presents us to all of heaven and earth as His beautiful children. May the knowledge of this kind of marvelous grace cause us great joy as we dress for this Christmas season!

 

 

His Wonderful Acts

 

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

—Psalm 77:12

In this season of Thanksgiving, we need to curb our busy rushings to complete our many tasks, even if for only a brief time, and consider the goodness of our Lord. Over and over in the Psalms, we see the admonition to give our praise and thanksgiving to God. In Psalm 111:4 we read:

He has made His wonderful acts to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and merciful and full of loving compassion.

God intends for us to notice and meditate on the wonderful acts He does for us. He wants us to observe them and to purposefully review them. We can blow our minds, so to speak, by recounting the “mercies and providences of God”—as Christians in past centuries referred to them. Seventeenth century Presbyterian minister, John Flavel, wrote the following: ¹

There is not a more pleasant history than our own lives. If you would but sit down and review, from the beginning, what God has been to you, and done for you. Consider the special manifestations and out-breakings of his mercy, faithfulness, and love in the conditions you have passed through. Let your thoughts dive as far as you can to the bottom, to plumb the depths of providence, and admire them, though we can’t touch the bottom.

If you will allow me to do so, I would like to suggest the following Exercise to help us understand how God has worked in our lives:

• Let us sit in a quiet place and center our minds, perhaps by reading a Psalm full of thanksgiving.
  
  
• Then, taking paper and pen, we should go back over our lives—yes, from the very beginning—and write down major mercies and graces that God has given to us.
  
  
• As you work on this Exercise, think of family, education, life experiences, people, church life, health, material goods, talents, and noble work afforded to us.
  
  
• Also, think about our understanding of God and our personal relationship with God Himself.
  
  
• Next, we should review our lists during this week and arrive at Thanksgiving Day with joy and gratitude in our hearts—joy like we’ve never before experienced.
  
  

I sincerely believe that we will encounter so many mercies and graces that God has poured into our lives that we will have trouble putting down our pens. Through this exercise, I believe we will come to understand that God has given His wonderful acts for us see and to remember!

______________________

1 Flavel, John (author) and Richard Rushing, editor. Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Reading, Vol. 2. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2016. p. 272.

 

 

Time to Hurry Home

 

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

—Proverbs 18:10

I found myself in a suburban Conference Center in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 11, 2001. The news of the attacks shocked me to the core. Insecure and, with my husband in another part of the Conference Center teaching a seminar, I felt very alone. More than anything, I felt it was time to hurry home. On another occasion, as I drove through a blizzard, unable to see either side of the road that I knew was framed with deep ditches, I only wanted one thing: to quickly, but cautiously, press onward until I could see the familiar lights of home.

In thinking about the way we respond when faced with times of danger, or other things unknown, I remembered my experience as an Elementary School music teacher. A little Preschooler in my classroom, insecure and afraid, often cried out and declared through tears: “I wanna go ’ome!”

Spiritually speaking, when we are afraid, lost, lonely, feeling abandoned, or facing danger, where do we first long to go? Job, in Chapter 23 of the Old Testament Book that bears his name, spoke these words:

Oh, if I only knew where I might find him!

For Job, his God represented “home” to him. And, in the loving presence of God, Job knew he would find the place where he could rightly feel at home. As Psalm 91:9 tells us:

If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

When disaster threatens us, or when times of trial overwhelm us, God wants us to hide in Him and trust Him for our security. On such occasions, it is time for us to hurry home. Famous preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, wrote: ¹

God’s children run home when the storm comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul to seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. “He that hath made his refuge God,” might serve as the title of a true believer … Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the emptiness of all besides.

______________________

1 Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Morning and Evening. Mclean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Co., Public Domain. p. 649.

 

 

Perfect Practice Makes a Perfect Performance

 

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”

—1 Timothy 4:7 NIV

You’ve heard the expression, “Practice Makes Perfect.” From painful personal experience, I’ve learned that more accurately, “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.” In fact, “Perfect Practice Makes a Perfect Performance.”

As a life-long pianist—having studied in my youth for nearly 20 years with professional teachers and having taught piano to young students myself—I know, all too well, the results of imperfect practice. My first teacher—a nurturing, patient woman who forever placed within me a love for playing the piano—did her best to give me a very solid foundation, even though she readily admitted her own inadequacies. However, I developed habits of poor technique that followed me into my college years. For example, my pinkies had to learn to stand up and I had to help them develop strength and usefulness as “leads” in the making of sonorous melodies. My college professor gave me humiliatingly boring exercises to break many of my bad habits. But, oh, the results I achieved!

Christians develop wrong habits too. Many of them come with us from our lives as unbelievers: selfish and even unaware of God’s higher standards. We may not have spread “godless myths and old wives’ tales,” as the people apparently did in Timothy’s churches. But, we may have learned, for example, to run to friends with juicy tidbits of gossip we hear. The Apostle Paul warns the believers in Colossians 3:9:

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

The Apostle clearly realizes that a practice of lying, or stretching the truth, or deceiving another with a skewed report, can be a habit especially hard to break.

I found in playing the piano that often in practice time my mind would go on “automatic pilot.” My mind would not pay attention what I was playing. So, to break old habits and form new ones, we must first engage our focus. Secondly, we must determine to obey God through His written Word. Then, the long slow process of practice will need perseverance and patience.

How long before a new habit takes hold? Note this report from an on-line article by Signe Dean: ¹

… according to a 2009 study, the time it takes to form a habit really isn’t that clear-cut. Researchers from University College London examined the new habits of 96 people over the space of 12 weeks, and found that the average time it takes for a new habit to stick is actually 66 days; furthermore, individual times varied from 18 to a whopping 254 days.

Progress in making a change in our spiritual lives will sometimes go slowly. Mistakes will occur. Yet, to attain a mature Christian life, the practice and re-practice will yield great results. In speaking about Christian maturity, the author of Hebrews writes about the need for believers to grow up from drinking only milk to eating solid food. In Hebrews 5:14, we read:

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

God expects us as mature—or “perfect”—disciples to give up the old ways and practice the holy disciplines and habits that will result in greater glory for Him through our lives.

______________________

1  Dean, Signe. Here’s How Long it Takes to Break a Habit, According to Science. www.sciencealert.com, September 24, 2015.

 

 

Given Into Our Hands

 

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied.”

—Exodus 4:2

Sam Kressler played the saw. This older gentleman in my home church—a farmer, a man who loved both God and His church—didn’t have any formal musical training. Nevertheless, Sam Kressler had a handsaw and he had a desire to play music to honor the Lord.

Dorothy Anderson, a single woman in a church at which I was once a member as an adult, nurtured fabulous flower gardens. She gave her flowers a great deal of attention. She carefully and lovingly decorated the Communion Table in the church sanctuary with her blooms every week, without fail.

Catherine Winkworth, a Nineteenth Century English woman, had a particular interest in German chorales. As a personal devotional exercise, she began translating German hymns and German chorales into English. By the time she had finished her passionate labor, she had found and translated 400 hymns, including the following well-known hymns, which we cherish in our congregational singing today:

• “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”
  
  
• “Jesus, Priceless Treasure”
  
  
• “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
  
  
• “Now Thank We All Our God,”
  
  

The Old Testament Scripture records that Moses only had a staff to offer to the Lord. Oh, but how God used that staff of this famous patriarch! With that staff and with direction of the Lord, Moses brought about the plagues on the Egyptians, parted the Red Sea, brought water from the rock in the wilderness, and defeated the Amalekites.

Similarly, young David had a slingshot and five smooth stones. Yet God used those implements to defeat a giant—Goliath—and his mighty army.

Considering how God has used what He has provided in each of these instances, I am prompted to ask this question:

“What has God put into our hands?”

God has given each one of us something that He wants us to use for His glory. And, God will surely use the gifts He has given us, if He also has our willing hearts. We must never think that anything God has given us is too small, or too insignificant, for Him to use for His glory.

As we give ourselves to God today, let nothing seem out of reach for His mighty use. We will be surprised what He draws on for His purposes.

 

 

A Place of Abundance

 

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah [meaning: “bitterness”]. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

—Exodus 15:22-27

The whole tribe of Israel, approximately two million people strong, had left Egypt by the miraculous hand of God. They had seen God defeat their Egyptian captors who had pursued them to the Red Sea, where God parted the waters for the Israelites and drowned their enemies with those same waters.

If you read Exodus 15, you see there the victorious song they sang, led by Moses and Miriam. They had bright hopes and a marvelous future in the Promised Land ahead of them. Yet, in verse 22, the story changes when God shows His people that He intends to test them before giving them this promise.

They finally found water after three days of thirsty travel. But, at Marah they could not drink because of the bitterness. That which should have refreshed them, would only have poisoned them. God directed Moses to find a log of wood he could throw into the water to make it sweet so that they could drink. God “healed” the water.

After they had taken a drink, God shared with them His intention to test them in the wilderness. He also made a pact with them that He would “heal” them of all the diseases of Egypt if they would pay attention and obey His commands. Once He promised them this, they moved on and He brought them to an oasis in Elim of rich, verdant, lavish palm trees and springs of water.

This story reminds me of friends who have lived in the “wilderness” of their lives far longer than they could have ever imagined. The “water” they have had to drink tastes bitter and putrid. This story from Exodus reminds me to pray that God would send “healing” to these bitter waters while He assigns them to dwell in Marah, so that they witness God’s sustaining presence.

Of course, while they may have imagined that Marah was God’s place of blessing for them, they haven’t even begun to imagine that He has an Elim for them down the road. This better destination is described in Exodus 15:27:

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

This was not only a place to drink, it was a place to stay for a while. This was a place of God’s provision for His chosen people. This was a place where they would find true respite from the difficulties of life against which they had previously struggled.

When we pray for those who may be traveling in the “wilderness”—even our own selves—we need to pray that God will give sustenance in Marah with His healing of life’s waters, but ultimately that He will lead them and us to Elim, a place that holds the abundance of His blessing—a place where they and we can at last find camping ground!

 

 

Looking Back from Here

 

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

—Matthew 25:23

Do you remember this advertising slogan: “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!”? Even if you’re a non-smoker like I am, if you grew up in the 1960’s and 70’s, you will likely remember this catchy slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes—an all too clever marketing campaign targeted at women. This age of the female gender gaining equality with men, women’s rights, and the sexual revolution brought with it these symbols of what the world regarded as “elegant” or “sophisticated.” Any “modern” woman aspired to look like the cultural images portrayed in such advertising.

This phrase came to mind one summer when I spent an evening with my high school graduating class. Such an event is a rather “normalizing” occasion, in which all present meld again into just “Ann, the girl whose father died when we were in the third grade,” or “Jim, the farm boy with red hair and freckles.” It seems almost impossible to put into dinner conversation a full explanation of how far we’ve come as adults along the road of life since those long-ago days in high school.

As follower of Jesus, we can see how far we’ve come in a much more beneficial way by examining our Christian personal spiritual growth. We look back at commitments we made to Christ as teenagers and the “young love” we experienced toward Him then, as compared to the mature walk of faith we strive for now. Or, we look back to see how drastically different we lived without Christ in our youth to our days of walking with Him faithfully now.

If you journal your faith life, you can benefit from looking back into your old volumes and see how far you’ve come. God wants us to grow. He wants mature servants. He works His grace in us, in all its various forms, and wants us to join Him in working that grace out in our lives.

I am reminded of the “Parable of the Talents” that tells how a wealthy landowner called in his servants and entrusted his property to them in the form of talents. He expected them to invest and grow the trust He had given them. He rewarded those who put the talents to work, and threw the servants out as “worthless” who only buried their talent. This Parable reminds us that at the end of our lives, Jesus wants to speak to us the words from Matthew 25:23:

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Sophistication—an elegant look, or a culturally acceptable persona—do not come close by comparison to a life lived in obedience to God. But, if we’ve walked faithfully with Christ, with a smile and with a heart of gratitude, we can still say “You’ve come a long way, Baby!”