Tag Archives: Jesus

All I Want for Christmas Is to be Trusting Like Mary

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As we begin looking at my 2020 Christmas list, the first thing I want is “To be Trusting Like Mary.” Here is how the Bible introduces us to Mary:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38 ESV)

 The first request on my Christmas list is to trust like Mary.  Can you imagine going about your day when all of a sudden someone claiming to be an angel appears, says that you are highly favored by God, you will conceive a son, He is from God, He will sit on the throne of David, will reign over Israel forever, and there will be no end to His kingdom.  I would be looking around for a television camera or a group of my friends rolling on the ground laughing.

You can tell by Mary’s response she wasn’t so sure of this stranger, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” If this was going to happen, she needed a little clarification.  “Gabriel, I understand what you are saying; however, I have never known a man so how can this be possible?”  She was a virtuous, God-fearing, righteous woman.  She just didn’t understand how this could happen to her.

 Gabriel patiently helps her to understand with God nothing is impossible.  Then, we see Mary’s trusting heart, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” She simply trusted the word of the Lord and submitted to God’s plan.

 Mary could have taken time to explain how inconvenient this was going to be for her. She was engaged to be married, so when Joseph found out he could accuse her of being unfaithful and have her stoned to death. Intimate relations outside of marriage were strictly forbidden, so even if Joseph didn’t have her killed, she would be ostracized from her community. She could wind up being a single mom trying to raise a child on her own in the poverty-stricken city of Nazareth.

 Mary immediately trusted the angel once he explained God’s plan. So, this year for Christmas I want to trust like Mary.  I want to trust that God’s plan for my life is what will bring Him the most glory and the most good for me.  I have no idea what 2021 might hold; however, I want to trust God to meet my every need.  He promised to be with me regardless of life’s circumstances.  By trusting His love, I can find contentment regardless of what comes my way.

In December 2019 I had no idea what was going to happen in 2020. Talk about learning to trust God! As I prepare for 2021, I want my heart filled with trust for God–His love, plan, promises, comfort, strength, and especially His ability to keep me close to Him.
For Christmas this year I want to be trusting like Mary.

All I Want for Christmas…

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There are numerous events that have happened over the years, some I can remember better than others. However, there are certain memories from my childhood that are as clear in my mind today as they were fifty years ago. Those special times never seem to fade like so many other memories. They are always present, fresh, and crisp in my mind.

One set of memories that I have is an accumulation of several of the same memory.  That is to say, every year just before Christmas my parents would place a book in my lap and let me read through any section I wanted. It didn’t matter whether I was six, eight, ten, or twelve years old I always longed for the Christmas season just so I could look through the “BOOK!” At this point I should probably explain what book I am talking about. I would love to say that at the age of six and up I longed for the opportunity to flip through the pages of the Bible at Christmas time and read the nativity story; however, that would be a bit of a fabrication—okay, it would be a blatant lie.

In the early years of my life, there was only one book that could take me away from racing Hot Wheels, riding my bike, climbing trees, playing baseball, or watching countless hours of “Gilligan’s Island,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” and “Gomer Pyle.” Only one book could bring to a halt a hyperactive child that only knew two aspects of life—sleep and play! What book had such a powerful effect over me? Quite simply the “Sears Christmas Catalog.”  You can laugh, but it is true. Each year my  parents would give me a sheet of paper and “The Book,” then I would write down everything I wanted for Christmas.

What an incredible time of the year! I was able to look through over 200 pages of toys and write down ANYTHING I wanted. The excitement was almost too much for a child to endure. My mind would race as I would imagine playing with each toy that I added to my ever-growing list. The anticipation of Christmas morning was excruciating as I continued to examine my list of 50, 60, and sometimes over 70 different toys. What made the wait even worse was the knowledge that within a matter days a few of these could be all mine! The memory of these years are very special to me. That was a special time of the year when I could ask for whatever I wanted and know that I would be given a few of the toys on my list.

With Christmas racing upon me so quickly, I begin to think about the “Book.” These memories lead me to begin a mental checklist of things I would like to get this year for Christmas—tinted windows, a book, new shoes, or any number of items that I think I need. The problem is there is no longer a book to look through nor a list to be made. The nervous sleepless nights just before Christmas are no longer an annual event. I guess it is all part of “growing up.”

I suspect all this sounds a bit depressing, and to be perfectly honest there have been times throughout the years I let the loneliness of the season bring me down. But this year I decided it would be different. This year I determined to look through the Book and write down what I want for Christmas. However, this year I made a list of things that if asked for I am guaranteed to get them. So, over the next few weeks we are going to look through the book, not the Sears Christmas catalog, but “The Book” better known as the Holy Bible as I share with you my Christmas list for 2020.

My list this year has been greatly influenced by COVID and the uncertainty, concern, and lifestyle changes that it has brought about. This year, I’m asking specifically for the things I will need to make it through 2021 and beyond.

I hope you’ll check back each week as we begin looking at “All I Want For Christmas.”

It’s Just a Wedding Ring!

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This Saturday Shirley and I will celebrate twenty-three years of marriage. I remember back in 2004 when we were celebrating our ten-year anniversary. Over the previous few months she had been trying to convince me that I needed to buy her a ten-year wedding ring to mark this special occasion. My reply had been consistently the same during the six months leading up to our anniversary, “I gave you a ring when we were married so I don’t think you need another one.” I know that may seem mean to some of you, but that ring had special meaning to me. As the months went on, I kept up my resolve to not buy her a ring, well, at least in front of her. Secretly, I had been putting money away so that I could get her the anniversary present she wanted. Shirley had no idea what was coming that special night.

I remember we were sitting in the restaurant talking about how wonderful the past ten years had been together. We made it through college; we were serving God at a wonderful church; we had a nice house; two dependable cars; we were healthy, happy, and deeply in love with each other. To make things even better, Shirley was pregnant. Doctors had told us just a few years before we wouldn’t be able to have children and yet here we sat on our ten-year anniversary just months away from our first child’s birth. Life was great!

After dinner we continued to talk about all the wonderful things we had experienced together, and I slid the box with the ring across the table and told Shirley how much I loved her.  She immediately started crying, put the ring on, jumped up from the table, and started hugging and kissing me right there in front of everyone! She was overjoyed.

For her the ring was a symbol of my love for her. She didn’t love the ring but was grateful for what the ring stood for—my unconditional love and commitment to her. The rest of the week she was showing off her new ring. She never said to people, “I am so in love with this ring” or “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this ring” or even “This ring has made me the happiest person in the world.” Instead, she was saying things like, “I am so in love with Bob and look forward to spending the rest of my life with Him. Being married to him has made me the happiest person in the world.” She understood the ring was a token of my love. It is a constant reminder that regardless of what comes our way I will always be by her side until death do us part.

I share this story because it taught me a wonderful truth about God and heaven. I often hear people talk about how great it will be to go to heaven. They talk about its beauty and splendor and about how there will be no more pain, suffering, sickness, separation, or sorrow. They eagerly anticipate seeing their loved ones once again. They go on and on talking about heaven when the truth is it is just the wedding ring!

Heaven is going to be great not because of the streets of gold, the pearly gates, or getting to spend forever with our loved ones. Heaven will be unbelievably satisfying because we will be in the presence of God forever. We will be able to behold our Savior. We will be holy and righteous before Him. We will spend eternity with our one true love. Heaven will be great because we get God!

Heaven, like my wife’s anniversary ring, is simply an expression of God’s love for us. We won’t fall in love with heaven, we won’t develop a relationship with heaven, nor will we worship and glorify heaven. We will love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We will develop an ever-deepening relationship with our Lord. And we will worship and glorify Him without end!

I am thankful that Jesus is preparing such a special place for me to spend eternity; however, I am overwhelmed at the promise of spending eternity with the one who gave everything so that I will get eternity with Him!

The Fruitful Life

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whyI like to be effective in everything I do. I want to know that my efforts are influencing or helping others to be their very best. It always brings me great joy when I can look back and see that I was able to pour into someone and help them.

As believers we should find that same joy in living a fruitful Christian life. In 2 Peter 1.5-8 the great Apostles says:

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter tells us to live a life growing or increasing in moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. When this is happening, we will be living a fruitful life in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Living in “true knowledge” means living in the facts of how Jesus says we should live.

One of our best witnesses, as believers in Christ, is to live a fruitful life. A life that has been changed from the inside out always gets people’s attention. Eventually they will ask why the major change in your life, which leads to an opportunity to tell them about God’s love as demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus.

So, make an effort to live out who you really are in Jesus. Someone full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And just wait, someone is going to notice and ask you “WHY?” Then the overwhelming joy of a fruitful life will guide you as you tell YOUR story of how you met Jesus and are now living for Him!

A Memorial of Love

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Love Is the Cross-powerpointI have always wanted to go to Washington, DC and see the many memorials honoring different people or events throughout the history of the United States. Personally, I would like to see the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and the WWII Memorials. These memorials and museums offer a glimpse back in time. They may not be able to take you back to the events, but they can help give you a better understanding of history.

In all of creation there is no greater memorial of God’s love than the cross. Whenever we are struggling we can always look to the cross and be reminded of God’s unconditional love for all those who are His children. The cross is our hope, confidence, and peace that we have passed from death unto life. At the cross all our sins have been judged and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

At the cross we see God’s love as His wrath for our sin is poured out upon Jesus. Why? Because Jesus not only died for us, but he also died because of us! He took upon Himself the punishment for our sin. Now, when we believe in His finished work upon the cross and commit our lives to Him, we will have forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven.

Regardless of the struggles, pains, or uncertainties we face in this life we need simply look to the cross to be reminded of God’s surpassing love. The cross moves our perspective from the temporal to the eternal, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the painful to the peaceful!

As we move into this Memorial Day weekend, let’s be sure to remember LOVE IS THE CROSS!