I read another book over Christmas, about a teenager with deep devotion to God. The book is ‘Night‘ by  Elie Wiesel, who was 15 when he arrived at Auschwitz. He writes:

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.

Reading ‘Night’ has rocked my perception of the world and causes me to have grave concerns about the nature of my faith – what would suffering truly do to my faith? Reading ‘Crazy Love’ deepened my concerns – is my faith real? If it is real, why is there so little fruit?

I find that the words of Mark 14:38 come to mind when I fail to live as I ought, “The heart is willing but the flesh is weak.” However, even this is giving myself too much credit – my heart and flesh are weak!

I am finding Joshua 24:23 to be good advice. If I want to bend my life to obey God then I need to both incline my heart towards God, and get rid of things in my daily life which turn me away from God. We cannot separate the internal and external actions, what I do affects what I feel and love, and vice versa. Of course, watching and praying help immensely too – though often the temptation to give up on this is what has gotten me into a mess in the first place!

It is a struggle to train ourselves for godliness, but the final outcome is worth more than the riches of the entire world (1 Timothy 4:7-8).

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:15).

Remember what Christmas felt like when you were a child: the excited expectation of presents and food and treats and people you love coming to visit. For children Christmas is all joy in the anticipation, it just happens, seemingly by magic – the only anxiety is over whether you will really get the present you’ve been eagerly hoping for.

This is an example to us of what Advent is all about, the anticipation of the coming of God. For the Jews in 1 B.C. and earlier the yearning was for the promised messiah, in about A.D. 30 the anticipation reached fever pitch as the wild prophet John strode from the desert proclaiming the immanent arrival of the messiah.

Then the anticlimax of the messiah as a man, a very ordinary looking man at that, one who even ate and drank with sinners! This is not what they were expecting, should they be looking for another? (Matthew 11:3).

We also are looking forward to the coming of Jesus (again). Do you have the childlike faith and excitement for this that Christmas should elicit is all children?

This post was inspired by Noel Piper’s post ‘If Not Santa, What?‘ at the Desiring God blog.

For me, I need to put aside my own agendas and plans in order to be more genuinely interested in others. If I’m constantly thinking of what I really want or ‘need’ to be doing while interacting with someone, I cannot communicate genuine interest or concern for that person – they will see that I am wanting to be moving on to something that is more important to me.

Jesus did not need to put aside his own agenda to take on human form and be crucified for us – this IS his agenda! It should also be mine: God’s plan of redemption is His glory, and the chief end of man is to glorify God (Westminster catechism). The very purpose of my existence is to participate in God’s plan of redemption.

Glorifying God by spreading His gospel is the purpose of my existence – the ultimate agenda for my life. All other plans and agendas I have should serve this ultimate one (and not just tangentially!).

I need to adjust some of my plans!

Jesus has provided just such a meal, in fact even better, far better than you could imagine, and it will last forever. All the food and wine provided at his expense (Isaiah 25:6).

The banquet will cost you nothing (Isaiah 55:1), you can freely partake simply by coming to Jesus. But what it cost him! He hid his glory in human flesh, as a frail baby in a time when many babies never lived long. He was rejected by those who knew him, and was tortured by those who hated him, then killed without mercy.

He paid a price beyond our comprehension to be able to vanquish death, wipe away every tear from your eyes and enjoy your company forever.

She lives her life transparently in the community in which she finds herself. It can be hard feeling as though she doesn’t quite fit in when people are chasing their worldly values and pursuits.

Yet her friends will ask her serious, searching questions about God and faith. Her answers are honest about how trusting Jesus Christ affects her own life – the good stuff and the hard stuff.

She doesn’t recite a list of bible proof tests or prattle on about theology, rather an honest sharing of the hope that Christ gives her (1 Peter 3:15). True faith in the real world that has time for other people.

If you had been one of those shepherds, what would you remember about this experience 20 years later?

I know I would remember the sound and light display – literally out of this world, and totally without precedent in a time when candles en-mass were impressive. I would also remember fear, anyone living in Judea knew that to encounter the living God meant death, remember Uzzah? (2 Samuel 6:6-7)

What about the baby? He was pretty ordinary, his parents were poor and nothing much has been heard of him after the horrible slaughter by Herod’s troops. Rumour is that the family were warned and left town before that abominable carnage, but since then nobody knows what happened to them. If he was really the king of Israel surely he would be revealed by now, Joash was seven when he was revealed as the rightful king (2 Kings 11:2-12). This baby would be a man by now, if he is the king he should take his rightful place.

And what about the angel calling him ‘Christ the Lord’? That just doesn’t make sense, how can a baby be ‘the Lord’? In fact, how could a man be ‘the Lord’?

From Isaiah 6:1-4 to Isaiah 53:2-12, the Son of God emptied himself (Philippians 2:5-7) to become our saviour. He was still God, but he was a man. Will we ever comprehend how far he came?

Joseph: (Un)Planned Detours

At the end of everything we will all be judged and the basis of judgment will be our response to Jesus as he revealed himself in the bible (John 12:48).

Jesus was rejected and crucified because he did not fit what people thought the messiah would or should be. When I look in the bible do I see, accept and bow to Jesus in his authoritative, uncompromising, sin-abhorring holiness?

Or would I prefer the bloke who sees my sin, winks and lets me continue in it? That guy ain’t the Son of God (2 Corinthians 11:14).

The cattle are lowing
the Baby awakes
but little Lord Jesus
no crying He makes.

With three children of my own, I marvel that any baby could wake and not cry. Did Jesus cry, was He a perfect baby?

The answer has to be, ‘yes’, and ‘no.’ He was a perfect human so yes, He was a perfect baby in that there was no taint of sin in Him. Even babies can be willful and cantankerous, obviously Jesus would not have been such from sinfulness. Yet He became weak as we are (Philippians 2:7-8), so He was still utterly dependent upon Mary to provide all His needs, He needed to let her know when He needed to be fed or a nappy changed (whatever they used in those days). Also, as an adult we know that Jesus wept (John 11:35), so I think it reasonable to assume that He did in fact cry as a baby just as we ourselves did and our children do.

Jesus felt every temptation I feel (Hebrews 4:15), every weakness I feel, every reason to disobey, yet He did not sin, he learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8). He calls me to follow Him.