Our Days Are His

“Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1, NIV).

We all know the affections of our own heart. These affections focus upon people, places and things that move and direct our hearts with fond regard and emotion. Our spouses and families are deeply loved and our friends are connected at various levels of affections. We at times chose these affections and we at times will never know why we like and love certain rich or delicate foods, certain panoramic scenes or things that we collect or value throughout the course of our living.

In a darker and more foreboding sense, we know that our affections can sometimes drift or be swayed by the affections of our heart into things that would cause us to sin or even courses of lifestyle or actions that are not holy or healthy.
We all know the things that capture, motivate and hold the passions of our attentive mind and focus. From our views on subjects as vastly different as politics and culture, we all have areas of interest and desires where we find our attentions focused. At times if we are completely honest in our self-awareness, we may even find alarming the direction our minds might be enticed and tempted by sin.

Much of the time, as pilgrims on this vast and varied earth, that we both physically and emotionally travel upon and through … we know the familiar places where our affections and attentions like to stop and visit. Faith enters these realms of affections and attentions but many times it has to compete with our focus in what is seen, attended to or felt in our hearts.

Yet our faith in Christ, is always in a tension as it demands our leaving the old affections and attentions that we see, think and feel behind … as we are reborn to continually place our heart and mind in and upon the Christ who is now our Lord and Master. It is in the intentional and consistent releasing of the old and the natural affections and attentions around and within us that we change our lives. This change of the will allows the continual rebirth of those affections and attentions to be lovingly and thoughtfully placed upon things that are above. These things, which are above, come from Christ and they bring the abundant and eternal life He both promises and delivers.

“Set your mind on things above and not on earthly things, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2, NIV).
Suggested Reading … Colossians 3

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest” (Psalm 51:1-4, KJ21).

Sometimes we come to God, confessing our sin but not really desiring to give up the sin that we are confessing. Sometimes we come with a contrite heart, confessing our sin and sincerely desiring to leave certain sins behind but we struggle to truly give up those same sins. Sometimes we come confessing our sins and find not only forgiveness for the sins but a definite severing of the bondage of the sin that formerly entangled us.

Although our acknowledgement of our sin in our confession is vitally important, it is not the complete role, confession plays in our relationship with our Heavenly Father who forgives all sin through the blood of Jesus Christ and the redemption He brings to us. Confession must both have the components of asking for forgiveness and seek the freedom from that sin and all sin by the empowerment of the grace that God gives as the sin is released from its stain upon our hearts.

David understood this as he both confesses his sin to God and asks for God’s restoration and continued presence through His Holy Spirit. He felt both the broken-ness of his sin and the sting of its consequences and at the same time, he needed God restoration and the presence of the Holy Spirit for his future days. We need to confess our sins, but also need to confess our hope in God’s restoration and continued presence.

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest” (Psalm 51:10-14, KJ21).

Suggested Reading … Psalm 51

“So teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV)

Human beings at times, tend to live in ways that over emphasize our importance and immortality instead realizing the smallness of our being and our frailness. Generally we tend to see ourselves as being a bit more impervious to difficulties than we truly are. We tend to think that tragedies will not happen to us and if they do, that we will rise up quite in remarkable triumph. We tend to live with hardy a passing glance at death as if nothing can take away our life. We tend to think of ourselves a bit younger than we are, when we are older in age and a bit older when we are younger in age. We tend to think of ourselves as a bit more important, than we probably are and a bit more vital to the systems around us, than we probably are. When we get to the crux of the matter, there is a somewhat default position in most human thinking. Humans often function from a somewhat fantastical self-centered inflated position in their awareness of their being.

In no way do I wish to lessen anyone’s value or worth, but instead offer for our consideration; the value of humility. Bringing the virtue of humility into our life and daily functioning will bring a more honest appraisal and awareness of our place, worth and fragility. Being aware our true size in the area of importance to others is vitally important. Being aware of our true abilities and weakness fosters growth and productivity instead of brashness and inefficacy. Our being more aware and humble regarding the reality of our frailness in matters of life and death will lead us to live intention and purpose. Seeing ourselves when we are young as lacking experience will push towards seeking the wisdom of those more experienced and remembering the failures in our experiences will humble to be more compassionate towards others.

Our Lord desires that see ourselves as we are. We are not as large as we think we are or as important as we think we are. We need His grace, not only to save us but to carry through each day. The days of our lives pass by quickly and our only hope for immortality in found in Christ alone and not in our efforts.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tenderness and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself. Look not every man to his own things, but every man also to the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death—even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:1-8, KJ21).

Suggested Reading … Psalm 90 & Philippians 2

 

There are walks which are easy where the course of the path is straight and relatively flat, devoid of any difficulty. Then again, some walks are steep treacherous and demanding leaving us tired and perspiring. Walks can also lead us to grand and breathtaking vistas of possibilities and walks can lead us to dark and dangerous dead ended walls of despair.

Our faith often resembles a walk. We know the walk leads to a deeper relationship with our Savior and we also know to follow the path our Good Shepherd leads our feet to tread. We know we are safe on this route and we know He is beside us with His rod and staff. Still we stop and linger peering over edges of the trail as if they were not dangerous and glancing backward intrigued with side tracks that are definitely fruitless and leading us away from the path our Master wants to lead us on.

Trusting our Shepherd and Savior will always bless us, as obedience teaches us and allows us to continue further down the trail where we become more like the Master. His Holy Spirit will fill us with abundant sufficiency on our walk of faith, we just have to listen and follow. Ultimately we will find ourselves in God’s glorious presence forever … is there any other walk anywhere that will lead to such a place. All we have on this walk of faith is to trust the Master who knows the way.

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:25-32, ESV).

Suggested Reading … Ephesians 4

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:11-14, ESV).

As believers in God, we at times will use words that describe God’s attributes such as omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. We use these words to wrap our limited knowledge and descriptive capacities as we describe the unlimited and unfathomable nature, knowledge and capacities of God. Yet we live at times, in a way as if God were unaware of our actions, intentions, schemes and sin. This falseness is always present in sin and in lesser degrees in all activities seem religious but really distance our living from God’s plans and ways.

God truly tires of all falseness especially our religiosity because He is aware of both the pretense and the destruction any course of sin will bring. All that is deceptive is never hidden from Him and so He carries the burden of waiting for us to both see the truth of our sin and come back to Him in repentance. Falseness separates God from us in every spurious action we take part in, just as falseness distances all parties in all relationships. Falseness also is a heavy burden to the human heart and mind as it travels the distance from first numbing us to the truth of who we are, to eventually overloading us with shame and guilt when we become finally see the truth. Sometimes the only person we deceive is our self. Falseness if unchecked and unaltered eventually destroys everything and it will eventually destroy us.

God is not only mighty in His power but He is mighty in His mercy and love. Our Father carries our burden of falseness and sin until we come to Him for cleansing grace, redemption and restoration. What a remarkable Father we have, to see through all our falseness and still wait for us! What an incredible Redeemer we have, to welcome us as He washes our sin of falseness away as we come in repentance. What an unbelievable Healer we have, to restore us and provide the good that only He can give. We all need to stop any pretending and give all our days to Him, by following His Spirit and His ways.

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land …” (Isaiah 1:18-19, ESV).

Suggested Reading … Isaiah 1

“To give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79, ESV).

How does it happen that the days of our living, become more about our living in our ordinary routine or struggle, than about our living in the plans and ways for which we were created? Some people move through their day without much thought or purpose, in a kind of recurring normal that has become their life routine and thus each new day will hold little chance of becoming anything different. Other people, whether hassled or overwhelmed by multitudes of various personal hardships, health issues or problematic concerns in relationships or callings might even hold in fear the coming of each new day. Some people may become so incensed by something they become consumed and unable to think of anything else while others are so haunted by evil that is tormenting governmental or societal systems they become immobilized. Finally for some people, the battle in fighting sin or addictions and dealing with the consequences of both choices and diseases leaves the breaking day, promising little but hopelessness.

Yet, here in the breaking of the dawn is the start of a uniquely, defined and distinctive new day. It is a day, in spite of its being relatively the same in a numeric sense of hours holds great potential to become something different.

Whether this day is the first day or the middle day of Advent, Lent or just a day in a month that falls in the numbered year … each new day that breaks in the sunrise has the potential to be a day of significance when the light of our Savior penetrates the ordinary through His salvation and the tender compassion of His love. Faith is not just a filter through which the colored events of the day are processed but it includes letting the clarity of the light of His Word and Spirit to shine in and on every sense and facet as we appeal for His grace to cover and direct this new day. This new day beckons us with possibility of change, encouragement, peace and even the miraculous when the day is given in trusting faith to the Savior who both saves and delivers in every day.

This new day has broken with the potential to become a day of significance. Let the Light of the Savior break into your ordinary day and be thankful for His coming.

This new day has broken with the potential to become a day of significance. Let the Light of the Savior break into your ordinary day and be thankful for His coming.

Ash Wednesday – Suggested Reading … Luke 1

 

“And behold, one came and said unto Him, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’ And He said unto him, ‘Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God. But if thou wilt enter into Life, keep the commandments.’ He said unto Him, ‘Which?’ Jesus said, “‘Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness;
honor thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’”
The young man said unto Him, ‘All these things have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?’” (Matthew 19:16-20, KJ21)

We understand that in giving precedence to certain aspects or values of our lives, we order our lives regarding the importance of one aspect or value above another. We must do this on a regular basis to have any semblance of order in functioning in our daily living and we must do this with what we value. We also must give priority in our lives to our most important intimate relationships with spouses, family or friends lest other endless demands began to dominate our time thus taking away devotion and commitment to ones we love. It seems logical then, that if we claim to be people of faith, that faith must be value that is regarded as a priority in the highest degree.

Yet giving something priority in our lives involves more than just speaking of it or listing it as a priority. Claiming anything as a significant priority involves more than words. Even willingness to invest significant dedicated time and effort into any given priority does make it a reality as a high precedent in your living.

Other things must be released in order for spoken or claimed priorities to become realities in our lives. It is in the releasing of the demanding insignificant things that the significant is ordered and elevated to the place of highest significance. Values are just token phrases unless they upheld by principled and intentioned actions. Faith without the releasing actions of loving, serving and worshipping is empty. Still there is something beyond the adhering to our priorities and the releasing of interferences and demands by our actions. In the highest place of order, regard and priority … a declared and dedicated exclusiveness must be given to any significant priority and this exclusiveness must be followed by the releasing of other things from becoming interfering encumbrances.

In marriage, our exclusiveness to our spouses is not just priority borne out in our releasing of all to the one that we love … it is exclusive abandonment of all others and an exclusive attaching to our spouse. In our faith, it is not just a setting of priorities that matters or even the releasing of time and effort that makes our faith significant. There must be an exclusive abandonment of everything else and an exclusive loving attachment above everything else to our Lord. This must be done, in order for Jesus Christ to truly be our Savior and our Lord. That exclusiveness is what the “Rich Young Ruler” missed in his forgoing of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ asks us for a dedicated exclusiveness in becoming our Lord and it is in the abandonment of other things that He truly becomes our Lord and we find the life, He desires we have in Him.

“Jesus said unto him, ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come and follow Me.’ But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:21-22, KJ21)

Suggested Reading … Matthew 19

 

 

The Manger Gertrude Käsebier 1852 – 1934

National Gallery of Art, NGO Image, Public Domain

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8, NIV)

The manger was full of God’s promise but only for a short time. The child who brought favor and grace was laid in the manger is a testament of God’s gift to all of the world. In some ways, we understand the manger was part of God’s way of showing the humility of Christ coming amongst us but what do we see in the empty manger?

In simple ways, we understand the Son was the gift of God’s favor and grace and yet He could not be left in the manger.  The gift is found in Christ’s living and showing the Kingdom of God. This gift from God as grace was ultimately fulfilled in the giving, dying and rising again of the Son.

The manger is empty to some because people don’t realize there is a gift in the manger. They don’t understand the gift is free and available to them. Instead of reaching out for the gift, they push the gift away. Others mock the manger as empty of value and substance. Some people believe the manger is empty because the manger that held a baby for the world is just a myth and it would be foolish to believe in such a story. To others the manger is empty because the real event of God redeeming the world through His Son, is unreasonable or nonsensical and they reinvent a more appropriate story to their liking.

There are other people who would empty the manger of any significance replacing the power of Christmas with their cultural myths of goodness by believing in a magical round man in a red suit. In reality, the power to live a good life and give goodness away, comes from the goodness of God. Our goodness comes from God who gave His Son as the Living Christ through His Spirit to empower us to give His forgiveness, redemption, grace and love to those around us.

Of course the manger is empty, because my Lord and Savior didn’t stay in the manger, He went to the cross and later rose from the grave. In fact, every place where Jesus was born and lived is empty of His physical bodily form. The physical form and presence of Jesus is gone from these places and they are empty. Yet He is not gone because He has sent His presence and power through the Holy Spirit now comes in far greater ways. The stable is empty, the manger is empty, the carpenter’s shop is empty, the roads are empty, the boats are empty, the great temple is empty, the cross is empty and the tomb is empty. In the end of all matters, it is not the emptiness that has meaning but what He did in those empty places and who and where He is now. He is alive in every empty place, we may find in history and life.  Without the empty cross, there is no salvation and without the empty tomb, there is no Holy Spirit. All of this emptiness is redeemed into the salvation and joy we have in the Living Savior. He is there at every empty place with the new life He gives to all who believe.

Yes, the manger is empty but the Christ that first was laid there; now fills every empty place with Himself. Come to empty manger, the empty cross and the empty tomb and you will find the Living Risen Christ. The Jesus who came first to a Bethlehem manger; emptied Himself that we might be saved. From the humble stable and manger … empty of respect and honor, He opens the door to the gifts of favor and love He brings to all who believe through His grace. It is in the emptying of Christ that we are saved and it is in the emptying of ourselves that we proclaim the Living Christ, able to redeem all emptiness in all people, for all time.

“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7, NIV).

 

“You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NLT).

      There is an incredibly powerful reality in the coming of our Savior to the earth to redeem the peoples of the world. It is what we truly celebrate in the Christmas season and is the joy of our salvation. It is incredible, that the Christ who existed and reigned in heaven would be willing to come to earth to redeem a world lost in sin and self-centeredness. It took the ultimate sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son to reach to the lowest realms of wickedness, lifting any and all who would believe in Him to the heights of heaven and eternity. It is a reach beyond our comprehension as the Holy God moves beyond every dominion of human sinfulness and every other power of heaven and earth to love and save us by His favor and grace.

God’s love reaches to the lowest places. His love reaches to the fatherless, the poor, the outcast, the forgotten, the lonely, the neglected, the brokenhearted, the miserable, the used and misused, and even to the cynical and the prodigals. His love is truly incomprehensible in its reach to all those who are hurt and damaged by sin. Sin attacks all good and all virtue, maiming people and their relationships, but our salvation in Christ redeems pain and brokenness. No one on this earth ever escapes the damage and stain of sin and because of this common fallen state; we all need a Savior. We are all in a lowly place and since our Christ comes to all of us in our lowly condition, no one or no damage is ever out of the reach of His love.

This powerful reality of Christ giving up His heavenly place and coming to redeem the world, even coming to the lowest in the lowliest of places is born out in the tangible and physical aspects of the Incarnation and birth of Jesus. Jesus was not born in a palace. The rich and powerful religious and political classes do not even notice His birth nor were they invited. The proclamation of His birth, which bursts from the heavens with such glorious excitement is not seen or witnessed by royalty but rather by members of one of the lowliest and common of all occupations. Shepherds were not respected and were disregarded as ceremonially un-clean and unwelcome worshipers in the synagogues and in the Jewish Temple. It was to these poor and lowly caretakers of the flocks in the fields, that the heavens were opened with the shattering announcement that God’s favor and peace had come to the world. They were the first to worship the new born King. In their humble worship, we see that the lowliest are remembered and would be redeemed by the heavenly Son, now born into the world.

What does all this mean to each of us? How does the mighty reach of Christ to the poor and lowly, translate into joy in our lives? Joy comes as His redemptive love reaches all of us. He comes to every place. He comes to every way that we have failed and covers all the sin of our lives. It means there will never be a lowly place where His presence will not be with us through His Holy Spirit. He will always come, never abandoning us in the low points of our lives. He comes, lifting us up from the places of pain and suffering and giving us His peace. Christ coming to the lowly … means nothing can separate us from His love as we believe and follow our Savior. The coming of Christ; is real joy to the whole world. To the lowly, Christ will always come. Thus no one is beyond the reach of God’s love through the grace of Jesus Christ. His coming to be born in the lowly manger was the first moment of His coming to the lowly but it was only the beginning of the incomprehensible myriad of times Christ will come, again and again through His death and resurrection to save the world. The message of the birth of Christ is simple … Jesus comes to save and give life, now and forever. Thanks, be to God.

Thought and Scripture Reading … God’s generosity towards us, should move us to be generous. 2 Corinthians 8 & 9