Christ is born, come and worship Him. Somebody way wiser than me said, "You become what you worship," and that's very true and wise. In the second chapter of Luke you find that worshipping was the natural response to those who traveled to see the newborn Christ, whether a king or a shepherd.

So why not become more and more like God? What a better world it would be if we did. He loves unconditionally, He is way more patient than I'll ever understand, He accepted me just like I was and even said He loved me, He forgave me for all the dumb stuff I did and even keeps on forgiving me for the things I do. Just think if we all behaved that way.

Merry Christmas, Bob and Jackie

Since we are dreaming, how about I change it to a prayer for you, the reader. Father, whoever is reading this, it’s my prayer that you bless them with all the goodness you can deal out without them exploding; that you grant them great peace in this chaotic and weird time we find ourselves living in; You meet their every need--physical and spiritual; You cause them to abound in good works; You gather them up to your side and walk with them every moment from now until we step into eternity with You. 

Family and friends, God is with us. Regardless of how you feel or what you believe, God is with us. I’ll say it again: God is with us. If you are poor or if you are rich, God is with you. If you are sick, God is with you. If you are lonely, God is with you. If you are discouraged, depressed, God is with you. If you don’t believe He exists, God is with you. If you think He doesn’t care, God is with you. He is everywhere present and longs to be with you. You should sit down, relax a bit, and call out to Him and say, “I need you," then simply talk about your life and invite Him to come be a part of it. You will find that He soon becomes your all and He is really all you ever wanted for Christmas.

EXTRA CREDIT: If you are wondering where the painting came from, I'll tell you. Back in my history, around 1981 or so, I was working at New Wine Magazine, a Christian magazine. The Art Director, Mr. Mark Pie', was asked to come up with a cover for the Christmas issue and this is it. I've always loved it and hope you enjoy it too.

God has plans for us and they are plans for good, plans for a future with a solid hope attached to it (Jeremiah 29:11).  

Now let’s check out Jn 14: 1-6

 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The key to this passage is “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” If I am troubled or fear the future, it's my fault. That’s disturbing because when I am anxious and fearful, I like to shift the blame to somebody other than me. For example,  “We were promised a financial Christmas bonus and it didn’t come. Now look at the mess I’m in! I was counting on that money.” See, I can blame the company for my fear and anxiety but the truth is if I actually believed God was meeting my needs as He promised, I wouldn’t need to blame anyone--I would have the peace that passes understanding and figure God would provide another way.

But we live in a world that screams at us that circumstances and people are to blame for our anxiety.  When we listen to that voice, our emotions are imprisoned to the circumstances and people around us and then the best thing we can do is try and ride them out and not get thrown into a ditch.  That’s no way to live.

Jesus’ implication is that we don’t need to be afraid. He implies in those verses we shouldn’t be afraid but rather take control of our heart and not allow it to fear or be afraid of the future. If my fear is because of someone else or some dire circumstance or some kind of world chaos, there’s nothing I can do so I become a victim with a victim’s mentality.  Even worse, if my fear is caused by circumstances or people, I am now without hope and I can only try and control and live with that fear so it doesn’t wreck me. That’s how the devil would want us to live. Sure, I’ve heard people say things like: “Well, if you’d seen what cancer did to my dad you wouldn’t be talking so bravely.” I’m not saying scary things don’t happen, I’m only saying Jesus said to not let our hearts be troubled and to believe in Him. Maybe if I truly believed I’d be OK.

Safely in the care of Jesus, my future is not capable of bringing fear to me unless I allow it. The anxiety of your life is  there because you are allowing yourself to respond anxiously even though there are other options. What did I say earlier: We are imprisoned by our emotions and we are along for the ride if we allow it. Emotions say, “If you feel it, do it!” Advertisers try to move that shiny thing  you see on the television from a want to a need, which is emotional manipulation/motivation. Fear is the same thing--it drives you from the peace of God’s care to being anxious.

So, what’s my alternative if I don’t have to be anxious? Jesus said, “Believe in God.” How many of you believe in God. Do you? Do you really believe in Him or do you just believe He exists out there somewhere. For many, He is just there for the 911 calls. None of us of course.

“Believe” here means to rely on, trust in, abandon yourself completely to God’s care and love. Here’s the choice. Either have an anxious heart driven by emotional responses or abandon your cares to God through a living and true belief in Him. 

You may be thinking, “What about my future?” Shouldn’t we be concerned about what may be coming?  Well, how much of it can you really control? You say, “We are going to lunch after church. I can control that.” Wanna bet? You simply can’t control the future.  How many of you see any similarity in what happened last year to how you had it planned? Plans are good but plans fall apart because all sorts of things are coming in our future that we can’t even imagine--some really good and maybe some bad. 

You may be planning a nice lunch after church but you might get to the restaurant and find out it’s closed for remodeling. Your future isn’t controllable.  What are you absolutely sure will happen tomorrow? Scary isn’t it. 

It’s only scary if the future comes at you without purpose. But what if Jeremiah 29:11 is true? You don’t have some willy nilly future that randomly comes at you like bugs splattering against a windshield--you have a future custom made for you. Jesus is called in Hebrews the  “Author and Finisher” of our faith. The book He wrote with you as the main character has a happy ending.

What if there is a God and what if His future is yours? Jesus said, “Believe in God and believe also in me because I am preparing a place for you.” That’s not way off in the future. That just means there is a future place and that He is coming again and He will take us there, but there’s more to our future than that. Jesus  is saying I have a future for you now. I’m preparing a tomorrow for you now. When Jesus says He is preparing a place for you He isn’t just speaking about a hotel that all of you can come to--it’s a place just for you,  tailor made. When you walk in you will say, “This is home.” Color coordinated, wood floors or whatever it is you want. A future custom made for you.  

The life I have right now I could have never gotten to by my own design or plans and my life right now is absolutely perfect for Jackie and I. When I met her about 48 years ago I never dreamed what our future would be like today. What started off as a normal kind of life with a good job, a few houses & kids, all of a sudden got out of our control and turned into one missionary adventure after another so that over the course of 31 years we often weren’t sure where we would be living, or even sleeping sometimes, or how we would be paying our bills and what God could possibly do next to amaze and surprise us. 

We started in Pompano, Florida, a beach town, and went all over the world and God brought us back to another beach town, living in our mobile home here in St. Augustine and God says, “I have prepared a place for you.” I’m living in the place God prepared for me before Creation happened right now, and tomorrow I’ll be in the place He prepared for me then. Do you understand. It was within our ability to step into His future as He brought it to us. It wasn’t us designing a future and begging Him to make it come true.

 You can’t design your future: all you have is now and when that goes by it is gone and you can’t get it back.  I know that the future happens later on and you can’t reach out and grab “later on” until you get there. You only have the present and all God wants from you today is to be present with Him and ready to trust Him.

That’s why we must do today, well. When you do today well, you will be prepared for the future He brings you tomorrow. He gave you today, it’s a gift to you--embrace it.  You might say, “But my husband is a pain in the neck.” Well, welcome to the human race. All husbands are a pain in the neck once in a while--except for Jackie’s. The way you do today well is to make the next right decision. That’s how you do it.

Christ will always bring to you in your today opportunities. He puts the option right in front of you. Usually, it’s small. It’s not always something life-changing or magnanimous. 

Then how does the Holy Spirit deliver you from all the terrible stuff that goes on, you wonder? He does it by intercepting your life today and showing you right decisions, redemptive options. That is the sovereign power of God working on your behalf.  It’s not just His power it’s Him bringing options we can choose. Every right choice opens more just like wrong choices usually lead to 5 more bad ones. That’s how it is for right choices, too. You make a right choice today and it leads you to make another one tomorrow. Before long, you look back and realize you are going in the right direction, away from the chaos of your wrong decisions. You have today. Live it well. Make the next right decision. God gives you everything you need for today. When Jesus said, “Take no thought for tomorrow…,” He may have been serious. 

For some, the next right direction is to really believe in God. To believe in Him so much you really trust Him with today and tomorrow. That you trust Him in your pain, the questions, the uncertainties, the things you don’t know how to grapple with, the brokenness, the family crisis, economic impossibilities. We must believe in God through Christ. We do that because Jesus is the only way to get to God.

If I didn’t know, I might ask, “Which way do I have to go to get to Palm Coast?” You’ll reply, “South on I-95.” “But I don’t want to go south on I-95. South is hot, dry and ugly. I prefer going north because it is so much cooler and nicer. Who are you to be telling me I have to go south to get to Palm Coast?” “But don’t you want to go to Palm Coast?” “Of course I do, but you are being narrow minded and  telling me I have to go south. Is there only one way to get to Palm Coast?”   

Jesus said He is the way, the only way to God. Jesus brings you to God and God comes to you through Jesus. That’s it. “Well I don’t want to go that way. I don’t want to get to God through Jesus. I like Buddha--He’s cooler.” “But Jesus is the only way to get to God.” That’s not being narrow minded--that’s just reality. If you want to get to God, you can’t get there through Buddha. I didn’t make the rule, Jesus did. If you want to go to Palm Coast, hop on a bus and go north and see how that works out for you! Just don’t get mad at the bus driver when you wind up in Jacksonville.

How do I make it through the day. Jesus said He’s the way. How do you handle broken relationships. He’s the way. A family crisis? He’s the way. Unemployment? He’s the way. I can’t tell you how God will meet your needs. I don’t know. He meets mine and I’m not even sure how He does it at times. I can just tell you what He said: “I’m preparing a place for you.” 

Deep inside of you is a place where no one else can come and you can’t describe, but it is deeply and utterly you, below your outward facade, your fears, emotions, that place where you can discover Jesus, the Way.  It’s there where you will hear the next right step. It doesn’t come as a blast but rather as an impression or a gentle nudge, something you could probably pass off. That’s the way Jesus takes you. Hear Him. Don’t work so fast or network so fiendishly that you miss you and Him in that soulful place because Jesus through His Holy Spirit is the only one who can prepare your future because He has already been there and knows how everything works out.

If you don’t invite Him into that soulful place you will feel empty, lonely and like an orphan. Invite Him into that inner space where you two can live together. 

In Christ, Your life is no longer singular but plural--Him and you facing each day as it purposely comes to lead you to your future hope.

I’ll close with  Hebrews 3: 6-8  

But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.''

Mary and Martha

Luke 10:38 - 42

We get a couple of great contrasting examples about relating to God in the adventures of the Martha and Mary story. Martha  represents what our secular culture defines as an ideal response to a challenge. She is productive. She surpasses her potential with great results. She is motivated to jump in and pick up the slack. She sacrifices for others. I mean, really, she is an all-star. 

Mary doesn’t really score a lot of points on the secular world scale. Evidently, she’d rather sit around and listen to someone talk than help out. She is obviously not motivated to serve when needed and you might even think she is a bit lazy. 

But from Jesus’ perspective, Mary was the one He commended for her choices and Martha was corrected for her complaining and finger pointing. So let’s look at this and try and find the problem and how to avoid it.

Let’s pretend we are just taking it easy and we see a crowd of folks walking down the street and decide we want to have them over for a meal. You go outside and see it’s Jesus so you invite Him and His friends to come in. You realize there is a lot to do in order to feed a dozen or more people so your mind goes into warp drive and you formulate a plan to get everything done. You can’t just order pizza so you are going to need help to pull this off. No problem, your sister is here and she can help. “Now,” you wonder, “where is she?”

Mary sees the same crowd and also realizes it is Jesus. The rumors about who He is and what He has been doing is no secret so she is thinking she is going to get right in front of Him and get the full story. She sits at His feet, a place of submission, and waits for Him to start talking to her. She wasn’t there to tell Him her plans, she was there to listen. So He talks.

Martha had expectations and Mary had expectations and the two didn’t intersect. Martha is working as fast as she can and seeing there is no way she is going to pull this off by herself. She walks out into the living room and sees her sister sitting there, relaxed and attentive. Martha takes one long look and loses it. “Jesus, don’t you care I’m in this burning hot kitchen working my derriere off to get your food ready? Tell Mary to get out here and pull her own weight.”

How fascinating. In this instance, Mary is listening to find out what God wants and Martha is giving God orders, telling Him what He is to do. You ever tell God to “Jump” and He just smiles?

Jesus didn’t ask Martha to cook up a feast. She took that on by her own initiative, she was self directed. When we see a need and then respond with self-direction, there could be problems coming as there were for Martha. You have to wonder how Jesus talked to Martha after she blew up. Did He say, “MARTHA! YOU ARE DISTRACTED!!!…MARY IS DOING WHAT IS NEEDED!”  Or did He say, “Martha, you are distracted. Mary is doing what’s needed.” I tend to think the first way I wrote it would be how I would have responded and the 2nd way, gentler and reconciling, is the way Jesus would have said it. Who knows, He might have even invited Martha to come over and sit down so she could listen with Mary.

We don’t really know what happened after that, but let’s use our imagination. Perhaps Martha did come over and she sat down next to Mary and they both listened to Him talk about the Kingdom of God. He told them things that angels wanted to know about. After an hour or so, they may have both gotten up and gone into the kitchen and made a meal for everyone. In that scenario, there is no winner or loser--there are simply 2 sisters working together to be a blessing to their guests, extending hospitality and doing what’s needed in waiting before the Lord and in serving.

When we get distracted by an urgent need, before we jump in and start cutting down trees and erecting church buildings, we need to be at Jesus’ feet awaiting a word from Him. We humans tend to see the need, jump in, sometimes ask God to bless it and take off. How much better would it be to sit quietly before the Lord and await His directions? Lots better! In fact, Isaiah says it this way: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).

We need Martha and we need Mary, too. Martha was no lightweight. When she saw Jesus coming in response to the news of Lazarus’ illness, she ran to Him and after a short conversation concluded with this: “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,who is to come into the world Jn 11:26).”  However, too much Martha in us makes us crazy and too much Mary in us makes us lazy. So we need to find the balance between hearing and doing instead of doing and then crying for help to clean up the mess we’ve made.

In 1991 we lived in Hong Kong and were running a 5-month school that had 3 months of classroom teaching and training and 2 months of outreach. Our outreach was going to India. Every morning I had my students pray in groups of 5 or 6 and pray about the outreach and other issues and then have them write down what they thought God was saying when they took time after praying and to just sit and listen. 

I was in the process of finding airline tickets and Air India was going to be the cheapest fare I could get by $1000s of dollars for our group. It came out in one of the groups they had a “vision” of a fiery plane crash with our team on board. So being the wise man I am, I booked our tickets on British Air and paid more money. Air India and British Air both left Hong Kong about the same time so both our flights arrived in India within minutes of each other. But the Air India flight was off to the side with rescue vehicles around it. We didn’t know what happened, but we later found out a bomb was found on board but didn’t go off. We prayed for that flight every morning prior to our outreach and I can’t help but believe God had mercy on them because of it. I was still glad we flew on British Air though!

In John 12 Mary anointed Jesus for His burial. How did she know to do that? Why would she out of the blue pour “costly” (year’s wages worth) perfume over Jesus’ head and wipe His feet with her hair? Judas was upset and chastised her for not selling the perfume and giving the money to the poor, but Jesus defended her saying she had done this in anticipation of His burial. What if back in the living room in Luke 10 when Jesus was talking to Mary, who was at His feet, said, “Mary, I just want you to know that in the near future I’ll be crucified by the Pharisees. I’m allowing it to happen because I am going to die for the sins of the world. It will be a terrible thing for you to bare, but don’t worry, “I’ll be back.” (That’s right. Jesus came up with that line first.) On the 3rd day my Father will raise me from the dead and all of mankind will have a way out of the mess that started back at Eden.”

With Luke 10 knowledge Mary was again at Jesus’ feet in John 12 but this time she is anointing Him for His burial. The disciples, though they had been told what was to become of Jesus, were oblivious to what was going on. Maybe they were still arguing about which one was the greatest and didn’t comprehend what Jesus had told them was going to happen to Him. Whatever the reason, the one who sat and listened for Jesus’ words was the one who knew what was expedient to do at the appropriate time. And there’s our lesson for the day. Before you attack the next thing that jumps out at you, sit down and listen to God and get a “word” from Him about what to do next. You are the determiner of the quantity, quality and intimacy you give to God and that will determine what He may say to you. We will meet God’s presence when we are present before Him. As you can see, it’s important that our actions come in response to a word from the Lord rather than from self-direction. 

Quoted Bible text comes from The Passion Translation.  

Does God care. Answer with a simple yes or no.   I’m not surprised if nearly all of you thought, “Yes.” If God didn’t care, why would He send Jesus to offer Himself as sacrifice on our behalf? Why would He leave heaven and become a man? Why would He allow the suffering He went through? Of course--God cares.

But if I ask,, “Does God care for me?” it isn’t nearly as simple to answer. Oh, with our minds and lips it is easy to say, “Yes, He absolutely cares for me,” but when adversity comes do our actions contradict that? For example, let's say you came home from a doctor's appointment and were told that you could have a fatal heart attack any minute if you don’t have bypass surgery right away. That wasn’t what you expected to hear and the doctor’s words rattled your cage. I suppose you could think, “If God cares for me, why did this happen?”

Jackie after open heart surgery

When that happened to Jackie last November, it definitely rattled us just a little. We were told in 2006 she should have died when she had a heart attack and it was the same artery (affectionately nicknamed "The widow maker) that was messed up again this time.

Your reaction to life’s unexpected challenges determines how they will affect you. You may not need bypass surgery but something will come along that you didn’t expect. How you react to that “something” determines if you get better or bitter.

To have the “better” experience, we must always remember that nothing on earth happens by chance. To those who say, “Oh, that was quite a coincidence,” I say, “There is only God.” We were all created by Him with a reason for our existence and a purpose for our being on earth. Somehow or other God makes it all work out while being sovereign and giving us free will at the same time. That doesn’t seem like a recipe for success to me but He has it figured out. I seldom understand what’s going on at the precise moment, but there’s been plenty of 20-20 hindsight.

Trees, mountains, oceans, deserts--all created for a purpose. Laughter, joy, happiness, likewise. But what about pain, suffering, sadness and loss? When there is pain in your life, it is because God permitted it. I won’t say He caused it, but He allows stuff into our lives that is sometimes painful--and none of us are exempt. I don’t always understand, but I know He loves me and has my best interest at all times and that all things, good or seemingly bad, are working for my eternal good.

God didn’t abandon us after bringing us into this life, and He won’t in the future. He willingly and with great love adopted each of us. We must remember that and pray for wisdom when our lives are turned upside down. We must see our pain-filled sometimes reality of life in light of His divine plan: Ask Him, “What does my current emotional state have to do with your purpose for my life?” James said in chapter 1: 2-5--My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things. And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking. So, if you walk with thankful hearts and embrace your trials you grow so that there is “nothing lacking.” But if you get mad, irritated and question God’s care, you don’t do as well.

Suffering comes to us as a reminder that earth is not a paradise nor our home and that the life, truth, and love we crave won’t be found in their fullness here on earth but will be found when we one day wake up in heaven in the embrace of our Father.

To better understand suffering, look at Jesus as your model, though we cannot possibly compare our suffering to His. But let’s take a look at what He endured. Bodily suffering, mental anguish, disappointment, the betrayal of true friendship, the court’s perversion of fairness and justice and the violent separation from a mother’s love--all these Jesus took upon Himself knowingly and willingly. Then during the crucifixion, He uttered these words of triumph, “It is finished.” No more pain. No more sorrowful tears, no more personal attack. Hebrews 12:2 says it this way, “... We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God.” You might want to memorize that verse because you are headed in the same direction as He was--from earth to heaven!

All of that was the Father’s plan that Jesus embraced on the Cross, the plan He completed. That plan was fully revealed on the third day after His death when the Seed that fell to the ground bloomed into newness of life, when the mortal put on immortality.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus met the disciples and said in Luke 24:25-26, “Why are you so thick-headed? Why do you find it so hard to believe every word the prophets have spoken? Wasn’t it necessary for Christ, the Messiah, to experience all these sufferings and then afterward to enter into his glory?” Suffering fit within God’s plan for Jesus and you and me. The suffering that Jesus endured gives you eternal life and escorted Jesus back to His throne in heaven. Your suffering is also preparing you for heaven.

God cares deeply about each of us when we are suffering or pain filled. We are to come to Him and ask for His help. Luke 11: 9-10 is a command from Jesus: “Ask and you’ll receive. Seek and you’ll discover. Knock on heaven’s door, and it will one day open for you. Every persistent person will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he needs. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.”

That verse declares a very strong truth--be persistent. One of the reasons “every persistent person will get what he asks for” is this: As we embrace our trials, or as James said, “rejoice in them,” before long our persistent requests begin to change to complement God’s will so that our prayers become like an orchestra He is conducting. We know when to switch the tempo from 2/4 to 4/4, when to rest and when to move quick and lively because He is conducting His Church from the podium in heaven.

Alcohol, drugs, sex, food or whatever won’t remove suffering or heal diseases--they simply leave you feeling worse than ever and the problem hasn’t changed but probably been compounded and made even worse. Self gratification isn’t a cure either, though most Americans continue to go to that bottle of pain reliever.  It is a cure people often employ when the trials, suffering and pain assault them. Unfortunately, self-gratification is like taking arsenic to cure a cold. For sure it will cure the cold but then there is the unwelcome consequence--you die.

  

We simultaneously live in two worlds, two realities: The seen and the unseen. God and His Kingdom are the unseen and everything you see with your eyes is the earth reality. If we put our trust in the seen, self-gratification makes good sense. But when we look at the unseen reality, “fixing our gaze on Jesus,” our reality then makes perfect sense--we see that God is in control and we are safe.

Here’s how the apostle Paul put it in 2 Cor 4:15-19:  “...all things work for your enrichment so that more of God’s marvelous grace will spread to more and more people, resulting in an even greater increase of praise to God, bringing him even more glory! So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.  We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.

Finally, 1 Corinthians 10:13 shows us something to always remember:

We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.

No matter how lost you get, there is always a way of escape, a way home. God knows what we can handle and He allows it to be because He cares and loves us and wants our best. When confronted by suffering and pain, cry out to Him in prayer to give you all you need to fulfill His purpose. By doing that, you will see more open doors and more answered prayers because that is a prayer that complements His purposes and a prayer that will benefit your soul.

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