This is the last week before Christmas, so I wanted to encourage each of our teens to think about what they are planning to give for iChristmas. As we focus on the idea of love, it’s a great time to consider what is most important to us and how we can bless others.
Our society tells us over and over again that this is a season to want. What is on our Christmas list? What do you want for Christmas? We hear so many messages that our joy comes from what we get, that we can lose sight of what is really important. I believe that Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount have a lot to say to our culture of consumerism…
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Where is your treasure? What are the things you consider most important? What do you really need and what is want?
Most of us are blessed beyond belief. Even those of us who consider ourselves to have little have more than most of the world. Our needs would be a dream to much of the world’s population.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying our blessings, but we must always remember to put things in context. It is important to remember that most of the things we “need” are really things we want. Real needs, such as food and shelter, are things that we take for granted, but that much of the world struggles to find on a daily basis.
Just as God gave to us, we are called to give to others. As we enter the final week before Christmas, take time to think about how blessed you are and, more importantly, how you can be a blessing to others.
shine!
Jason
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
People of peace
So often when we think of peace, we think of a lack of war. But that idea of peace falls well short of the peace God ultimately desires. God does not simply wish that we would stop fighting. Peace in the Kingdom of God is so much more.
God’s peace is about restoration and redemption. It is about making things right in the world.
So, as we consider the arrival of Christ into the world, we find God preparing to answer hundreds, if not thousands of years of prayer. After many promises, prophecies, and predictions, the Messiah is about to arrive on the scene.
But the Messiah was not the one many had hoped for. Instead of a king who would rise up and defeat the empires with an army, his weapon was a cross. Instead of killing, he healed. When he faced execution, he displayed humility and servanthood, even to the point of death.
This was a Messiah who was seeking to restore the world to what God had dreamed of since the beginning. A world where everyone would be loved and no one was excluded. A world where power, position, and possessions were not the defining markers of someone’s worth. This Messiah used his power without seeking attention. His position was one of a servant. His possessions were few and humble.
As we pursue peace, we must use the values of the Kingdom way to achieve it. We are not called to be people of evil or violence. Evil breeds evil and violence breeds violence. Instead, we are called to be people of peace. People who put others first. People who love the unlovable. People who not only talk about peace, but practice it.
The Savior of the universe, God in the flesh, entered the world in the most humble of circumstances. Born in a manger in a small village in Israel, God himself entered the world as a helpless infant. His parents fled to Egypt before their son could be murdered and they raised him as a carpenter in Nazareth.
Peace did not come with a loud trumpet cry, but instead with the cry of a newborn baby. Peace did not come with a large army, but instead with the presence of shepherds, the lowest of society. Peace did not come through a large palace, but instead with some hay in a wooden bed that normally served as a feeding trough for animals.
If we are to be people of peace, we must follow the One who showed us how to make peace. We must live in way that turns the world upside down though sacrifice and servanthood. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
shine!
Jason
God’s peace is about restoration and redemption. It is about making things right in the world.
So, as we consider the arrival of Christ into the world, we find God preparing to answer hundreds, if not thousands of years of prayer. After many promises, prophecies, and predictions, the Messiah is about to arrive on the scene.
But the Messiah was not the one many had hoped for. Instead of a king who would rise up and defeat the empires with an army, his weapon was a cross. Instead of killing, he healed. When he faced execution, he displayed humility and servanthood, even to the point of death.
This was a Messiah who was seeking to restore the world to what God had dreamed of since the beginning. A world where everyone would be loved and no one was excluded. A world where power, position, and possessions were not the defining markers of someone’s worth. This Messiah used his power without seeking attention. His position was one of a servant. His possessions were few and humble.
As we pursue peace, we must use the values of the Kingdom way to achieve it. We are not called to be people of evil or violence. Evil breeds evil and violence breeds violence. Instead, we are called to be people of peace. People who put others first. People who love the unlovable. People who not only talk about peace, but practice it.
The Savior of the universe, God in the flesh, entered the world in the most humble of circumstances. Born in a manger in a small village in Israel, God himself entered the world as a helpless infant. His parents fled to Egypt before their son could be murdered and they raised him as a carpenter in Nazareth.
Peace did not come with a loud trumpet cry, but instead with the cry of a newborn baby. Peace did not come with a large army, but instead with the presence of shepherds, the lowest of society. Peace did not come through a large palace, but instead with some hay in a wooden bed that normally served as a feeding trough for animals.
If we are to be people of peace, we must follow the One who showed us how to make peace. We must live in way that turns the world upside down though sacrifice and servanthood. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
shine!
Jason
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
A message of hope
What is hope?
This word has a variety of meanings.
The dictionary defines hope as, “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” This might include examples like, “I hope that my team wins this weekend,” or “I hope that I get that job.” This is a desire for something that might happen.
But when we consider the meaning of the word hope in the Kingdom of God, we find a different definition. Consider what the author of Hebrews writes…
Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Hebrews 6:17-19)
Our hope is God is not something that might be there. It is a promise made by the Creator of the universe. The one who made us and gives us breath has promised us eternal life. This is our anchor, the thing that holds us in place, regardless of the circumstances. It is a hope that is built on trust.
But unfortunately, we often place our hope in other things. In his letter to Timothy, Paul addresses one of the things we often place our trust in…
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-29)
When we trust in something other than God as our hope, then we usually let go of God (or at least lighten our grip). I believe this is why Paul ends this particular passage of Scripture that when they are willing to hope in God then “they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Most of the things besides God that we turn to for hope are hollow. They might give us hope in the short-term, but they often fall short.
When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)
This is a message of real hope. The Father, through the Holy Spirit, conceived Jesus in Mary’s womb. The God of the universe stepped into a human body and became one of us so that he could save us. What the angels announced would change the course of human history. God made it clear through Christ that salvation is not something we might have available to us. Rather, it is something we can trust to be an anchor for us through even the most difficult seasons of life.
shine!
Jason
This word has a variety of meanings.
The dictionary defines hope as, “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” This might include examples like, “I hope that my team wins this weekend,” or “I hope that I get that job.” This is a desire for something that might happen.
But when we consider the meaning of the word hope in the Kingdom of God, we find a different definition. Consider what the author of Hebrews writes…
Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Hebrews 6:17-19)
Our hope is God is not something that might be there. It is a promise made by the Creator of the universe. The one who made us and gives us breath has promised us eternal life. This is our anchor, the thing that holds us in place, regardless of the circumstances. It is a hope that is built on trust.
But unfortunately, we often place our hope in other things. In his letter to Timothy, Paul addresses one of the things we often place our trust in…
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-29)
When we trust in something other than God as our hope, then we usually let go of God (or at least lighten our grip). I believe this is why Paul ends this particular passage of Scripture that when they are willing to hope in God then “they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Most of the things besides God that we turn to for hope are hollow. They might give us hope in the short-term, but they often fall short.
When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)
This is a message of real hope. The Father, through the Holy Spirit, conceived Jesus in Mary’s womb. The God of the universe stepped into a human body and became one of us so that he could save us. What the angels announced would change the course of human history. God made it clear through Christ that salvation is not something we might have available to us. Rather, it is something we can trust to be an anchor for us through even the most difficult seasons of life.
shine!
Jason
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