Well, it’s official—2008 is over. Seems to me like it began only a couple of months ago, but here it is 2009 already. It’s amazing how time really does seem to fly, and even more so with every passing year. If you’re like me, then this time of year sparks a great deal of reflection and contemplation. There’s so much to think about with the changing of the years.
At New Year’s we sit transfixed between two very similar, and yet, also very different perspectives – one of looking back over a year that has left us, and the other of looking forward toward a year that is coming. It is a time consisting of vast opportunities for us to experience some of the most poignant and vivid emotions available to the human spirit.
All of us have regrets, many of which are felt in reference to things that have taken place within the last year. But we also have our own sets of dreams, things that we hope to someday accomplish. New Year’s is often the place on our calendars reserved for reminding us of these types of things. As a result, we are usually filled with mixed emotions this time of year. One writer said it this way, “At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future,
and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering our yesterdays.”[1]
Let me encourage you today to give your New Year’s reflections to the Lord. No matter what thoughts and emotions fill your mind when you think about the passing of 2008 and the arrival of 2009, I urge you to let them be fuel for the fire that is your relationship with God.
If you feel regret over past mistakes, remember and receive the mercy, grace, and forgiveness that is readily available in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:7-8; II Cor. 5:18-19). If you know the anxiety of facing a year not knowing where your help will come from or how you’re going to make it, remember and believe that God is absolutely in control and has promised to take care of you when you seek after him (Matt. 6:25-34). If you are faced with challenges that you know will be very difficult, rememeber and rely on the fact that God has given us a Helper in the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17; John 16:7-11).
Let’s strive together to make this New Year’s a worshipful and helpful experience, not a nostalgic and haunting reminder of all the things that could have been. May we honor God with the time that he has given us on this earth, most especially as we find that yet another year has passed us by.
Mixed Emotions at New Year’s
Christmas Theology
I love to read about the Christmas story, especially during this time of year. Now of course I realize that Christmas Day has once again come and gone. And I’m sure that many of you, though you enjoyed it while it was here, aren’t sad in the least to have it behind you for another twelve months. Let’s face it, Christmas can be one of the busiest and most exhausting times of the year, not to mention the fact that it’s probably the most expensive one too. Nonetheless, I’d like for us to consider a few very important Christmas-related theological truths one last time before we get too far removed from the holiday season.
In the Scriptures it’s the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) where we go to read about the life of Jesus. So naturally this is the best place to go and search for information regarding his birth. The book of Matthew contains some pretty good details about Christ’s birth (Matt. 1:18-2:23). The book of Mark doesn’t mention it at all. Luke’s account is by far the most vivid and elaborate. It provides more information regarding the circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth than nearly all other biblical accounts combined (Luke 1:1-2:52). The Gospel of John, on the other hand, only provides one verse about Christ’s birth.
John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That’s it! That’s the Apostle John’s rendering of the Christmas story. It’s so simple. So profound. So jam-packed with theological insight. But more than anything else, it’s so short! So short that we’re only left to wonder, “Why didn’t he say more?”
Actually, he did say more, just not in the fashion that perhaps we would expect. You see, when John uses the term “Word” to refer to Jesus, he’s telling us a whole lot about who Jesus really is. John 1:1 says, “The Word was God.” That is, Jesus was God…and He still is! The very baby that was born of a virgin and placed in a manger on that fateful night some two thousand years ago was God Himself.
John 1:2 says of the Word that, “He was with God in the beginning.” The question is, “The beginning of what?” This verse alludes back to the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, which starts out, “In the beginning…” The point here is that Jesus was there…in the beginning…with God. That is to say, Jesus, just like God the Father, is eternal. The very baby that was wrapped in swaddling clothes, for whom there was no room in the inn, was in reality an eternal being.
These sorts of theological truths about Jesus are awesome to reflect upon during the Christmas season. It is mind-boggling to think that that small baby on that otherwise normal night was the very God of the universe, that the newborn infant that Mary held in her arms was in fact the Lord of all creation, that the newest and youngest member of the Bethlehem community was holding together all of existence by His own power.
Pondering Things in Your Heart
Have you ever experienced a life-changing event? I’m not talking about a new hairstyle or the official switch from Coke to Diet Coke. I mean something huge like getting a new job and moving away to another town, or losing a close relative, or getting married. I’m referring to those things that really do leave your life somehow indefinitely changed/different/not the same. So…have you ever been through something like that?
I’m guessing that most of us have, though perhaps to varying degrees. If you have then you know how big of a deal it is. Sometimes these can take place with such speed that it’s not until several days later that we can actually find an opportunity to sit still long enough and contemplate all that has taken place. Life can be going along just fine and then, almost in an instant, something happens and things change.
When this moment comes and we do have the time to sit and think about everything that has happened we are often overcome with emotion. These are times both of considerable analysis and tremendous feeling. Anxiety, nostalgia, promise, confusion, hope, regret, possibilty, trust—these are but a few of the things that can fill one’s mind when situations like I have been describing come about.
One such occasion – perhaps the greatest the world has ever known – was when a young girl’s life was changed by an unexpected preganancy. This young girl’s name was Mary, the soon-to-be earthly mother of the Son of God. We read about the things that happened to her in the early chapters of the Gospel of Luke.
She was visited by the angel, Gabriel, and told that the Holy Spirit of God would conceive within her a child that would be the very Son of God, and that he would reign upon the throne of David forever and that his kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:26-38). She visited her relative, Elizabeth, and these things were further confirmed (Luke 1:39-56). She gave birth to the Christ-child and was paid a visit by some shepherds who made pretty amazing claims about what had happened to them that night regarding the birth of her new son (Luke 2:1-17).
Needless to say, Mary had a great deal of things to think about. Some incredibly life-changing things had taken place in her life over the last year. That’s probably why the Bible says that she, “Treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) Can you imagine what must have been going through her head? The Savior of the World had just been born – and she was his earthly mother. God in the flesh was her little baby. It’s absolutely amazing to think about.
I encourage you this Christmas season to do as Mary did and “treasure up these things in your heart.” Think about and be thankful for the provision that God has made in giving His one and only Son, Jesus the Christ, in order that we might know him through the forgiveness of our sins.
Out in a Field on a Dark Night…
Imagine that you’re outside and it’s nighttime. It’s pretty dark out and you find yourself in a big, huge open space, something like a very large field, meadow, or hillside. There’s no lights, no technology, no loud noises from sirens or trains or cars speeding by. It’s just you, a few of your friends, and the soft, gentle rest of nature. A bird chirps and you hear it fly off into the night. The wind rustles through the grass and trees. Some livestock graze along nearby. It’s a rather peaceful scene, isn’t it?
Without any warning at all, and perhaps taking place with the greatest element of surprise conceivable, the sky begins to split open and the darkness of the night is pierced through with an incredible amount of intense light. The light is so strong that it nearly blinds you and your friends whose eyes have not yet had enough time to adjust to the sudden contrast. Wincingly, you gaze up into the sky to try and figure out what is going on and where the light is coming from.
A figure appears. Seemingly having come right out of the sky, a being now presides directly in front of you, a being so glorious and powerful-looking that you are immediately struck with great fear. It’s an angel – at least that’s what you think it might be – and it speaks to you; it says, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” You are left speechless. Nothing like this has ever happened to you or your friends – or to anyone else that you know either. It’s like something straight out of a movie.
Only this is no movie. In fact, this story is 100% true! This is our introduction into the Christmas story. The people in the story are shepherds out in the Judean countryside. They were busy tending to their flocks on that glorious night. Their night was interrupted by an angel of the Lord. That night sky was illuminated by the very glory of God. It’s all recorded for us in Luke 2. Can you imagine being one of those shepherds? Can you imagine what that must have been like? This story truly is amazing!
The angel that appeared that night came to announce the gospel (i.e. the, “…good news of great joy for all the people” Luke 2:10). The gospel/good news was this: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) You know, I really don’t think that it is possible to overestimate the significance and meaning of that sentence. A Savior was born – a Savior for the whole world! He is Christ the Lord, God’s chosen and annointed means by and through which all of broken and sinful creation would be fixed. Simply amazing!
Thankfulness, Direction, and Things that Stink
Thanksgiving has come and gone once again. Many of you probably spent your holiday going from one friend or family member’s house to another eating, and eating a little more, and then eating again. And if you’re anything like me then you’ll agree that all of the running around and eating makes for one very long and tiresome day. It’s amazing how exhausting holidays can be!
Before we move on from Thanksgiving and head towards Christmas I would like to draw your attention one last time to the topic of thankfulness. Most of us should already know and understand that as Christians we’re supposed to be thankful people. God’s Word is more than clear about that (Eph. 5:20 says that we’re to be, “giving thanks always and for everything;” and I Thess. 5:18 commands us to, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”) I would like to use the next few paragraphs to consider two very special aspects of what it means to be biblically thankful that I think are often overlooked or easily forgotten.
The first is that thankfulness needs somewhere to go. It’s supposed to have both a direction and a destination. Many of us say how thankful we are for this thing or that, but our thankfulness seemingly goes no where. We just say that we’re thankful. My question is “To whom or what are you thankful?” Sure, the easy response is to say, “Oh, to God of course.” But I think that we often leave God out of the equation.
It’s easy enough to say that we’re thankful to God, but it’s a much more deliberate task to actually give God the thanks for all the blessings in our lives. Being thankful to God can never be mere lip-service. If it is, then it’s not really thankfulness. True and genuine thankfulness to God goes much deeper than just words. It’s an attitude of humble, grace-recognizing devotion, one that seeks to live out that thankfulness in all realms of life.
The second point I would like to make about what it means to be biblically thankful is that we are commanded to be thankful and even joyful for those things in our lives that stink. As noted above, God tells us to be, “Giving thanks always and for everything.” (Eph. 5:20) This means that we’re supposed to be grateful even for the things in our lives that are hard and difficult. James writes that we’re to, “Count it all joy…when we meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2) And Paul speaks repeatedly about rejoicing through suffering (Col. 1:24; Phil. 2:17; II Cor. 12:15; etc.).
My point is this: God has called every one of us as Christians to be truly thankful for everything all the time. A life that can do that is absolutely amazing. True and utter thankfulness can revolutionize the way we see the world, the way we experience the Christian faith, and ultimately, the way that we give glory to our heavenly Father. So be thankful, dear brothers and sisters. Be thankful to God for everything.
