All in Salvation
Our four-year-old grandson started a story with, “the people were naughty.” Of course, that piqued my curiosity. He continued to tell me about a wall and how Jesus had to knock it down, it had to break, and the naughty people got hurt. He used parts of our marble track to act it out and really enjoyed the knocking it down part.
Christmas is about... So many words could complete that sentence, but only one word completes it best—Jesus. Christmas is about Jesus! Let us fix our eyes upon our Savior, Jesus, the author of our faith.
God interrupted the commonplace. The glory of God shattered darkness. A message from an angel broke the silence. The Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born! As shepherds in the field beheld the angel, their initial response was fear. But with the announcement of the birth of the awaited One, fear turned to determination. The shepherds said, Let’s go…and see... (Luke 2:15). They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the heralded baby lying in a manger.
The blind man tells the story of Christmas. He was born in darkness and remained in darkness… until Jesus came to him. In his hopeless state, the blind man couldn’t come to Jesus, so Jesus came to him.
In a world constantly shifting beneath our feet, where even the most steadfast people, institutions, and laws can prove fallible, what can we truly depend on? While few things are 100% reliable, the Word of God offers an unwavering anchor.
My best friend betrayed me and later apologized, but I could not forget what she did. Even though it’s been years, I still remember the hurt of that betrayal. It threatened to destroy our relaitonship.
Have you tried to take a toy from a toddler, and she doesn’t want to give it up? It may be naptime or perhaps you need to leave from playing with a friend, but no matter what you try, you cannot pry those little fingers off of that toy without many tears and protests.
Nestled in the middle of the Psalms are three verses that describe the blessed life of a believer. The psalmist begins by describing a believer’s heart. Blessed are those….who have set their hearts on pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5). In other words, blessed are those who have a longing in their souls and a determination in their minds to journey through life with Jesus.
Jesus told a short story to a group of grumbling religious leaders to illustrate a poignant point—God will intensely search for those who need His love and salvation. He used a desperate woman, of all things, for his story. She’d lost a coin worth a day’s wage. She had only ten and one was lost. She lit a small oil lamp, the only source of light in her small windowless home, and searched carefully until she found it. She then invited her women friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. Jesus adds in verse 10, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner who repents.”
Jesus’ focus from the beginning of His ministry was that direct. The people were loving the healing miracles; whereas, telling as many as He could the good news of the kingdom was why He was sent.
Remember our definition of a parable: “an illustrative story that compares or contrasts an earthly reality with a spiritual truth.”* I am intrigued as Jennifer Kennedy Dean** describes the Incarnation as the “lived-out parable” of the love of God. After all, Jesus was not only with God in the beginning; He was God. And with His birth, life, and death among us He would illustrate the spiritual truth of God’s love. A parable “puts flesh on the eternal truth so we can see it.”**
How many times have I fallen for the “buy one get one free” sales gimmick? I love getting something for “free.”
A clip of a reality courtroom program came up on my social media feed. A cute little dog was involved so I had to watch it. Both the defendant (a woman) and the plaintiff (a man) claimed that the dog belonged to them, and they both provided supporting documentation.
Duke, our labrador retriever, seldom retrieves a ball in our yard. However, the first time we took Duke to our land, he quickly found the pond and plunged in. Don threw a stick into the water. Duke immediately swam to the stick and brought it back. Duke retrieved the stick again and again and again. With his webbed feet, he is designed to swim and retrieve. He naturally does what he’s created to do.
I love dogs! Every dog we have owned has been my close companion. Therefore, when our 7-year-old Chocolate Lab died suddenly of a stroke, I was heartbroken. Two days later, Don noticed an advertisement in the newspaper for a litter of chocolate labs. Though I was still grieving, I decided to begin looking for a puppy.
As I ate lunch with a fairly new friend, I shared my adoption story with her. Conceived in an act of adultery, my biological mother chose adoption. After seven months in a foster home, a young couple became my adoptive parents.
Our youngest grandson got so excited when he saw the Christmas lights on our house. He could not wait for us to turn them on. Then he came inside and saw our decorated tree with wrapped presents already underneath it.
Nothing gives me joy like Christmas carols—the ones about the birth of Jesus, anyway. The other ones are cute, funny, and fun to sing, but they do not touch my spirit. The ones that move me declare Jesus’ deity while coming to earth through the virgin birth. I love to sit in my living room in front of the lit Christmas tree and contemplate the true meaning of those songs, Jesus’ birth, and Christmas.
