Not As I Expected

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV)

In the Christmas Story in the Bible, there are lots of characters. We tend to focus on the main actors like Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the Shepherds. But we don’t look too much at the other players.

Take for example, the Wise Men. When they went into Jerusalem, they were asking everyone where Jesus was. No one even knew he was there. He was not on their radar. Even the Scribes and Pharisees who had the Scriptures memorized missed his arrival.

And then there were the Shepherds. They were the lowest in society yet the Angels appeared to them and pointed them to Jesus. They went, found him and then went all around telling everyone that he was there. But the Bible doesn’t say there was an onslaught of people rushing to see him. There didn’t seem to even be a blip on the radar.

Why were the Shepherds, totally uneducated and unrefined, and the Wise Men, foreigners and non-believers, able to find him? Why did God chose to reveal his Son to these?

I wonder if it is because they were open to receiving him, even if he didn’t look like what they thought he would. The people of Israel were looking for a conqueror. When Jesus showed up as a baby, they dismissed him because he didn’t fit their preconceived ideas. They were not willing to accept him for who he was. He didn’t fit in their box.

Makes me wonder. Am I doing what they did? Do I miss Jesus when he shows up because I was looking for something else? Do I lose sight of what he is trying to do in my life because I am so focused on what I think should happen and am not on where he is working?

I don’t want to be like the other characters in this story. I want to seek him. I want to see him however he decides to show up in my life. I want to be completely bold and go out on a limb to follow him even if it looks different than I think it should.

How about you? Will you join me?

A Minute In It - The Christmas Story

A minute in Gods' word will change your life.  Take a moment to read the Christmas Story from the Gospels.

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month.37 For the word of God will never fail.”

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. Luke 1

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. Matthew 1

The Birth of Jesus

2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

The Shepherds and Angels

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. Luke 2

Visitors from the East

2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
    are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
    who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. Matthew 2

The Faithful Gift Of Love

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26 (NLT)

Jeremiah was prolific. So many times in the book named after him it says “This is what the Lord says” or “The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.” And the messages weren’t pretty. They were messages of punishment and destruction because the Israelites refused to obey God. They continued to do what they pleased, when they pleased without regard for his wishes.

Jeremiah was punished by the people for his prophecies. He was treated harshly and ostracized by his community. Still he continued to relay what God told him. I am sure a life like this would be very discouraging. He probably felt like he was walking an uphill battle. Over and over again he said the same thing only to be shut down.

And then, Israel was taken into captivity. The horror of every prediction was coming true. And Jeremiah was lamenting about this. In the middle of pouring his heart out, Jeremiah writes today’s Bible verse. He turns from looking at the doom and destruction and focuses on God and who he is. He stops looking at the chaos around him and focuses on the love and patience of his King.

Sometimes the holidays can be super stressful and depressing. So much activity; so many expectations to be met. Or, if your life is not in the place to where you can enjoy these things, it can be very discouraging. Take a step back. Remember who Jesus is and why he came. Remember the gift that we have all received because of that love. I know it may not immediately change our circumstances, but it will remind us what we are supposed to be celebrating. It will remind us where our focus needs to be.

Decisions, Decisions

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.  Matthew 1:24 (NLT)

Engaged! I can’t believe I am engaged to Mary. God has truly blessed me. All of our friends and family are so happy for us. The entire village is ready to celebrate our union together. This is going to be the beginning of a great life!

Until. Until Mary told him she was pregnant. Until she tried to claim this was not her doing. Until she blamed it on God. What was she thinking? Did she honestly think he was that naive? She certainly wasn’t the woman he thought she was.

What was he going to do? He could make a lesson out of her lies. He could bring her before the Village Elders and make sure everyone knew that he did not do this. There was a knot in his stomach as he tried to process the circumstances that just turned his life upside down.

And oh how he prayed. He prayed that God would show him the best way to get out of this relationship. There was nothing in this mess that could be redeemed. He decided to quietly move on. No disgrace for anyone. Just cut the ties and move on.

As he lay down that night to sleep, Joseph tossed and turned. The weight of the decision he made weighed heavily on him. He was deeply troubled.

When he woke up the next morning, he remembered the dream. An angel came and told him to marry Mary. The angel said that what she said was true and that God was in the middle of this seemingly impossible situation. Joseph did what God asked him to do. He took Mary as his wife and became Jesus’ earthly father.

What do you think it would take to have that kind of relationship with God? The kind where you see the human side of things but follow the completely non-logical path like Joseph did. We might wake up after that dream and think we ate something bad the night before. We’d be discounting God. When God wants to get a point across to us, he’s not going to leave it up to our human faculties. It will be clear. And I think this does happen….more often than we think.

The question then becomes, are we going to follow?

Living Life With

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23 (NLT)

There we sat in the Emergency Room. We had gone to church and as we were leaving my father-in-law started having some problems. We thought he was just over tired. He lived with us so we headed home to let him rest. When we got to the house, it was apparent that it was more than that. In his own strength he could not stand up. So, we loaded back into the car and went to the ER.

As we sat there, I sent a text to the prayer chain and asked for prayer. People started texting prayers and good thoughts immediately. We were comforted by their thoughts. Then about 30 minutes later, some of our friends from church showed up with pizza and a cooler full of snacks!

They realized we had gone straight from church to the ER and had probably not eaten all day so they brought us food. Can I tell you that totally changed our outlook and it warmed our hearts. Our friends looked at our situation and decided to walk through it with us instead of watching us walk through it on our own.

Jesus did the same when he came as a baby. That act of love was Jesus coming to be with us. He came to walk with us, eat with us, hurt with us, face temptation with us and then he died for us. It’s a special kind of love that puts aside what is easier to “live life with”. When Jesus did it, we took notice and because of his involvement, we know we are special to him and to God.

Is there someone you can “live life with” today, this week and especially this holiday season? Do what Jesus did. Come along side someone and walk with them. The ripple effect can be eternal.

Ripe or Rotten?

One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat. Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.” Jeremiah 24:2-3 (NLT)

In the Book of Jeremiah, God showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs. One was filled with rotten figs, the other was filled with fresh, ripe figs. God was going to give Jeremiah a prediction about the figs. What would God do with the good figs and the bad figs?

As it turns out, the people who represented the good figs were taken into captivity and exiled to Babylon. The people who represented the bad figs were left in Jerusalem. Doesn’t make sense does it? You’d think the bad figs would be captured and taken as slaves. But it was the other way around.

Later, in Jeremiah 29, God started reaching out to the folks who were in exile. He said (paraphrased) “Live your lives. Enjoy! Raise families. Build homes. I have plans for you. They are good plans for a great future. Call out to me and I will answer you.”

It kind of feels backward doesn’t it? The people in captivity God is helping. Eventually, they went home. What happened to the people that represented the bad figs? They were destroyed. They were so set in their ways God could not save them.

There is a lesson for us in this story. When things seem like they are out of control and God is not in it, God may actually be using your circumstances to save you. You may feel like you are being held in an impossible situation but God may be keeping you there so you will not be destroyed.

God is always working on behalf of his people. You can’t always never sometimes tell what he is doing and you never know how he is going to work out your circumstances. Trust him.

Feet Makeovers

How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
    the news that the God of Israel reigns! Isaiah 52:7 (NLT)

How can feet be beautiful? Sure, there are some people who have very elegant looking feet. They are shaped well, no callouses and weird bumps but it’s kind of unusual. We often try to hide our feet or cover them up with fancy shoes or polish.

But the Bible says feet are beautiful. Not just any feet. The feet of the messenger who brings the good news of Jesus. And really, if you think about it, Jesus had the most beautiful feet of all. His feet traveled miles on dusty roads sharing the Good News with people. His feet eventually had a spike driven through them to seal the deal. Those feet that were pierced and bleeding are beautiful.

Are your feet beautiful? Are they running all over your neighborhood or community sharing love and kindness with people? Are they tired and achy because they’ve stood all day helping someone who needed help? Are they sitting next to someone in need as you hold their hand?

How will people ever know about Jesus and how beautiful his feet were if we don’t tell them? Romans 10:14-15 says:

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

I want to have beautiful feet. Not because I polished them and made them acceptable for human eyes but because they are imitating Jesus feet in service.

A Minute In It - The Reason For The Season

A minute in Gods' word will change your life.  Below is the text from Isaiah 53. Take a minute it read it and remember why we celebrate the Christmas season. Jesus came for a reason.

1 Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.[b]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.[c]
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. Isaiah 53 (NLT)