O Come, Let Us Adore Him!

Christmas can be a schizophrenic time for a griever. On the one hand, the reality of God coming for us can be so meaningful. On the other hand, it is often a time for vacant places to be highlighted or strained relationships to be exacerbated.

This month in my family, there has been a death, several wounds, and sad vacancies leading me to ask the question, "What is the point? Christmas is painful."

By God's grace, I arose from my "poor-me" few weeks, and put on a Christmas CD. One of the first songs on it was "O Come, All Ye Faithful". It was so perfectly timely. What a fantastic reminder that Christmas is not about family and fun, as wonderful as those things can be. It is not about vacancies. It is not about our mother or father or cousin or sister or husband or children. It is about God.

God came! When we sought him not, God came! When we cared not, God came! When coming meant death, God came! When His coming was meek and unnoticeable, God came!

Can we spend one moment, leaving our own self-pity and relational wishes to adore our Lord? Or, shall we mope in the unknown of delayed and/or strained human relationships? Can we honor and trust our God who, for us, sacrificed everything and demonstrated an abundant plan of loving pursuit for us? Or, will we spit at this gift wishing instead His plan involved a quicker resolution of its minor characters?

O COME! Let us adore him! Let us come despite relational losses. Let us come despite our deficiencies because in HIS coming, he provided the way for us "to approach [his] throne of grace with confidence. (Hebrews 4)"

Prayer
O Lord, shift our perspective to you! Thank you for coming to save us. Life can be oppressive at times, but help us enter your sanctuary for true rest (Psalm 73). Thank you for being both our rock to turn to and our aid in turning. You truly are our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9)!

Because of you, O Lord, we adore you! Because of you, O Lord, we praise you! We come, O Lord, to praise you... CHRIST THE LORD!

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Christmas is the perfect time of year to stand with Jesus, knowing full well that our God is not merely skilled at empathy but has endured pain... by us... for us.

Scripture Reference:
John 1:11 "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."

Reflection:
Christmas is the perfect time of year to stand with Jesus, knowing full well that our God "had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17).

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

Our God became a man well acquainted with sorrow and abandonment. Though he made the world and loved the world, they rejected him. He sacrificed all he was and they did not recognize it. They would not recognize him. They did not receive him.

Mistaken and rejected friends, let us cling to our mistaken and rejected Savior...

 ⁶Who, being in very nature God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

 ⁷but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
 ⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!(Philippians 2)

His rejection, he foreknew. His rejection, he accepted. His rejection, he chose... FOR US. He knows the hurt. He lived the pain. He stands beside us now in full experiential awareness of us. Yet friends, his hurt not only allows him to identify but also enables him to save.

As we continue reading John 1, we see God's power. Even in his rejection, he was unfolding his plan. 

¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

We may stand rejected by others. But, we have not been rejected by God. Even our small and irradic choices to stand with him are based on his choice. His rejection enabled his acceptance.

Do I define myself as one rejected by many or do I define myself as chosen by God? Do I live as one shunned by some or as one called to give to others?

Prayer:
Lord, thank you that you know how I feel... not because you are merely skilled at empathy but because you have felt this hurt too. How amazing to think you CHOSE to hurt this way! How amazing to think you allowed yourself to be rejected so you could rescue me.

Please keep me from placing my value on the fact that I am worthless to some. Instead, help me to feel valued by you, the all-powerful God of the universe. Impress on me the wonder that you would endure so horrendous an experience to get me.

Thank you for coming to save me. Thank you for coming to relate with me and my experiences. Thank you for modeling an ability to endure with compassion and integrity. Help me to live out of your compassion as I endure my rejection.

Help me to "fix [my] eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of [my] faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrew 12:2). I'm not exactly sure, Lord, WHY I am your joy (or why I'm not others') but help me to live in what I am!

An Anniversary Moment

'Twas dark as weary traveler descended down the path...
The path that once held visions of light now a murky, foggy bath.

Forsaken and abandoned... forgotten, abused, forlorn...
Pushed and lectured, preached and prodded, not heard... just merely scorned.

By past rejected and present worked ... requiring more than could
This weary traveler drags a foot to unknown rest for soul.

O Lord our God, You see through fog; would you oasis make?
With lack of resource yet needs galore, i trudge for Jesus' sake.

Discouraged with my progress, saddened by my loss,
Frustrated with the prodding, distraught by heavy cross.

But here along this journey, though i have but only you,
Tis more than all sufficient, for me your plan to do.

Bring sustaining comfort to complete another day
So different from my ideal visions and others' for my way.

Though shame around me rages from without and from within...
Give me the graceful confidence to walk in Jesus' win.

In this quiet moment, grant me peace to calm the storm
I cling to you, my Savior... no mirage... but real in form!

Veterans Day 2009

The Yellow Ribbon by JR for S, J, H and their dear families that stand by their sides

Though no one in my home be found in military shroud,
A yellow ribbon did adorn my tree on my front ground.

And, wind and weather did abuse this display I'd made.
Time took its toll as dirt and grime grew steadily in its shade.

The months flew past for me but yet my ribbon showed great wear.
My months well-sheltered did not show the scars my ribbon did bear.

The day arrived, the soldier returned and the ribbon brought inside.
Now what to do with this battered display? Its weathering was its pride.

O, soldier, you are here now ... weary in unknown ways.
You bear a toil and with great cost, our safety you have paid.

Thank you for fighting bravely ... enduring untold weights.
Your sacrificial labor is honored more than we can state.

--
Thank you!! With much love and thankfulness, JR

Paul and Barnabas

A relational split does not necessarily destine the church to decline but could be the very thing to disperse resources and enhance the kingdom.

Biblical Reference: Acts 15

Biblical Summary: Paul and Barnabas are effective and powerful co-ministers of the gospel. Because of a disagreement, they part ways.

Reflections -

Paul and Barnabas were a powerful pair. Acts 15 begins with the Council at Jerusalem where Paul and Barnabas teamed together to teach the whole assembly. "The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them" (v 12). Their testimonies lead to a radical change in the church's treatment of gentiles.

In light of this crescendo, I find the end of the chapter so intriguing. Together, they have labored. Together, they've ministered to the Gentiles with astounding results. Together, they've changed the Jewish Christian's legalistic bent thus unifying the church and assisting the Gentiles further. Then, after uniting the church, "they have such a sharp disagreement that they parted company" (v 39).

How ironic that the argument was over another severed relationship (Mark). Have you found seen or experienced the same? Feelings about a given (or the mere topic of) estrangement can be so strong, further estrangements occur.

It is so good to realize the power of our God. He even uses relational separations to strengthen his church. Barnabas ministers in Cyprus. Paul ministers "through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches" (v 41). What could have been a tragedy of struggling leaders and church splits, instead strengthened the church as these two strong leaders double the gospel exposure. In fact, the reality is that the effect was exponential as both Paul and Barnabas took another companion.

It's good to read passages like 1 Cor 9:6 or Col 4:10 where Paul refers to Barnabas in his letters without regard to their differences. Their differences caused them to part ways but was not used to divide the church... just multiply the work.

Prayer -

Lord, thank you that you use anything and everything to strengthen your church. Help us to live lives following our calling and not justifying our separations.

Where we have separated from relationships in the church, help us to trust you despite our differences in conviction. Help us to rejoice in people touched by the gospel -- even through one who has wounded us! (Philippians 1:18) Help us to realize your gospel is bigger than Satan's schemes or people's faults. (Romans 8)

Where we have separated from relationships outside the church, we pray for ministry to that person or those people. Our inability to change things is so frustrating! But, you are the God that owns it all... the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10). All resources belong to you to distribute. Though we are not ministering into those relationships, provide another!

Help our separations further your church instead of forcing divisions in the church. Help us to promote You and not ourselves. Keep us from hypocrisy. Enlarge our hearts for you and for those with whom we no longer relate. To you be the glory forever, Amen.