Exercise...

Exercise….

This time of year we hear a lot about exercise. There are dozens of infomercials about exercise equipment that will supposedly make exercise easier or more effective.

There are commercials for pills to swallow or concoctions to drink….

But the bottom line is, exercise is work. It takes on purpose, disciplined activity. Strenuous activity. No pain, no gain. (….or should I say loss?)

In my morning quiet time reading from The Message I came across this passage….


“Now pass on this counsel to the Christians there, and you'll be a good servant of Jesus.
Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.” (1 Timothy 4:6-8)

Like staying clear of those machines that make promises as big as the price tags on them, I am instructed to be wise about my spirituality.

I can’t buy something and sit it in a room of my house and my body automatically be in better physical shape.

Neither can I buy a Bible, or a case of them….and automatically be in better spiritual condition.

Going to a church building won’t do it.

Only exercising the muscles of my heart and mind with the Word of God will make my spiritual condition more vibrant and healthy.

Exercise daily. In His Word.

And don’t wait till January 1st. Begin right now. This minute.

Don’t make a goal that is unattainable. Don’t set yourself up to fail.

One verse that conveys a message of truth from Him is better than reading several chapters.

Read, ask Him to speak to you thru the printed page.

And expect to hear Him….He is faithful.

What?!?.....

What??!!…

I don’t worship angels, don’t assume that they are at my beck and call. (they aren’t)

But this week, I’ve found myself thinking about their roles in the story of Christmas.

The messenger sent to Mary.
The messenger sent to Joseph.

And, the messengers sent to the shepherds.

Imagine having been an angelic being in the Presence of The Triune God and being sent to humans to announce The Word of that God would become one of them. God Himself would become human….

To save them from their fallen human condition.

“WHAT?!?”

“You? The God of the universe, Creator of it all…going to that planet and becoming a ….

….a human?”

And they were sent to announce and smooth the way.



Peter writes that angels ‘desired to look into’ the very things that he was reporting in the letter he was penning. (1Peter 1:12)

Angels were interested in the gospel message.

Angels have no Savior.

We, however, do.

Thank You Lord Jesus. (….sure am glad I’m not an angel)

Mary, did you know?....

Mary, did you know?

Again at Christmas time, I find myself trying to put myself in Mary’s place. Young, common, the future settled… Or so she thought.

Her life was planned out. Her future had been decided. She would be married to Joseph and live happily ever after.

Then…………

"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”(Luke 1:30-31)

I wonder, how much courage did it take to announce the news the angel brought to her?
I wonder ,who did she tell first?
I wonder, how long did she wait to tell it?

Did she wait until she was sure she really was with child? Or did she immediately believe, and without reservation, share the angel’s news right away?

How precious that God made sure that Joseph had no unanswered questions. Joseph wasn’t asked just to take Mary’s word for it. What a comfort it must have been to Mary for Joseph to share in the divine revelation of the coming Messiah she carried.

I bet they compared notes about what their angel looked and sounded like, was it the same one, or different…

Mary had her world turned upside down. Yet, she didn’t go into a tailspin. Incredible

(God knew not to pick someone like me, I’d have definitely gone into a tailspin…)

I think Mary probably shed plenty tears, wondering about what lay ahead, hearing the whispers, feeling the stares. But there was no turning back. She did nothing but go forward in trust.

I was once young and certainly common. At one time, I too thought my future was settled. It sure has taken some turns I didn’t expect.

How thankful I am that God continues to reassure me with His Presence.

Mary didn’t know her life would turn out like it did.

But she knew her Child was The Messiah.

None of us can know what our life will turn out like.

But we can know Him, Who was the Christ Child.

He is the great I AM. And He has my future.

Eternally

Watch out...

*•♫♪♪♫•*•♫♪♫•*•♫♪♪* “You better watch out !”….*•♫♪♪♫••*•♫♪♫•*•♫♪♪*

That lyric is heard a lot in homes with children this time of year.

I’ve used it many times when my boys were little.

I‘ve sung *•♫♪♫•*“…Santa Clause is coming, to town.”*•♫♪♫•*many many times as a reminder to ‘be good’, and not that I’m pleased that I did it, sometimes I sang it as a threat.

Today I would change the lyrics!

*•♫♪♫•* “You better watch out….Jesus Christ is coming, again.” *•♫♪♫•*

That isn’t a threat, it’s a promise from scripture that you can be sure of.

Whether you are ‘naughty’ or ‘nice’.

Whether you’ve been ‘bad’ or ‘good’.


He sees you.

He knows.

And He is coming.


Surer than Santa Clause….

Offering...

Offering…

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service..” (Romans 12:1)

I don’t think there is one of us that would jump to say our body is ‘holy’.

But the ‘therefore’ of verse 1 refers back to the preceding 11 chapters of Paul’s message in the book of Romans.

Paul wrote those chapters explaining about the situation of all humans, our ruined condition….and God’s rescue.

We often jump right to the ‘duty’, right to what we should ‘offer’….and never really come to understand the doctrine taught…. that HE is the one that makes our bodies holy.

Nothing I can ever do or not do will make me holy. Not one single thing or a hundred things….

If God places me in His Son, I am holy….


Not because of things I eliminate…
Not because of words I don’t say anymore or places I don’t go anymore…..
Not because of any kind of behavior modification.

The “therefore” of verse 1 is a first step…a first choice to finding God’s will and walking in it……….walking behind His Son Jesus, Whom we follow.

Choosing to do that is really the only thing we have to offer God. He created every single thing that is a reality to you and I. Nothing of that is really mine, I have nothing He has not provided.

The paper (money) that we lay in the offering plate is just a tool that WE have devised to USE what HE has given us in the first place.

The only value it has to Him is the attitude of our hearts when we offer it back to Him. We either offer it freely and with joy, or out of meaningless duty.

Is our money all we offer Him?

During this season of Christmas, we hear songs about the wise men bringing gifts to the infant Jesus.

I’m sure those valuable gifts came in handy to two poor parents, displaced from their homes, separated from family and support systems. The gift was valueable, and the gift was used.

But I wonder what a big smile it brought to God’s heart to have these ‘wise men’ travel such distance, just to meet Immanuel, “God With Us”.

The priority was to find The Promised One. The offerings were the least of it I think…the true gifts they brought were within. The worship of the newly born King of Kings.

What do you understand about what He has given you?

“The One who is highly honored lives forever. His name is holy. He says, "I live in a high and holy place. But I also live with anyone who turns away from his sins. I live with anyone who is not proud. I give new life to him. I give it to anyone who turns away from his sins. (Isa. 57:15)


What do you bring Him this morning?

A little of your money?

An hour or two of your time?


“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit…. a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”(Ps. 51:17)

Living sacrifices…..

I am a living sacrifice. Are you?

Like me, do you have a tendancy to squirm around on the altar? Like me, do you regularly climb off?


This morning, I bring an offering of worship to my King. No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing, Jesus may You receive the honor that You’re due…Oh Lord, I bring an offering to You.

Favored...

Favored…

Mary was highly favored. She was chosen to be the birth mother of deity. Probably in her teens, an angel appeared to her to give her the incredible news.

I haven’t seen an angel (that I know of…).

But I’ve been given some incredible news.

“….He hath made me accepted..” (Eph.1:6 KJV, personalized by me)

Both ‘highly favored’ and ‘accepted’ are translated from the same original word ‘charitoo’.


I am highly favored.

Mary received the Seed of God into herself.

I have received the Spirit of God into myself. I am not His mother, He is my Father. I do not share my human condition with Him, He shares His perfect holiness with me.



“When I believed, he marked me with a seal. The seal is the Holy Spirit that He promised.”(2Timothy 1:14 personalized by me)

“ The Spirit marks me as God's own…”(Eph. 1:14 personalized by me)

“ He has given me the Holy Spirit as a down payment. The Spirit makes me sure of what is still to come…”(2Cor. 5:5 personalized by me)


I’m not a god, and I’m certainly not God. I’m not an angel, and I’m not perfect.

But I am a child of The Most High God.

I will “ Guard the truth of the good news that I was trusted with. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in me…”(2Tim. 1:14 personalized by me)


“I know the One I have believed in. I am sure He is able to take care of what I have given Him. I can trust Him with it until the day He returns as judge. I will follow what I heard as the pattern of true teaching. Follow it with faith and love because I belong to Christ Jesus.”(2 Tim. 1:12-14 personalized by me)

I am highly favored.

Hallelujah.

Lyrics...

Lyrics…
“….while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wandering love…”

Another beautiful Christmas carol…angels hovering over the Christ child. The Holy One Himself, dressed in human infant flesh.

Angels are not at our disposal. They can be, and are, sent by God to minister to us, but only to serve His purposes and carry out His will. Certainly not ours.

I’ve had reason to look at some facts about angels this past week. I’m really glad I’m not an angel.

Angels obviously can choose poorly. “ …. the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home….”(Jude 1:6)

“God did not spare angels when they sinned. Instead, he sent them to hell. He put them in dark prisons. He will keep them there until he judges them.” (2Peter 2:4)

But there is no offer of redemption to them. Satan and his rebellious group were cast out. There is no Savior to angels.

Jesus stepped out of His deity within the Godhead, not to become an angel. He didn’t enter into the angelic realm, angels can’t reproduce. There are no baby angels.

But God’s created humanity procreates, and He chose to birth Himself into our race, become like us, to live the perfect life that we forfeited in The Garden incident.

He lived the perfect life that I can not, because of the sin nature passed on to me from my ancestors. He shares in my heritage thru His mother’s blood, formed in her womb, birthed from her body.

All humans ”…. have bodies made out of flesh and blood. So Jesus became human like them in order to die for them. By doing that, he could destroy the one who rules over the kingdom of death. I'm talking about the devil. Jesus could set people free who were afraid of death. All their lives they were held as slaves by that fear. It is certainly Abraham's children that he helps. He doesn't help angels. So he had to be made like his brothers in every way.”(Hebrews. 2:14-17)

I wonder if angels die. I wonder why it is that in scripture, when they manifest themselves, they are always portrayed as men, never female, and why we always see feminine figurines or pictures. I wonder what things they ‘long to look into’ (1 Peter 1:12) I wonder what they will be judged about, and what it will be like to judge them…because “ Don't you know that we will judge angels?” 1Cor.6:3)

I wonder lots…..we aren’t told lots. Just enough to make me really glad I’m not an angel. ….I know, I know…. you all already knew I’m not one…)