Christmas Eve--Some Thoughts

What was it like, on that Christmas Eve 2008 years ago? Did the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit meet together? Was the Son excited to be stepping into the stream of human time to move everything forward in the next phase of the Father's Grand Plan? Was there a twinkle of excitement in His eye? Did the Father clasp the Son to Him for one final hug before surrendering His Son to the Earth to continue the plan of redemption?

It's All Paid In Full--What a concept!

OK, I'm doing this Revelation Bible Study. I think I really like it. Anyway, as part of the study, of course, we go to other sections of the Bible so the Bible explains the Bible. One of the areas I went to talked about how Jesus has paid for all the sins of all the world. Wow! OK I thought I knew some stuff, and I've read through the Bible on more than one occaision, but this was mind blowing for me. I mean, think about it, you've got a credit card, take it to the max, then find out it was all pre-paid--someone else has already footed the bill for you. There's just one catch, you have to acknowledge that you can't pay that bill and that you need to be covered by the One who has the ability to cover you. That's salvation--not that Jesus has died for my sins, but that I acknowledge that I have indeed run up a big sin bill (and can do no other thing thanks to my human spirit), that I cannot ever begin to touch the interest on that sin payment much less the principal, that I need the love of Jesus and the work He did on the cross to pay for those sins and that I want Him to be the Lord of my life. Then follow Him where He leads me as we go through this time on Earth together. It is both the most simple and the hardest thing there ever was!

Heaven and Hell, Love and Hate

So, is there really a fine line between love and hate? Is there a fine line between heaven and hell? Or is there a greater gulf between these two sets of opposites--at least from God's perspective?

What does it mean when Christians spout hate about others because of that person's ethnic, cultural or religious background? What does it mean when a Christian speaks from a point of "correct" about everyone else's "incorrect"?

I heard a really great sermon today. The core message, demonstrate love, share the Gospel and move on. If the person you're sharing with gets it--great! Celebrate, and then move on. If the person you're sharing with doesn't get it, don't push, argue, anger. Move on.

Reading Revelation--stumbled into Jude

Ok, off to a new adventure! I'm hoping to be part of a Bible Study group doing Revelation soon. So, I was going to pre-read this book before starting with the group. I actually read the wrong (?) book. I read Jude.

Now, if you haven't read Jude in a while, give it a little shot. It's kinda scary and very hopeful. Kinda scary because the book talks about the issues of people in the end times. Hopeful because of the promises that Jesus has made to keep his own and to present us to the Father, righteous. Thank you, Lord, for those promises.

Give this little gem of a book a read and let me know what you think.

Love

I was recently away on a month long missions trip to a foreign country. There was a team of seven adult women and one teenager from the US. We spent a lot of time in one another's company.

About midway through the trip, I read 2 Corinthians 12 and 13. Most people know 2 Cor 13 as the "Love Chapter". I personally have found it to be a challenge to read this chapter because it calls us to really to to an extreme level when we love, but I digress. At the end of Chapter 13, the Bible says, Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.

So, next time you want to read about Love, read both chapters in second Corinthians. It's really pretty impressive to put all of that together as one thought/sermon. So, drop me some comments and let me know what you think!

(PS: These verses were extremely helpful to me while on that trip. Thank You Lord, for helping this foolish servant once again.)

A changing society -- A changing God?

So, here's the question: Do we need a changing God to keep up with a changing society?

Many things seem to be changing moment by moment today in our culture. What used to be wrong is now right, what used to be right is now wrong.....

If God is constant, does this make the changes in our culture right or wrong? If our culture is changing and God is not, what does this mean?

As for me an my house, we will serve the unchanging, everlasting God of the Bible, who becomes and gives us Jesus as a living sacrifice and the Holy Spirit as an everlasting witness testifying to God's Truth.

Half-way through, time to keep going!

So, we've just about hit the half-way mark. It's been a struggle for me, personally. I just have not had the discipline to get my reading done. I had a little headstart with the reading and now I've lost my lead.

But I'm still blessed. It is such a joy to see people doing the reading, finding out new things and being reminded of old lessons from the Bible. I loved it when one of the participants came up to me and said, "I've just finished reading Genesis!". Part of what makes this so awesome is that she has never really been able to just read the Bible. So cool! And I couldn't be prouder of her.

Or my friend who is doing the program by listening to the Bible on tapes. He's had a whole new experience of the Bible because he's never been intentional about it the way he is right now. I love it!

How about the one who really pushed for this program? She is either right on the day or else ahead of schedule with the reading. This is so cool because she is the one who really really really wanted to do this program. I had forgotten that she doesn't know as much of the Bible; I said something to her about how neat it is to put these stories in perspective as it related to other Biblical events. She reminded me that this is a first for her, reading through the Bible.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to go down this path with these fellow travelers. This is a great joy to me.