Draw me nearer

Well, it's that time of year again when we reflect back on the previous one with all the good, bad, and the ugly and try and figure out how we can make the next twelve months better.  We make New Year's resolutions that in a perfect world we would keep with ease, but which in the real world go by the wayside the minute we let the pressures of life come in.  They may crash in unexpected like a tsunami, or just creep in with the tide unnoticed.  Either way we can feel the impending doom of life and all it demands of us.  Christmas for many has even lost its magical presence of love, peace, and good will toward man. Not to mention the joy of family and celebration.  We have instead mounds of stress wanting to live up to expectations we have put on ourselves.  We are exhausted and a good number of us sick before Christmas is over.  Even the extremes we go to, to meet the expectations of getting our Christmas cards out on time astounds me, not to mention the cost!  Now don't get me wrong. I do love receiving Christmas cards and sending them and I in no way imply it is wrong.  But if it is a burden instead of a joy we can know "Houston we have a problem!" and it is just the tip of the iceberg.  Recently I saw an article in my Edmond Outlook about a man who traded his Edmond life for the life of a missionary in Honduras.  Now I have to admit I did not bring myself to read the article. Why? Because I was more than a little envious!  It was during the holiday rush and I felt an urgent desire to chunk it all and go too.   Now don't lie I know you have felt like you would like to chunk it all at one point too.  It made me disillusioned with where I was and all the demands I (not others) had placed on myself to live up to.  Again, don't get me wrong I really do love the idea of Christmas but for the most part I tend to screw it up for  myself. I find myself disappointed in how I so quickly rob myself of all joy by not resting and rejoicing for the reason of the season.  The holy birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.  We as a nation have truly taken Christ out of Christmas and all we are left with is a big old 'mas'.  Jesus is no longer the center of our celebration and we have consumed ourselves with parties, gift buying, Christmas cards oh and maybe we will make it to a Christmas Eve service if we have time!  Worse yet we do not even notice this causes our hearts (not to mention our Father's heart) to grieve.  All we know as we get older is we start to dread the stress of Christmas and all the things we think we need to do.  What would Christmas look like if we put Christ back in the center of our celebration and made it ALL about Him.  That is  something to think about and something that for most of us our hearts are grieving for!  "Good News! I bring you tidings of great joy!" Christ did not leave us, He is here and waiting to fill our weary thirst.  "Come to me all who are weary and I will give thee rest."  Christmas has once again come and gone but our Savior has not, He is not going anywhere.  "Lo I am with you always." Rejoice!   "This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." After all the Christmas stress His mercy and grace are still new and fresh each and every day to a world of sinners who do not deserve it.  Charles Spurgeon put in to words the only New Years Resolution I or any of us for that matter ever need. My hope and prayer for all of us goes as follows .  

Heavenly Father help us to 

     "Grow in all grace: Believe the promises more firmly.  Let faith increase in fullness, consistency, simplicity.  

     "Grow in Love:  Ask that your love may become extended , more intense, more practical, influencing every thought, word, and deed. 

     "Grow in Humility:  Seek to lie very low and know more of your own nothingness, less of  you, more of God, also seek to grow upward, having nearer approaches to God in prayer, more intimate fellowship with Jesus.  He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus refuses to be blessed." C.H. Spurgeon

" Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, precious Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died."

May your New Year be filled with the love and the joy of Christ!

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

To be or not to be?

And He said: "I tell you, unless you CHANGE and become like CHILDREN, you will NEVER enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

Do we have regrets of childhood? Things we wish we could go back and do differently? While we cannot change the past; we have today. You may think, well I cannot get my childhood back; but I beg to differ. we must see who we really are in Christ. We my friends are children of God. What we get caught up in is being adults. As children most of us could not wait to grow up so we too could do grown up things. We saw grown ups through the eyes of a child. Let me say that again We saw grown ups through the eyes of a child! They were important; they told us what we could and could not do, and there were times we wished desperately they did not have this control over us. If we are children of God how are we reacting to His will for our lives? If indeed we are reliving the regrets of our childhood, we can stop. We have a choice and we make it everyday. If you could go back and be the perfect child what would that look like? A list might prove helpful at this point. Putting in writing helps to solidify it in our minds. My list would look somewhat like this, a. I would not sneak and do as I please, b. I would be more honest, c. I would think less of myself and more of others, d. I would be more helpful, e. I would say thank you more and so on...

I believe as children of God we must look at our behavior towards our Father. Most of are so caught up in pleasing ourselves as adults we cannot remember how great it is to be the child. Being a child I remember I did not worry about my safety, because my parents kept me safe. I did not worry about money because my parents met my needs. I didn't even know I had needs. My flesh on the other hand had wants and I thought they were needs. Sound familiar? See we are still children because as adults we have wants and the trouble is we work hard at getting them and our focuse has left God. Here's God's amazing grace in this story; we can choose, choose to see the difference. God is our Father and He will meet our needs. Do we trust Him as His children to do whats best? When we choose to trust with all heart, mind and soul watch as our wants seem to ebb away. When I was focused in on a particular thing as a child be it a toy or being popular, the fact that it wasn't meant to be at that point made me miserable, unproductive, and left me feeling sorry for myself! As God's children even in adulthood we do this too and this is proof we still in our flesh know what it feels like to be an immature child of God. We are not resting in Him and we are all guilty at times. On the road to sanctification we are learning; being transformed. Not from a child to an adult but to the image of Christ. What example did Christ live as God's Son? Here is a little poem my pastor gave us in Church that is a true summation of Jesus as God's Son

"Mary had a little Lamb

who's life was white as snow.

And every where the Father went

the Lamb was sure to go.

He followed Him to Calvary,

one bleak and dreary day.

And there the Lamb

that Mary had,

washed all my sins away."

Christ was always about His Father's business, no matter where He was,no matter the cost. We all have different circumstances but we all have the incredible privilege of living each day as God's child. The question is what kind of child will we choose to be?

Father thank You for loving us so much that you gave Your only begotten Son so we might be saved and know how we are to live a pleasing life for You. Father help us when we loose our focus so we may joyfully return to Your safety as Your children. Let the joy of being Your children well up within us and overflow on to others for Your Glory. Thank You for the understanding of " and The greatest of these is Love"

and knowing God our Father is Love! In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)