Christmas Is All In The Heart

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.""

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God. Come to earth in human form. Born into this filthy, wretched, disgusting, mess of a planet that we call home...in a stable nonetheless. There were no trained doctors to bring him into the world. No sterile delivery room. Only a dirty...feeding trough...filled with soiled hay for bedding. His first visitors were humble shepherds.

And yet...

A star announced his birth. Kings attended him with gifts fit for a king. Angels heralded his coming. Prophets foretold his birth.

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He was raised in a humble family. A carpenter. A common working man. He had to do his chores. Take out the garbage. Sweep the floors.

And yet...

His mother was told by angels that she would be blessed. His carpenter's hands would be the hands that would change the world. His chores were not ordinary chores...after all, he was always "about his father's business".

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He had no home. He spent his days with the outcast of society. Tax collectors. Prostitutes. "Sinners". He spent 3 years of his life on earth wandering like a nomad from town to town. One day he was exalted as a messiah...the next day he was scorned as a criminal. He was convicted for a crime that he never committed. A crown of thorns was pressed into his head. The blood dripped down...and no one was there to wipe it up. He was nailed hand and foot to a rough wooden cross. He was raised alongside two criminals. The ENTIRE sin of ALL humanity was placed upon him. God the father himself turned his face away. He was totally outcast, totally rejected...totally cut off from God. He died. He was placed in a borrowed tomb.

And yet...

He did it willingly. For you. For me. For all humanity. He defied death itself. He was God in the flesh.

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." - John 1:4-5

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You can say Christmas is about giving. You can say it is about a fat man in a red suit. You can say it is about being selfless. You can say Christmas is about a nativity. You can say it is about unity, peace for all men. You can say Christmas is about shepherds. Angels. Three wise guys. Joseph. Mary. A baby in a manger.

You can say all these things but you'd just be missing the point.

When all the dust settles, Christmas isn't really about any of these things. Christmas is about one thing.

GOD. I AM. JEHOVAH.

The creator of the universe, the king of kings, the Lord of Lords became human flesh. And he did it out of love. Love that shook the world. The-kind-you-can't-buy-in-the-store kind of love. He gave everything he had...his very life...so that we could have another chance. A chance we don't even deserve.

That's one heck of a Christmas present.

You see Christmas isn't something that you can put your hands on. You can't buy it or sell it. You can't hang it up in a department store window or auction it on eBay.

Christmas is all in the heart.

In our hearts. It's Love. God's love. Come to us in a baby in a manger. And it's good.

(As a side note...my inspiration for this post came from Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Christmas is all in the heart". Give it a listen if you get a chance.)

Living a 1 Corinthains 13 LOVE life

"Water Under The Bridge" - Jars Of Clay


I do not love you the way I did when we met
There are secrets and arguments that I haven't finished yet
It's only that grace has outlived our regrets
We're still here

Maybe we can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge

There are times meant for breaking
And words to ignore
And a bent to our souls
When our skin is at war
If leaving were freedom
Well, we'd both walk right out of that door

Maybe we can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows

And the years roll by
And you hold my hand
While the shadows stretch over the land
Crumble and fall in my arms
And we'll struggle to hold on
Waters, they rise
And they carry our hopes and our dreams away
Baby, we can stay, stay

And the years roll by
And you hold my hand
And the shadows stretch over the land
Baby, we can stay

'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay



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Love is a concept that our society is almost totally devoid of in this day and age. As we have grown into a people that only care about self-advancement, climbing the perverbial "ladder" of society, we have lost one of the most important virtues that our creator breathed into us as he formed us out of the dust. We have lost our ability to love in the true sense of the word.

"But," you may say, "I see people each and every day showing love to the ones they care about, family and friends." Well, you may have a point, but before we go any father, let's see what the bible has to say about love. We'll look at one of the classic chapters on the subject: 1 Corinthains 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Think for a minute if you will about the adjectives that describe love in this passage.

Patient

Kind

Protects

Perseveres

Are these words that we as a society generally associate with love? I think not. Some good words that might describe love in the secular sense are:

Emotion

Lust

Feeling

Self-enjoyment

What's wrong with this picture? These words seem almost exact opposites of the biblical definitions! Where have we strayed as a nation? Well the root of it oviously is the fact that we have lost sight of God. Since God IS love, it is practically impossible to have love WITHOUT God. When we have God in our lives, we can love others through the love that God has given to us: love that took our shame, love that died on the cross, love that rose again...for you and me. Who does such a thing? One who truly loves.

Love is self-sacrifice.

I really like the song by Jars of Clay that I posted at the top of this post. I mean who doesn't like a heartfelt love song, right? Well, this is one love song that I think follows the biblical mold of love. It talks about how even though how the emotion of the two people in the song may not be what it once was, how even though they have arguments and disagreements, they still LOVE one another and are committed to what is best. To what glorifies God. It may not be easy, but in ANY relationship with anyone, we are called to this kind of love. To look out for the good of the other and not just ourself. And when that happens, we will understand just a little bit, a little piece, of the love that God has for us.

Praise be to God that we don't ever have to worry about his love being compromised or taken away.

Learning How To Die

Romans 7: 14-25

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is not longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So i find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our lord!

Sometimes we feel just like Paul. When the Christian life is going well, our sinful nature is under control, and when we are reaching out to others in love, we start to feel all good about ourselves and our life. But when white turns to black and walls start to crumble, it is easy to get depressed and downtrodden. After all, aren't we being continually sanctified through our savior's death and resurrection? Then why do we struggle with the things we do not want to do, and do the things we do not want to do?

Paul offers us further insight from his letter to the Romans in chapter 6 verses 15-23. One of the key scriptures in this passage is verse 18: 

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

This verse reminds us that although we were once in bondage to sin, we have now been set free from its grip and are slaves to the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. This does not mean however, that we are incapable of sin. It simply mean that we are incapable of living a life of sin. Just as in this passage, a servant desires to serve his master. He will always follow and obey his master with all his heart because he desires to serve his master. But he will not always perfectly serve his master. Perhaps he will hear of another master and desire to serve him, or perhaps he may feel his master is too limiting. It matters not, because although he may stray for awhile, the servant will always return to his master to serve him and him alone. 

Romans 8:5 says that:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desire; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds see on what the Spirit desires.

If we have truly given our whole being to the law of the Spirit, our minds will be set on that which the spirit desires. We may stray time and time again, but we must know that we will always go back to the one who has our heart. And we must not loose hope, we must not give up the fight. We must be thankful that we have been freed from this body of death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord.

To wrap this up, I would like to share one of my favorite songs. This song "Learning How To Die" by Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, details how each and every day we go through the process of learning how to die to ourselves and our sinful nature. The chorus goes as follows:

And I said, please

Don't talk about the end

Don't talk about how

Every living thing goes away

I said,  friend

All along I thought

I was learning how to take

How to bend not how to break

How to live not how to cry

But really

I've been learning how to die

I've been learning how to die

Die, die

I've been learning how to die

I've been learning how to die

Praise to God that he gives us the chance to die to ourselves each and every day by his grace!

-Garrett