What We Treasure

I have a little box in my closet.  In it are treasures of various kinds, mementos of people, events, and places that to others may not seem significant. But because of the impact those "things" represent in my life, I treasure them.  They are safely guarded in order to be revisited.

As the shepherds departed to tell everyone what they had "seen and heard" about this child and other people wondered about it all, Mary did something different.  Here is what Luke tells us:

8 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.

It says she took what was happening and preserved it in the treasure chest of her heart.  That is what mother's do with their children.  They treasure each life step for them.  But it says she was also pondering these things.  It means she added this event to the internal discussion she was having about her Son.  The angel said she would bear God's Son.  Now the shepherds spoke of another angelic visit.  Later it would be the Magi.  Then at His dedication at the temple more than a month later Anna and Simeon would speak about Him to His parents.  Joseph and Mary were amazed at what was said about Him.  And Mary was told that her own soul would be pierced one day.  

A dozen years later they came to the Temple from Nazareth for one of the Jewish festivals and lost Jesus for a couple days.  They finally found Him in the Temple courts interacting with the Jewish teachers.  The teachers were amazed, taken back, by His understanding at such a young age.  When Mary chastised Jesus for causing such concern for her and His father, He asked a question.  "Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?"  You can read about all this in Luke 2 here.

It says once again that Mary took this incident and tucked it away in the treasure chest of her heart.  She kept adding to the conversation, savoring the reality that this Son of hers was really the Son of the Most High God just as the angel had said.  She was a mother treasuring the moments of her child but she was most importantly a servant who was treasuring the graciousness of her Lord.

It would be two decades later at a wedding in Cana that a problem arose for the hosts of the feast.  Mary presented the problem to Jesus.  They needed more wine and she asked Him to help.  She turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever He asked.  Where did she get such confidence that He could pull off the miraculous?  She had revisited her treasure chest over and over again.

What do you treasure in your heart?  What do you store away that is of value, that contributes to the internal conversations about your life?  Those treasures define us.

While we may treasure some "things" associated with our lives, the most important treasure must be our worship of the Son of God.  I encourage you to open your heart today and ponder with amazement what He has done in your life.

Grace and Truth

Joseph and Mary

The Gospel of John states, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

But grace and truth are not seen just in Jesus at Christmas. When Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant and finds it difficult to receive her explanation, listen to the description given in the Scriptures about him and his actions:

And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, planned to send her away secretly.  Matthew 1:19

Joseph was righteous and wanted to do what was right according to the law.  She had violated their marriage vows.  But love demanded that he not seek to destroy her.  So he was planning to exercise grace in dealing with her.  Truth and grace.  And when God intervenes through the angel to confirm Mary's story, he readily takes her home as his wife and does not have relations with her until after Jesus was born.  His desire was God's desires.  He listened to Him.

There is a developed and continuing pattern today among people who call themselves Christians. It shows itself in the lauding of sermons, books and blogs about the grace of God while condemning as legalism any time truth is spoken about the sinful actions of our lives. Christ came to free us and guide us into truth. He Himself would tell Pilate later that those who are on the side of truth listen to Him. (John 18:37)


Because of the continuing epidemic of unrepentant sin among Christians, some wonder if it is worth sacrificially being a Christ-follower at all. And the good news today is "YES." Mary was pure and had a great reputation in heaven. Joseph was righteous, and full of grace, open to all that God desired. They were used of God because they were on His side, the side of truth. They listened to Him. So they were in a position to be used by Him.

God is so amazing. He is willing and desirous to show grace to all, no matter how deep our sin. But grace is given so that we can and will lead a life in truth. And those who walk in truth will be used mightily of the Lord, just as Mary and Joseph were.
Zechariah and Elizabeth fit this category too. We could name countless numbers of people through the centuries that sacrificially served Christ when their contemporaries did not and God highly honored and used them. How about you?


Christmas is an annual reminder that grace and truth are eternally connected and you can't claim one without living in the other.

Looking for Peace?

Peace.  When I hear the word there is a calm that comes over me.  It is soothing.  Peace is turning off all the noise.  Peace is having all the yelling and screaming stop.  Peace is freedom from the fear that something terrible is about to happen.  Peace is a gentle breeze caressing your face while you listen to the gurgling of a bubbling brook.  Peace is staring at the serene look on a baby's face while they sleep.  Peace.  We long for it.  We cherish the moments we enjoy it.  We search for it.

There is an inescapable place where the absence of peace is deadly.  It is in that cauldron of our soul.  External surroundings cannot soothe its churning long term.  Ultimately it is the struggle of defiance and independence from its Creator.  For some it is expressed in guilt and shame.  For others, it is ruthless self-defining.  But for all it is a desperate need for peace and resolution.  The funny thing is that when there is peace in the soul there is a sense of peace everywhere.

There was an idyllic scene suddenly interrupted one night.  It happened in a field where some shepherds were carefully watching over their flocks, keeping the lions and bears at bay.  An angel showed up with some news.  Said it was good news of great joy.  And he told them about the birth.  You know the story.  But it is what immediately follows that can help us today.  Here is the account in the Scriptures:

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

A heavenly host was an angel army.  The army was not at war with men but rather was praising God.  Why?  Listen to the connection.  God was being praised in the highest, to the greatest extent, and it was because He was providing a means of peace for those who would experience His pleasure.  The King James says, "Peace, good will toward men."  It is God's purpose and pleasure, His will,  to provide a means by which those He created can walk in the peace and joy for which He created us.  To be at peace with Him.  And when we are at peace with Him, we can be at peace with one another and most importantly find peace within ourselves.  

Later it would be written, For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,  1 Timothy 2:5

Are you experiencing peace today?  It is possible but only through living in relationship with Jesus Christ, the One who has been called the Prince of Peace.  The good news for us today is that His peace is an everlasting peace.  I'm grateful we can experience that in the midst of a world that seemingly has no peace.  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace........  Amen.

Confidence

Ever have a confidence issue?  Me too.  Funny how it affects you.  Because there is so much you don't know you can become indecisive and play it safe.  Dreams fade.  Risk is a stranger.  And life shrinks.  If only there was a way to see into the future?

Most of us who know the Lord would say that He sees and knows.  I was rereading parts of the Christmas story again and it got me thinking.  The angel shows up and tells Joseph to get out of Bethlehem and take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod is about to search for Jesus to kill Him.  Interesting, Herod had not made that decision quite yet.  After Herod dies, the angel appears and tells Joseph it is safe to return.  When Joseph gets back to Judea he sees that Herod's son who is like his Dad is ruling in  that area so Joseph settles the family in Nazareth.  The Scriptures say that both those incidents fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah.  You can read Matthew 2:13-23 here.

That got me thinking.  How many events, decisions, and actions did God not only know but guide and direct through history that were fulfilled in Jesus' life, death and resurrection?  So I did some checking.  One site lists 354 prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus.  You can read it here.  CBN did an article regarding the over 300 prophecies fulfilled in Jesus and the likelihood of that many being fulfilled in one person is astronomical.  48 of them being fulfilled is 1 in 10 to the 157th power.  The likelihood of all 300+?  Well, its Jesus.  Read the article for yourself here.

We are not the Messiah and there aren't over 300 prophecies about us.  But there are the promises of God for us.  And the same God who brought all those prophecies to fulfillment in Jesus is still governing history in such a way to make sure that all His promises are fulfilled for us.  And in light of that we can live confidently.  Our confidence is not in ourselves but in knowing Him and allowing Him to direct our steps.  What we don't know today, He does.  What we can't do, He can.

So live confidently.  The Lord cares just as much about you and His plans for your life as He did and does about His Son.  That, is an amazing thought.  Do you believe that?

There's More to The Story

Tower of the Flock - Migdal Eder

God never wastes an action.  Everything He does has meaning and purpose.  The moment Jesus was born carried significance regarding His mission, including where He was born.

Most of us have heard the prophecy from Micah 5:2 that was quoted by the priests when Herod asked where the Messiah was to be born.  In Bethlehem.  But did you know there was another prophecy in Micah.  It is Micah 4:8:  As for you, watchtower of the flock,
    stronghold[a] of Daughter Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
    kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.”

So Messiah was going to be born, not just in Bethlehem, but in the "watchtower of the flock," or Migdal Eder.  This was a tower that was used to watch over the flocks but included an area with a manger where shepherds would inspect the sheep.  This was especially true for shepherds in the area of Bethlehem because they were not ordinary shepherds but those who raised lambs to be used in the Temple sacrifices.

Genesis 35:16-21 puts the location of Migdal Eder just beyond Rachel's tomb, which is at the edge of modern Bethlehem.  Why is this so important?

First, the shepherd's knew where to go because they went to the place where lambs were inspected and a part of the process was to wrap them in cloths so they would not blemish themselves.  The sacrificial lambs must be without spot or blemish.  The angel's words, "you will find the babe wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger,"  told them where to go.

Second, they were accustomed to inspecting and declaring the lambs to be fit.  So when they went out from seeing Jesus and "spread the word" concerning what they had seen and been told, they were letting people know that the Lamb of God had been born, a perfect male lamb.

You can read more about this in a book by Alfred Edersheim called The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.  What is the good news for us?

God doesn't waste anything in life, even the difficult things.  That is why it says "He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes."  Romans 8:28

So whatever you have or are experiencing in life, God is going to use in some way for good.  And He will receive glory in how He does it.  So take heart.  God can even use _____________ (fill in the blank) to bring about something good ultimately.  And that can bring us hope in the midst of the storms.

The Gift That Keeps Growing

The Magi that came to see Jesus do so because they "saw His star in the east" and came to worship Him.  God used an angel army to extend a birth announcement to the shepherds who were close by.  Now He uses the stars to give an invitation to a group of people who are far away. The whole account is amazing.  In fact, there is a presentation we did at the church last night about the star of Bethlehem that makes it even more incredible.  If you want to check it out, here is a link for the site:  http://www.bethlehemstar.com/


Since the creation of the Hubble Telescope, the vastness of the universe has been opened up to our understanding in a way that it never was before.  There are not just millions of stars but millions of galaxies like our own Milky Way.  And the Scriptures say:

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
                            Psalm 147:4

There are some gifts that we receive at Christmas that are wonderful and we enjoy them and they have a life span of days, weeks or years.  But when we receive Jesus, the One through whom all things were made and without Him was nothing made that has been made, that gift just keep growing.  We walk out on a clear night, and the "heavens declare the glory of God."  So this God, who holds in His hand every one of these universes, cares for us individually.  He is great and we are small.  He is powerful and we are weak.  He is worthy and we are humbled.  And the more we spend time seeking Him the greater, more vast, more powerful and more worthy He becomes.

What does the vastness of the night sky say to you?

The Full Picture

Pictures and videos can take up a lot of space on our devices.  Yet everything from selfies of our visits to favorite spots or Christmas family photos are part of our story.  They give us glimpses of our lives in moments.  And all we have to do to get a fuller picture of our life is to look at the pictures along the way.  One scene tells only a part of the story.  The whole album makes life more clear.

Memory books serve as a reminder

That is what I find when I read through the first chapters of Matthew and Luke.  There are the genealogies of Jesus.  Those pictures are filled with fabled stories, some good, some not so good.  They are also filled with names with no detail.  Unknowns.  There are the pictures of Gabriel meeting with Zechariah, Mary and Joseph.  On the videos of those events you hear encouragements, detailed plans and reminders of promises.  And the birth videos for John and Jesus are joyful parties.  Celebrations are a vital part of life for us.

Perhaps the most helpful parts for me are the music videos.  Ok, on paper we only have the lyrics but my sanctified imagination can hear and see the video.  It is filled with images of God's actions throughout history along with the lyrics.  And what is the main thrust of the songs?  You can read them in Luke 1 (In fact I suggest you stop and do that now.)  Here are some themes:

1.  God is mindful of the frailness of His creation and does great things on our behalf.
2.  God has demonstrated mercy to those who fear Him throughout generations.
3.  God is just in how He handles everyone.
4.  God always fulfills His promises.
5.  God is in the business of redeeming us and enabling us to serve Him.
6.  God will forgive our sins and lead us in the path of peace.

Faithfulness.  Deliverance.  A Mighty God.  Merciful.  Able.  Mindful of us.  Just.  That is the complete picture of our God's family album.

The good news for us today is that we have an opportunity.  If you took a selfie right now, today, what would that snap shot look like?  If you say it is great, then join with Mary and Zechariah and produce a praise video (it can be a prayer of thanksgiving if you don't want to make the video) that worships the Lord for His faithfulness to you and how you see His hand bringing about great blessings to you.  If your situation is a little more troubled right now, take some time to look back through the family album.  Remind yourself that while there have been some difficult times, God has always been faithful, delivering, mighty, providing, able, close to the heart of the troubled, and merciful.  You can trust Him.  And once reminded, praise Him for how He will deliver you in the midst of what you are facing right now.

A Christmas gift for your family may be to put together an album or pull one out and tell the story of God's faithfulness to you as a family.  How do you think it would affect your unsaved relatives if you did a little project like that?