Todays Life

Today fulfills the expectation of the birth of Jesus Christ. Luke’s record of events acknowledges His birth in both the prophecy of location and purpose. The purpose of Savior was fulfilled at His death and resurrection to provide forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life. That leads us to the final expectation of His second coming that we now look forward to. The Church age in which we live sits between these two events so it begs the question of what we do in the meantime? Luke 2:7 reminds us that Jesus was born in the manager because there was no room for Him in the inn. We should examine our hearts and lives to be sure we have made room for Him. We have been given the greatest gift that we could ever get we just need to open our hearts and accept it today so we can give it to others. Merry Christmas !

The 4^th Week of Advent brings us to the expectation of Love and it has no better illustration than Paul’s writing to the Church in Corinth. The expectation of Advent brings us to the understanding that Hope, Peace and Joy are all wrapped up in our Faith. Faith brings us Hope in the promise of eternal life thru Jesus’ life and death. We struggle sometimes with Faith because it is not often a tangible thing we can touch or feel with our hands nor see with our eyes. That gap like the gap between a sinful person and a Holy God can only be covered by
His love and that Love came to us in Jesus. As we celebrate the Love of Advent in the birth of Jesus Christ we can better relate to Paul’s writing after the death and resurrection of  Jesus on the power and meaning of God’s love in our lives. If Faith and Hope sustain us when we are left in a negative place by life’s circumstances Paul reassures us in the 13^th chapter of 1^stCorinthians that Love always endures all circumstances because it is God’sgreatest gift to us as His children.   

Psalm 94 was penned in a time of oppression for God’s people and from the perspective of a good person struggling with why good things seem happen to evil people. We read the Psalms we most often think of King David  and his accomplishments as King. The killing of Goliath, becoming King and winning many battles for God and the growth of a great kingdom. What we don’t focus on are the many challengesthat David endured such as the anxiety and fear that plagued David during his life that molded and refined his faith. David had to deal with jealousy from a false friend in Saul, incest and murder within his own family, constant fear of being overthrown as king, moral violations of his own in murder, adultery and lying. I think it is safe to say David had his share of anxiety and stress. Yet he found and wrote in the Palms’ of God’s love and comfort for him no matter how big his troubles were in life. The 94^th Psalm is a testimony for our Faith that God is in control no matter how we see life.

Sometimes we can become very stressed in our day to day lives when circumstances bring us to a place of worry and fear. We like to be able to work through our lives with logic and reason so that we can understand everything. David discovered from his struggles that God’s comfort was a source of Joy for him regardless of his anxiety and that no matter how dark things got God would take care of him.
 

Psalm 30:5  (NLT)         

⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.

We too often think of Joy in connection to our happiness in life. The Bible is clear in its reference to Joy that it is a state of mind and a part of our character that is founded from our faith in God. Our view of Joy is usually an internal perspective on our own lives. It has us looking at our station in life as Joy while the Bible asks us to look at our results in life, a Fruit of the spirit, and how we live and serve others as our basis for Joy. If Joy is a visible quality when Nehemiah says “ The Joy of the Lord is our strength” it brings us to the question of how can we see God’s Joy in our lives. The most obvious is in God’s works –

Romans 1:20    (NLT)²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earthand sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisiblequalities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for notknowing God.

God provides a reminder for us of His Joy in how he begins and ends each day. The sunrise and sunset both contain bright pink, pale pink, rose pink all painted into them by God. Like the shades of God’s joy our joy and expressions of joy can be different. Joy can be exuberant when we experience the faithfulness of God, it can be a calm confidence in His sovereignty, or a simple feeling of faith in Him that everything will be ok even on days when we cannot see the sun.

Websters defines Joy as a noun and part ofour “happiness”. Paul turns this thought upside down and brings us Joy as aFruit or an “action” of the spirit toward others. A servant of God in Jesus Christ finds Joy in serving others. It is a servant’s heart that looks out not in for true Joy that abides in our spirits regardless of circumstances.Happiness is not a part of that Joy, only a love for others built on a foundation that God loved us not because we first loved Him but because we needed to beloved. Our confession of faith in Jesus provides us mercy in freeing us from sin and the Grace of the promise of our resurrection into an eternal life in heaven. It is in that Joy that we find both Hope and Peace in times of struggle, it is in that Joy that we reach out to help others when we are need ourselves and it is in that Joy that our hearts are filled with the presence of Gods truth and feel it guiding our lives. We come to find Joy as an action where our lives are an expression of Joy that we cannot quite define or explain but only know that how we live from our faith is the measure of Joy in our lives.  

Mark 4 brings us an interesting series of events in the life of Jesus and his friends. After teaching His Word to crowds of people Jesus invites His friends to get away for a while to the other side of the lake. The text says other boats followed and soon a fierce storm came upon them. Jesus was asleep resting after His day of teaching until, at the point of fear for their lives, His friends wake Him up the scripture says by shouting at Him “ don’t You care we are about to drown”.

Jesus woke up and simply said “peace be still” and there was a “great calm”. We often focus on the miracle as that is what we pray for in our lives and the lives of our friends. The value however,in our day to day lives is found in the text before the miracle.

How often do we go about our lives in a normal day moving along with the crowd and taking the day to day flow as a“peaceful” existence? Then thru some circumstance we are separated from the crowds of comfort by a storm in our lives. We do all we can but can’t get out of the storm and at some point, realizing we can’t do it alone we shout at God– “hey look at the mess I am in, don’t you care that I am in trouble and about to drown”? We are unable to see that God’s plan separated us from others so He could get our focus back on Him. The storms are often part of our lives to bring us closer to God. Jesus question to His friends is the same for us today– “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no Faith?” The storms bring us back to God and the Peace we find in God strengthens our Faith and that provides us a promised, Peace of Heart, Mind and Spirit. That is the Peace God wants us to have in our hearts and share with others in our day to day travels through life.

Many of the translations of this verse use “word” or “message” where PEACE is used here. The translations being different allows us to see how God’s message for us is accomplished regardless of our interpretation of the wording. The writing that God allowed us to record in our human language, with his spiritual revelation, is to tell the story of His love for us. We continue to strive to discover the spiritual significance of God’s  Word in the Bible and how to apply it in our lives. This text is a great example of opening our hearts to God’sWord. The Peace of Christ can only come to us from our confession of Faith inJesus Christ and we cannot get to that without knowing God thru His Word –

Romans10:9-10  (NLT) 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

For the “Peace” of Christ to rule in our hearts God’s “Message” thru His “Word” must be a part of our daily lives. We tend to look for more rigid or earned structure to guide us in life than to think of a free gift as being able to guide us. God’s love thru Jesus not only provides the free gift of salvation but that same gift is the day to day guide that lives in our hearts each day.     

We feel very fortunate ( or most of us do )to live in a country where we can speak our minds, express our views and live out our faith and character in a free country. We take for granted most daysthe real value of these rights and feel as though we live in a peaceful place in the world as compared to many others around us. We also often take for granted what it has taken to gain and keep this freedom and peace we enjoy here in the United States. A real look at Peace may help us – while we as citizens of the United States have lived here in a relatively peaceful environment for 242 years the reality has been and is largely one of conflict. If we look atthe start of the Revolutionary War up to today the United States has been at waror involved in conflict for 225 of those years. That is 93% of our existence that has been required to gain, maintain and ensure our freedom and a peacefulday to day life. We would do well to remember a few things 1) Freedom is far from free and the cost doesn’t look much like Peace and as sure as we enjoy even the appearance of Peace there will be someone who wants to take it awayfrom us. And 2) The Bible is clear that true Peace as we seek it will not happen in this world so we ask for God’s Peace in our spirits as we trust in him for our day to day peace. John records the day of Peace for us in Revelation……

Revelation 21:27 (NLT)

²⁷ Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

 Without the presence of evil Peace will be our way of life as lived thru Jesus Christ every day for eternity. That will be a Peaceful life !

Until then Isaiah’s guidance to trust in God gives us the promise of Peace in our hearts and spirits.

This verse has been a great Hope to me in my life. It has provided great comfort in times of trouble and stress. It reminds me when I am in a hopeless state and realize I can’t see the way out of the darkness that this is a time in my life where God ensures I look to him. It is an uplifting thought to know that no matter where I am God has a plan for me and He is watching over me all the time.

It is a great revelation for us to realize that God’s plans are for our prosperity. The direction God has for us is to ensure a Hope and a Future. We may be living today in a difficult time but deep in our heart we know that God loves us more than we can imagine, and he has a plan for our lives. He will light the path for that plan once we decide that we cannot fix our life on our own but need Him for the Future and come to the understanding that He is our Hope.

Hebrews 6:19  (NKJV)

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

This verse from the writer of Hebrews brings us to the purpose and promise of Hope. If Hope is a certainty of our spirit and character that centers in our souls it can provide a foundation or anchor to hold our lives in place in midst of our day to day circumstances. This is the same Hope that Paul references in Romans 8 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? Hope resides in our spirit and keeps looking beyond the challenges we find ourselves in today and to the promise of a better tomorrow. Hope is greater than the mere chance or odds that tomorrow will be better than today. Hope rests in the power of the Holy Spirit as Paul conveys the promise that Hope in Jesus Christ can save our souls. We have not seen the resurrection, but our Hope is in our faith that Jesus lived, died for our sins and was raised by God’s power on the third day. That is our Anchor, our Cornerstone, our Faith and our Hope. Until Jesus death the hope of the people was carried by the high priest into the Holy of Holies behind the temple veil to take a sacrifice to God on behalf of the people for forgiveness of their sins. Matthew 27:51 records that at Jesus death the veil of the temple was torn into from the top to the bottom so that it could not have been done by human hands. In Jesus death every individual gets direct access to god with no need of anyone to go to God on our behalf. That direct connection is what the writer of Hebrews and Paul in Romans are defining as our Hope and anchor of our Faith.