Advent Day 19: Joy and Harmony

Instead of the joyous peace that Advent offers, I often hear people talk about approaching holidays with apprehension and negativity. In fact, a phrase that I have heard more than I would like to recount is this:

“Relatives are like fish,

they stink after a couple days.”

The consensus is that people endure their relatives for as short a time as possible during holiday seasons and then they can move on to more fun times with “friends” or acquaintances.

I understand the sentiment. Though the flavor varies depending on the family, anyone can find reasons to dread spending more than a couple of hours in dysfunction and cruelty. There is always . . .

   - the one who thrives on offending

   - the one who speaks before thinking

   - the one who always asks for money

   - the one who never ever calls or comes home

   - the one who drinks too much and abuses you

   - the one who lavishly sprinkles salt on open wounds

   - the one who sings the praises of others and catalogs your faults

   - the one who does not differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate

   - the one who pretends not to see you or avoids making eye contact with you at all costs

. . . the relative who seemingly stinks like fish.

And the list could go on and on for thousands of miles.

Of course, with a resumé like the one above, the holiday season readily unearths knots in the belly, searing pain in the heart, hurtful memories of past events and gatherings, etc.

In Isaiah 11:6-9, a beautiful revelation was given Isaiah concerning the unity all inhabitants of the earth are invited to uphold and enjoy. Our heavenly Father crafted us, hemmed us in, created our inmost being, knitted us together in the womb, fearfully and wonderfully made us. He knows how it should work. He is well aware that each one of us is unique and we are as different as different can be. Yet, He has called us to live together in peace and harmony.

God’s revelation to Isaiah points us to a time after the second coming of Christ where the whole “earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” This knowledge will cause hearts to embrace forgiveness eradicating conflicts between predator and prey, boss and employee, husband and wife, parent and child. This message of peace, when embraced, can bring about spiritual changes in a believer that will bring them to repent from previous habits that waged war with God. It is that same knowledge that inspired Paul to urge us in Romans 12:16a to “live in harmony with one another.”

What better way to prepare for this future time of peace?

With God in our lives (Immanuel), we are invited to demonstrate that His grace has transformed us wholly. Let us heed God’s Word today and let us pray that the next holiday season will find us living in peace and harmony with everyone, repaying evil with blessing.

Dona nobis pacem!

Advent Day 18: Waiting for Payday

People have been praying for revenge ever since November 23, 2013 revealed to an aghast world the lifeless and mutilated body of my brother. A few weeks later, a video showing the two alleged killers was released on Youtube and I was once again reminded of the fleeting nature of earthly joys. I expected the video to satisfy my desire to see earthly justice done in light of all the wrongs committed against my brother. The video ended leaving me utterly dissatisfied.

As I think of Advent today, my mind turns to the truth of Scripture -- Joy is not found in circumstances; it is found in the Coming One whose name is Jesus. Still waiting for closure as far as the legal system is concerned, I now realize no punishment the authorities choose to inflict upon the alleged killers could ever deposit lasting joy into my heart. Yet, joy, true joy is offered freely to all -- including Simon's alleged killers. The apostle Paul reminds us,

“For the wages of sin is death, 

but the free gift of God is eternal life 

in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Rom 6:23, ESV

For several years as I celebrated Christmas, the word “wages” played a regrettable role in that it led me to measure my merriment by the size of my paycheck. Yet, upon receiving Paul's reminder, it occurs to me that death IS the paycheck, the wages reserved for every rebellious act -- be it voluntary or casual. Every stolen fruit, every act of rudeness, every ounce of pride intensifies the fact that I am on death row waiting for my execution. My scores of sins are akin to the menial tasks I often perform at work; they have earned me the right to receive my due payment, which is eternal separation from God.

Yet, despite this dreadful anticipation, my heavenly Father upturns my expectancy by promising a gift that is extremely rare, precious, costly, and completely undeserved. He offers me a Coming King who alone is able to grab death, the impostor, by the collar and overpower the ugly head of sin with His immense love – the undeserved gift of love housed in Jesus.

What am I to do with this uncommon gift? 

I am to take refuge in Christ and accept the wondrous offering of His grace. I am to pray on behalf of my brother's offenders that they too will accept the Father's gift. I am overcome with joy and humbly choose the pathway of gratitude. I can celebrate the coming of Christ in a new way, a deeper way.

Indeed, God has changed my sense of expectancy from that of trepidation to one of confidence because of the promise of His coming. The single act of the arrival of baby Jesus on earth symbolizes a notice that cancels my death sentence replacing it with the assurance of untold treasures. His Advent changed my position from eternal death to eternal life. 

So, here I come and bow my heart in adoration because the Ruler, the King, the Savior is come!

Advent Day 17: Joy Frays a Way

My prayer is this today: 

Thank You for stirring my heart, 

O LORD, 

as You prepare my mind, spirit, and body for Your coming. 

May this season of preparation lead me 

to honor and serve You 

as I patiently await Your righteous Kingdom. 

In Jesus' name, I pray. 

Amen!

Life on earth is a season of preparation. It is but a dress rehearsal for the greatest show there will ever be -- an eternity spent with the Father of the ages. As such, the bumps and detours we face on our journeys, the woes and trials that befall us are simply part of the process of securing truths into our minds/hearts and drawing us closer and closer to this awareness:

We need God.
We need God to come.
We need God to come for us.

The Coming One has a message of grace and comfort. Arrayed in light and love, it is the Messiah's intention and decision to spare no expense for our salvation. He is well aware of our inability to see and receive Him unless a path is frayed to facilitate communication between God and humanity. 

In the words of Samuel Gordon, “Jesus blazes a clear way through every thicket and woods, and then softly calls, ‘Follow me. Let’s go on together, you and I.’ ”

Personally, His blazing hand continues to fray a road within me. He uses friends and foes, joys and sorrows, successes and failures, counselors and counselees, rest and sleeplessness, wealth and want, life and death to beckon me sweetly, "Follow me, Lou. Let's go on together, you and I."

This beckoning is hardest to perceive and accept in seasons of grief, heartbreak, disappointment, and concern. And so I am grateful that Advent 2014 is causing me to realize anew that my tears are indeed seeds -- "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" (Psalm 126:5, ESV) -- and that my trials are tests heavenly designed to prepare me for the ultimate coming of Christ.

The Dayspring will come. He will use my tears to water the soil of my heart and render it fruitful for His Kingdom. He will turn my weeping into joyful singing to bring others into the fold of Christ's comforting love. He will turn my fretting into joyful surrender to His more than perfect plan.

"O come, O come, Immanuel."

Advent Day 16: Uninvited Guest

Good morning, friends!

A short little passage not traditionally used for Advent came to my mind and brought joy to my heart this morning.

Luke 10:10-11 reads, 

"But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, 

go into its streets and say, 

‘even the dust of your town that sticks to your feet 

we wipe off against you. 

Yet be sure of this: The Kingdom of God is near.’ "

We have all been there. A seemingly open party is being thrown by one of our acquaintances or colleagues and we decide to join the fun only to make the shivering realization: I was not invited! Matters get even more complicated when the treatment we receive screams to us that we are unwanted, unwelcomed; we were never meant to partake in this festive occasion, we did not make it into the circle of inclusion or intimacy. 

Ouch!

Such was the hostility with which the world received our Savior’s first Advent. The Creator, by whom and through whom everything was made, was not recognized for Who He is. John 1:11 tells us that, “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.” At once, my chest heaves with self-righteous anger at this display of superiority and foolish arrogance. How dare they kick Him out? How can they force the gracious Host to become the uninvited guest at His own party?

Still reeling from pride, I was hit as though a splash of icy water ran across my face when I read, “The Kingdom of God is near.” Am I truly ready for His kingdom? A quick self-examination reveals that I am not ready to meet His holiness. I find myself wishing God away until I put my house in order. The purity of His Word exposes my sin of smugness and conceit with the hard truth that I am no better than those who rejected Christ in Galilee, Korazin, Jerusalem, and even Golgotha. I close the door of my heart on His face each time I fail to ask for His guidance in all my decisions and wait for His intervention. I, too, have turned Him into the uninvited guest to the party of my life.

Yet blessed be His glorious Name for He, the gracious Host, foreknew and prepared everything in advance for my redemption. He has renewed my heart and placed a new song in me: 

Come to my heart, Lord Jesus, 

and prepare me for Your ultimate Advent, 

Your everlasting Kingdom!

Advent Day 15: The Gift of Joy

On this third Sunday of Advent, I am grateful to ponder Immanuel's gift of joy to humanity.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.”

It takes but a glance around us to validate our need for joy even today – devastating news, gloomy faces, broken hearts, unfulfilled longings, disappointing endeavors, etc. Just last night, a beloved friend's post opened my eyes to see the vileness of continued racial slurs and hatred intended for brown-hued people such as I. My heart broke with sadness as I read words no human being should ever write let alone read. I need joy.

In the past also, joy was needed. When a bright star, THE promised star, invaded the lives of wise men from the east, it brought great joy to them because of the promises locked within it. When the angels appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they delivered “tidings of great joy” intended for all people regardless of status, nation, gender, etc. And that fortuitous, joy-unearthing announcement was and is and always will be the birth of a Savior who is Christ, the Lord.

“Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy.”

And so we sing. 

"We sing to Him whose wisdom formed the ear

Our songs, let Him who gave us voices, hear;

We joy in God who is the Spring of mirth,

Who loves the harmony of Heav'n and earth.

Our humble sonnets shall that praise rehearse

Who is the music of the universe.

And whilst we sing, we consecrate our art

And offer up with every tongue a heart." 

-- Nathaniel Ingelo

We sing to Him in whom all things hold together. 
We sing to Him in whom we live and move and have our being. 
We sing to Him who is our everlasting Immanuel—God with us.

But why is joy so often missing in our hearts?

The world often defines joy as the absence of grief but the Word of God teaches us that joy is found in the One who gladdens and restores hearts amidst the toughest of trials. In fact, David said, “Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b). Weeds of sin, rebellion, and disobedience, as it turns out, aid joylessness to go rampant in our hearts. Thus, the Coming One brings a message of repentance, salvation, and transformation.

“No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.”

What a gracious promise to our gloomy hearts!

May we fully embrace His message and may the resulting joy be seen and felt by all who hear and respond to the gift of the Son! May our eyes and hearts be open to spot the people in our lives in need of God’s steadfast love and salvation! Whether through a card, a visit, a conversation, a hug, a handshake, or whatever, may we be used as channels of the joy of Advent to a woe-stricken world! May we be used as bearers of “tidings of great joy” for those who are still pining to hear good news!

Indeed, may we gratefully receive His gift of joy today!

Advent Day 14: I Need You

Hello to you, my friends, on this 14th morning of Advent!

I have a confession to make: I am still hurting.

I know Christmas is coming and I know that everything will work according to God’s plan . . . but I still miss my sister AND my brother AND my father AND all the departed loved ones of my recent past. I had a few minutes to myself last night (solitude, though often my best friend, has been the instigator of many crying sessions lately) and my mind went on auto pilot. Last year at this time, my brother's death was fresh and my sister's full cancer diagnosis/prognosis was weighing heavily upon me. “You look weighed down,” my wife said to me this morning with concern registered in her eyes and voice.

She is right.
So right.

The words of Meredith Willson's "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" sound hollow to my ear this morning. There was a time when lyrics such as "with candy canes and silver lanes aglow" or "toys in every store" or "soon the bells will start" would readily put me in the "holiday" spirit.

Not today.

This morning, as I genuinely think of Advent, my heart resonates more voluntarily with Job's words, "My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness" (Job 16:16, ESV).

I am hurting. 
I am grieving.

No, my mourning does not indicate that I am wallowing in self-pity nor does it suggest that I am indulging in whining or grumbling. Rather, since Advent beckons me to take an honest look at my heart, I am choosing to gratefully comply.

As I allow my grief to erupt fully and my tears to flow freely, the Father pours out His grace over me. He opens my mind and heart and body to ascertain that the trials I face are glorious tests—not the kinds intending to show me how strong I am, but the kinds heavenly tasked to reveal to me how needy I am.

Yes, I am needy.

I need the gracious eyes of Christ to weep with mine. I need His tender hands to wipe away my tears in due time. I need His robust and warm arms to envelop my frame and comfort me. I need His loving and soothing voice to serenade me. I need His ancient, ever-true, life-giving words to strike my eardrums and reverberate and transform my heart into the knowledge of God and the likeness of Christ.

I need Him.
I need Him.
I need Him.

“Lord, I need You, O I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
O Lord, how I need You.”

As He comes and fills my need, it will surely be CHRIST-mas in my heart and I will certainly be in a HOLY-day spirit—the unending Advent of His abounding grace and love sanctifying and purifying me into the fullness of His glory!

O, come, Lord Jesus!

Advent Day 13: Peace and Healing

Suffering is bitter.
Pain is a raging torrent.
Illnesses are blistering winds.

However, suffering (no matter the kind) does not suggest defeat for strugglers called to the eternal glory of Christ. Advent, thus, brings a message of peace to the hearts of sufferers because the God of all grace is sure to come to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish all strugglers called to Him.

But what are we to do in the midst of suffering?
Are we to merely wait in silence and pretense?

The following quote from "Weeding Impatience" speaks to that effect:

"The bitterness of patience may be rightly known as life's greatest and most tumultuous torrent. However, suffering should not suggest defeat. With God on our side, we should make the decision to be victorious over our problems. Defeat has no place in our vocabulary despite what circumstances may suggest. Human wisdom may tell us that we are doomed but spiritual insight gives us the courage and determination to adjust our attitude.

In seasons of suffering, our hearts well up with impatience and discontent not unlike the Israelites who craved intensely for the delicacies of Egypt while in the wilderness. Like Israel, we desire what seems to be the current panacea, the latest cure-all, and fail to recognize that past circumstances often had more problems in them than the delicacies could counteract. In Numbers 11:20, God's Word indicates that His people responded to their suffering with much grumbling. God did not take that response lightly and they died a horrible death.

We find in Christ a model for the godly response to suffering. He endured more than any other human being could ever imagine. Although our Savior had the power to stop it all (the mockery of fools, the flogging of soldiers, the sting of vinegar, the piercing of swords, the bruising of thorns, and the spilling of blood), He chose to endure intense suffering in order to redeems the world."

This redemptions is at the heart of Christ's Advent. Each time He comes to us, redemption enters the scene. Each time we welcome Him, healing accompanies Him. His redemption and healing may not always have a physical/emotional/intellectual manifestation (as far as we can see, feel, or understand) but nonetheless contain the spiritual essence of God's eternal glory.

O come, Lord Jesus!
O come, redeeming Immanuel!
O come, suffering Servant and heal Your people!
O come, touch us and reign over us forever and ever!