Christmas in the eyes of a child and missed loved ones

With just two days till Christmas morning, a question rings in my head.  Are we as grown ups, still seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child?  Are we still awed by the beauty of the lights, and the beauty of the reality that peace on earth is no longer a distant dream but is within our reach through Jesus Christ.  I watch my children and their eyes sparkle at the lights, and they sparkle at the wonder of Santa Clause and the gifts, and I wonder have I lost the ability to imagine.  That ability that takes us beyond the confines of this reality to the reality of the heavens, to where those who have gone on before us now stand and bow before the very one whose birth we celebrate.  All of my grandparents are now with Jesus this year, and yet we have that same opportunity here and now, to be in the presence of the Messiah at Christmas.  A time when as we look at the lights and sounds of Christmas, and we enjoy the gifts and treats, these are all things for us to enjoy.  Things the Lord has allowed us the opportunity to play with in a sense, since we are His children.  May I be like my children, and continue this season to have a sense of wonder and awe at Christmas, even through the hustle and bustle of the season.  Oh and to those whom I love especially my grandfather who has been in heaven for nearly 13 years, I still love you more today than I ever did, and I cannot wait until the day we meet again in Heaven and I can show you my family and your great grandchildren who I know you would have loved a hundred times more...until then may we both enjoy Christmas in its own way one here on earth and the other in heaven around the throne of the Messiah!   May all who read this celebrate Christmas with a sense of wonder and awe like never before, because as John wrote in John 1, "The Word become flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us!!"

Can't get past Mercy...Praise God!

Okay so the title may imply that I am trying get beyond "mercy".  That is the complete opposite, I am so glad that in this life we can never out run mercy.  Still going slowly through 1 Peter in my personal studies, I found myself this morning resting on the middle part of 1 Peter 1:3, According to His great mercy...  Did you ever stop to think about that small word that carries such a weight of truth with it.  Mercy is the motive behind God's granting believers eternal life...thus sharing in the very life of the Father, Son, and Spirit.   Not to put a  downer on the word, but mercy focuses on our miserable sinful position.  Thus showing the beauty of God's compassion that is shown to those who are dead in their sins and our right rebellious toward God (which by the way includes all of us).  You see this is what mercy does, it shows and illuminates, our miserable condition while grace focuses on the guilt, or sin which caused that state.  One commentator has this to say of mercy: Divine mercy takes the sinner from misery to glory (a change of condition), and divine grace takes him from guilt to acquittal (a change of position).  You see mercy flows from the Lord's infinite compassion and free, abundant, limitless mercy.  Truly, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3, God is the Father of mercies.  May we never get past mercy instead, may it always be at the forefront of all we do, ever evident in our daily lives.  Continually being poured out into our lives as we stumble through this life, until that day when mercy will lead to what Peter later writes, the goal...the salvation of your souls.

Psalm 19 the bookend of journey for the past two years

As I sit here on the Monday before Christmas, most would think that a good devotional would be about the Christmas story.  Instead, God seems to have seen fit, to bring me to a place where I began a journey nearly two years ago.  Looking back I cannot tell you every detail of how and why many of things transpired over the past two years, but I can tell you it has been a deep and hard sanctifying process.  The beautiful part of it all is that God and Jesus have become more and more precious with each new day and each time I am able to get just a simple glimpse of His glory.  I am not going to bore you with every detail of what has taken place over these past two years, from coming to Sevier Heights, to the church plant, back to Sevier Heights...put in the middle of those times struggle, heartache, joy, happiness, peace, suffering, gladness, weeping, laughing, embracing, shunning, depression, failure, excitement, success, endurance, weak, sin, pride, emptying, but there is something that eclipses all of those things and so many more that I have been through.  That is the Cross, it overshadows and causes all these other things all worth it...and His Word is not withstanding, because that is the foundation upon which we can stand finding our peace and joy when sometimes joy and peace  seem so far away.  For you see nearly two years ago before I left Lifeway to go to Target, God took me to this passage, and this time I believe I am sitting here being reminded that this is almost like a book end to that part of my life. A new time in my life is beginning one where I simply "rest" in Christ, one where I simply "abide" in Christ...Psalm 19 starts off with the beautiful reality of God's Glory being revealed through creation and all His works!  Truly, creation does declare the Glory of God even when we don't feel like it.  But there is a second half to this chapter that is even more precious to me.  From verses 7-11, God provides a beautiful description of His love letter written to us.  I am simply going to paste the verses below, and you see if you can see the beauty of His Word...something that I have finally learned is constantly molding and transforming me.

 ⁷ The instruction of the LORD is perfect,
    reviving the soul; 
    the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy,
    making the inexperienced wise.

    ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
    making the heart glad; 
    the commandment of the LORD is radiant,
    making the eyes light up.

    ⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure,
    enduring forever; 
    the ordinances of the LORD are reliable
    and altogether righteous.

    ¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold—
    than an abundance of pure gold; 
    and sweeter than honey—
    than honey dripping from the comb.

    ¹¹ In addition, Your servant is warned by them;
    there is great reward in keeping them.

Perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, reliable, righteous, better than gold, sweeter than honey, great reward...all describe the beautiful reality of the Word of God.  Oh how it has taken me two years to realize this is not a "book" to be dissected and treated as another "resource" for teaching, but instead IT IS the very thing that leads us to the source of Life, Jesus Christ, the everlasting Living Water.   So I suppose it is fitting this year is winding to a close with me returning to the place that much of my changing has taken place over the last two years.  Why two years? I dunno...why here? I dunno...Why change? Oh, that one I can answer, that I might behold His Glory working in my life to the utmost!!