Jesusmas

Here it is. That time of year that I love and hate. I love the thought of Christ coming to earth for me, my family, my friends and so many I don't know; I hate that Jesus has been removed from the thoughts of so many that know why it's called Christmas. I love teaching my kids to give freely and receive gifts humbly; I hate the frenzy surrounding the idea of giving gifts and why we even give gifts at all. I love that many are so joyous this time of year, even with the cold and busy schedules; I hate that so many are alone in their world, even with so called friends and family. I love having a redeemer that makes me right before God; I hate sin, especially when it's sin that has stared me in the face before.

Blessed be the Name that when it is all said and done, the rich and poor, the strong and the weak, the healthy and lame, saved and lost, will all bow down too. Happy Jesusmas.

Where I Am

Over the past few weeks, as my home fills will young people whose desire is for a deeper understanding of God's word, the message has changed each week, yet returns to one particular point: be satisfied with with where I am. A wonderfully loving wife and four outgoing, physically abled children fill my suburban home in a neighborhood cul-de-sac populated by friendly neighbors. My job allows me enough to pay for what we have had and what we have now.

I am humbled when I spend times with friends whose wives and walked out on them, leaving children with no mother to love on them. Then there are wives whose husbands have abandoned them and the kids, even if he remains in the house. There are dear parents of children with special needs that require incredible amounts of time for care and the financial strain it places on them is immense. Some are caring for their aging parents and the parent don't even recognize their own children. I hurt for my neighbors and and friends battling cancer, leukemia, crones, lupus and so forth.

There are those I know and love that somehow get by with so little that I wonder how God does it. Some I know and see everyday work so hard and put in so much time to do their mission in life that it would seem they couldn't possibly have any joy. Yet they do.

Two years ago I spent seven days walking around the New Mexico wilderness, sleeping on the ground, carrying my necessities on my back, and dodging rattlesnakes. It was a joy. I wondered how different it was for me then, compared to someone in Pakistan or Northern Africa. On other trips I've been so soaked from rain I've wondered who in Brazil or Ecuador I could relate to. When my mother died and I felt that loss, how was it that there was peace and comfort?

There are many people in my life that God has so graciously put into my life to teach me the joy I should have. Not any joy I should have because of the things I have, or even the people in my life; but the joy I should have because God has put me where I am with my abilities and disabilities, my things and my empty pockets, the quiet, easy days and the noisy, chaotic, sleepless nights.

I do realize how good I have it in the eyes of some, and also how little I have in the eyes of a few. God has blessed me, and I know how quick it can all disappear. Job in the Old Testament had it all, and it was all taken away, and he was left with nothing except, it all. What God gives us here on this planet is nothing but tools to glorify Him. We should us it for that purpose. It can all be gone, but if we have Christ, we're left still with it all. Hope is what we have. An eternal inheritance is the promise and it will not fade, nor rot, nor be used up. We're only here for a little while, and this is where I am.

Guilty

It is generally accepted by most that not everyone is perfect. With fault comes guilt; some will carry more than others. Guilt is a part of our conscience that God made to help us see how every action we make affects more than just ourselves. When we take an extra piece of pie, later realize that there were only six pieces made for six people, guilt sets in as someone goes without.

Guilt can be a good thing if we respond to it, and that is what God hopes we do. There is nothing we can do to change our act; however, we can learn from it and attempt to correct the view others have of us. This is what God would want.

On the other hand guilt can be an over bearing burden on someone that is carrying vast amounts. It is heavy and cumbersome. It tires us mentally, fatiguing our relationships with others, especially those that may have been affected by our actions. This is not what God wants to occur, but it is how God made it work; and the Holy Spirit is relentless in making sure that the Father's will is met. Many shrug off guilt by passing off their acts as being in the past and there being no way to right them. In some ways there is truth to this, we can't right our wrongs; but we can right our hearts.

Adam wronged God by allowing himself to be deceived and eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He knew he had disobeyed his Father, and as many children do, he ran and hid. Symbolically, God came looking for Adam, found him hiding, and asked him why. With all the guilt on his shoulders, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve, the serpent.

Likewise Jacob, the younger brother of Esau, deceived his own father into giving him his blessing. By the help of his mother, he presented himself as someone he wasn't to a man that was old and could not distinguish between Esau's hairy arms and lambs wool placed on Jacob's arms. Isaac asked "Who is this?" and Jacob responded he was Esau, his eldest son. With the additional guilt of swindling his brother's birthright from him, Jacob had to deal with his own actions for years as he and his brother separated and lived in different regions. Jacob lived a life of fear of his brother, wondering how and when his brother would come to take revenge.

David, a man after God's own heart, saw a woman that he wanted. He did not care whose wife she was, he just wanted her. He took her, and attempted to cover his tracks using deception. When this attempt failed and his guilt was about to be exposed, David resorted to murder to cover his wrong. Guilt builds, it is embarrassing, and it makes us weak.

The Samaritan woman that listened to Jesus at Jacob's Well, listened intently as Jesus shared His living water with her. As Jesus asked her to get her husband, she confessed there was a man in her life, but he wasn't her legal husband. Jesus let her know that He knew all along by pointing out the five other men that used to be her partners. No condemnation, just the release of guilt and shame of her actions.


As for Jacob, he and Esau matured with time and they began to come together; but just before meeting Esau, God wants Jacob to realize who he is and what he has done. He wrestles with God and at the end, God asks him, "who are you?" He replies, "Jacob." The previous time we read of Jacob being asked who he was, he had replied "Esau." Jacob realizes he is: a liar, a deceiving thief, and a man of ill-gotten wealth. With this revelation, Jacob becomes Israel and a father of the chosen people of God.

David's best friend confronts him about his sin, and David confesses and is set free to once again seek God and to worship him. David can once again draw near to God.

That doesn't mean that all is made in the world, only spiritually. None of the wrongs are corrected physically. Esau still doesn't have his father's blessing. Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, is still dead. The woman's intimacy with multiple men still occurred. Each of these will carry the scars and they live with the affects of what they did, but the confession of sin allowed each of these to sleep peacefully that night. God created guilt, and it is a burden when we try to carry it. God sent his Son to carry that baggage for us. If we are willing to confess that we have the load and release it to the only One that can take it off us, we too can sleep in peace tonight.