The Blind Men and the Elephant and YOUR view of God.

I remember coming across this poem quite a few years ago and thinking how true it was. Perhaps 

nothing rules our lives more than our particular perspective and view of God. Is your view totally complete?

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)


It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.


The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"



The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"


The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"


The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"


The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"


The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"


And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

What is your view of God based on?  When it is only based on your limited experience, you will be partly right....but you'll also be wrong.

Could you love a God like that?

Author Ken Gire wrote a series of books back in the 90’s that quickly became some of my favorites.  One of them is entitled Incredible Moments with the Savior.  I want to pull a story from that book and see if we can see things a bit differently. 

“Nain is a cozy community carved out of a rocky slope overlooking the valley of Jezreel.  It is springtime, and the valley is a sea of wind-blown grass, frothing with wildflowers; the air, redolent with the blossoms of fruit trees. 

But in the valley of this widow’s heart, it is the dead of winter.

Twice, death has reached its icy fingers into her family and wrenched loved ones from her.  First her husband.  Now her son.  Her only son.

For years she has faced an uncertain future. Now she faces it alone. With no one to hold her hand.  With no one to steady her steps.

No one to comfort her when she cries herself to sleep at night.  No one to wake up to in the morning.  No one to fix breakfast for.  No one to share the holy days, or the common days, or any days at all for that matter.  No one to grow old with.  And no one to look after her in the autumn of life.

No one.

Nothing remains but an empty shell of a house.  A house that years ago gave up waiting for a husband to come home from work.  And now, no longer waits for that husband’s son.

The sagging house is slumped in its own grief, retreating into itself, silent and still.  There are no sounds of animated talk that chronicle the day.  No ripples of laughter.  No late-night conversations.  Only quiet tributaries of grief running from room to room.

Bundled in her heart is a too-short stack of memories.  Not enough to cloak her from the chill of her present loneliness, let alone to keep her warm in her old age.

The open coffin leads the way to the cemetery outside of town.  Trailing in its wake is the weeping mother, relatives, close friends, and other mourners.  Interspersed throughout the procession are the melancholy, dove-like calls of flutes and the plaintive tinkling of cymbals.  A chorus of women chant their laments while men pray and plod along in silent vigil.

But at the same time this crowd is leaving Nain, another crowd is entering.  The one is following a coffin; the other is following Christ.  The one is filled with sorrow and despair; the other, with excitement and hope.

In respect for the dead the crowd following Jesus pulls back, allowing the funeral procession to thread its way through the gate. 

There, life and death stand on two distinct islands.  The bridge between the two is a mother’s grief, arching over a torrent of tears.

When Jesus sees the tears wrung from the mother’s heart, every thought that had preoccupied Him on His journey flees.  The whole of His attention focuses on this shattered woman.

All He knows is her desperation.  All He feels is her pain.  All He sees is her tears.

And those tears are the flame that melts his heart.

Jesus extends his hand to touch the coffin, and the procession lurches to a stop.  He isn’t concerned with protocol or etiquette or even with the fact that touching a coffin would render Him unclean in the eyes of the rabbinic law.  His only concern is for this desperate mother.

“Don’t cry.”

The words are not out of a textbook on pastoral care.  They seep from the cracks of a heart bursting with compassion.  Jesus turns to the woman’s son.

‘Young man, I say to you, get up.’

Two words to the bereaved, eight to the deceased.  But that is enough.  Enough to snatch a son from death’s pilfering hand and return him to the arms of his mother.

The young man sits up and talks!  What he says we are not told.  But surely one of the first words to stumble from his lips is ‘Mother’.

The miracle is an incredible display of the Savior’s power.  But there is something even more incredible about this auspicious meeting at the town gate.

This mother had not asked for a miracle.  She had not thrown herself at the Savior’s feet and begged for the life of her son.  She hadn’t demonstrated great faith.  In fact, she hadn’t demonstrated any faith at all.  As far as we know, she didn’t even know who Jesus was.

That is what is so incredible.

It’s a miracle done without human prompting.  Without thought of lessons to be taught to the disciples.  Without thought of deity to be demonstrated to skeptics.  It is a miracle drawn solely from the well of divine compassion.  So free the water.  So pure the heart from which it is drawn.  So tender the hand that cups it and brings it to this bereaved mother’s lips.”

 (Incredible Moments with the Savior, Ken Gire ©1990, Zondervan,  pp 41-45)

Let me ask you:  Could you love a God like that?  Would you not want to be near One who has already been moved by compassion at your plight?  He has already responded and provided a way for you to be reunited with your loved ones.  Already death has been conquered and only awaits divine Word before it must retreat and give up those it, even now, holds in its icy clutches.  When Jesus, who conquered death, gives the command, there is no power in heaven or hell that can hold back those who will respond to the call of the Conquerer.  I ask you again: Could you love a God like that?

The Return isn’t about the logistics, it’s about the Person.  It isn’t about knowing the facts, as important as they may be, but about knowing the One who, out of love, has already provided for us.  It’s about relationship.

You CAN Begin Again Pt 2

She didn’t think it was that big of a deal, at least not at first. Her boyfriend had only wanted to spend a little time making out, showing her, as he put it, “how much he loved her.” It was exciting to be held in his embrace. It felt good to be physically touched and caressed. But one thing led to the next and before long, raging hormones got the best of them, and found themselves in bed, not only with each other, but with a load of guilt and overwhelming shame. But they loved each other right? How could it be wrong when it felt so right? And yet there was always that nagging feeling in the back of their mind that something wasn’t so right. When all of their friends were gone, when they were apart, and they were left only to the thoughts in their own mind, they both knew, deep down that it wasn’t right. And yet, when they were with each other, they couldn’t control themselves and they found themselves getting more deeply involved, until one day they realized that life wasn’t quite as fun as it once had been. They were fighting more in between their sexual encounters. In fact, life had been reduced to that cycle. Fight and have sex. And the guilt continued to gnaw on them. And she just knew she was going to hell.

He thought that perhaps it was because she just wasn’t the right girl after all, and though he had promised a thousand times that he loved her, he began looking and jumped ship when he saw a prettier face come by. And it wasn’t long before he was involved in another relationship and pledging his love to another, “for all time!”

She could hardly stand herself for the choices she had made, and she liked him less. Something inside her screamed. “Wait!---Do-over!” But she realized that she could never go back, and since she was headed for hell and since a guy had ruined her, she decided that she was going to get her revenge by taking down as many guys as she could. She set out to see if she could seduce someone. At first, she did it for fun. But one day, a guy offered her money, and she realized that she could support herself and mess up guys at the same time. And guys were so stupid, she thought. They are so totally ruled by their hormones.

Weeks turned into months which turned into years. Always it was the same. Men, who just wanted one thing. Men from all walks of life. Business men. Construction workers. Professors. Lawyers. Doctors. And yes, even a few preachers, who always came at two or three in the morning to keep from getting caught. The hypocrites. All of them, professing to live honorable lives, some even having a wife and kids at home.

At least she wasn’t pretending…not anymore. There had been a time when she had told herself that she was still a good person. But not anymore. Now she knew what she was, and had accepted it…except for that same old gnawing feelings of guilt that she couldn’t seem to shake, and that she was headed for hell. And in the middle of the dark and lonely nights after the man of the hour had left her bed, she would lay and stare at the ceiling and wonder if there was no way out.

It happened early one morning. She had just gotten to sleep at 2:30, but at 5:00, just as the sky was starting to turn pale, there was an insistent knocking on her door. She pulled aside the curtain to see one of her regulars, a preacher, looking around and banging on the door. She opened the door and he swept in, angry that she had taken so long to answer the door. “Someone might see me,” he said. “Hypocrite,” she responded.

“Don’t call me that! I give you a good amount of business!”

“Yeah, and a good amount of guilt. If your God is so great, why doesn’t he rescue me from you?”

He pulled out a wad of bills. “Who's the paying customer here? Do you want the money or not? Just shut up and get on with it."

She went into the same weary routine of seduction and soon it was over. Suddenly, the door burst open and in came police officers and a bunch of other ministers. Finally she thought, they’ve nailed the hypocrite. He just sneered at her and picked up the wad of bills that he had laid on the nightstand. But instead of him, they grabbed her and yanked her naked and fighting from the bed, dragged her out into the street and down towards the local church. There was a Street Preacher there. And they threw her down in front of him. Naked and alone. And they began quoting scripture, “Moses said that such a woman should be killed. What do you say?”

You know the story and you know the preacher. Jesus bent down, without saying a word and took off his outer garment and covered her. Then he knelt down and began writing in the dirt. The accusers asked their question again. Jesus stood up and said, “let the one without sin be the one to throw the first rock.” And then he knelt and started writing. One of my favorite Christian writers, Ellen White says that he was actually writing their sins in the dirt, and one by one as they read their own sins written there, they dropped their rocks and slipped away.

When they were all alone, Jesus asked the woman a simple question. John 8:10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

I can imagine her looking up for the first time from the place she has been huddled waiting for the rocks to hit. And as she looks around she is forced to acknowledge that no one is left to condemn her except the one that truly could. John 8:11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus speaks the same words to you and me this morning. Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” Do-over!

That’s the good news. And some of you need that news this very day. Some of you, the Lord has been working on your heart all this week. You’ve had a spiritual struggle going on for a long time, because you know you need to drop the old life and start over, but you keep clinging to your sin. Let it go this morning. Accept before God, that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Confess your sins to Him, and he will forgive and cleanse you from all of your sin. He’ll let you start over.

Simply say in your heart to God: God, I am a sinner in need of your forgiveness. I need you to take my sin and guilt and shame and cover me with your robe of righteousness. 

 

You CAN begin again!!

You CAN begin again! Pt 1.

The summer of my fifth-grade year, a hot new fad took my neighborhood by storm. Many of our neighbors jumped on board immediately, and with a lot of begging and pleading from my sister and I, we were soon the latest in the neighborhood to buy in to the rage of the season. I remember coming home from the store, unpacking the box in the front yard, and while my dad set up the net, my sister and I smacked what was known as a birdie, back and forth. The rage…backyard badminton. Only in our case, we had to play in the front yard, because our back yard sloped away so steeply it made it difficult to play.

Then we were all about hitting the birdie back and forth trying to hit it over the net. We played for hours. Then one day, it occurred to us that there just might be a way to keep score. We read the directions for play and learned about boundaries and scoring. We measured out a regulation court and put out four stakes for the back corners, and tied a string to one and ran it all the way around the court so we could know where the boundaries were. We read about serving and returning. We tried each a few times and returned to the rulebook. We read of strategies for badminton. My personal strategy at the time was just to hit the stupid thing and hope it went over. We read of proper racket grips and we adjusted ours accordingly. And finally, when we had read all we could, we decided it was time to try our first game.

I stepped up to the line, with my racket extended and the birdie held aloft. Swinging through and stepping forward, I promptly caught my foot in the string and my birdie went straight up and straight down, and I immediately cried those words we learn all through childhood whenever we mess up. “Wait! Do-over!” And my sister quickly agreed that because of the string, I was indeed entitled to a do-over. We fixed the string again…this time as close to the ground as possible, and I tried again. This time I didn’t hit it hard enough and it went into the net. “Wait! Do-over!” After the 5th “Do-over” my sister said…”That’s enough! It’s my turn now!”

But after her 5th “Do-over” I was saying the same thing. You need to know that I went on to become a champion badminton player. I took badminton in college for a PE credit, figuring it would a simple A. I’ve never worked so hard at a PE grade in my life as I did competitive badminton. It is definitely not a sissy sport. And there are definitely not any “Do-overs” allowed. You mess up…too bad!

Don’t you love that concept of “Do-over”? Don’t you wish sometimes in life after you’ve just messed up big-time that you could just yell, “Wait! Do-over!” and everything would reset for you just the way it was before you messed up? Wouldn’t that be great?

You say something you really didn’t mean to say, and you can see that your words just devastated the other person—“Wait! Do-over!” and the damage is instantly undone. It’s like you never said anything at all. Or you wreck your parent’s car and injure someone. “Wait! Do-over!” and zzzzzip! You are right at the point before things went awry, and with your new-found knowledge, you can avoid the mistake and move on consequence free. You choose differently and avoid the wreck and no one is any the wiser.

Or you are making out with your boyfriend or girlfriend and things get a bit too hot and heavy and before you realize what has happened, you have gone too far and become sexually involved. “Wait—do-over! And suddenly you have your virginity back with a new knowledge and the ability to choose, once again how you will handle it. This time, realizing the emotional, physical, and spiritual toll it will take, you choose differently and get yourself out of the situation before it gets too serious…and you find that all is well and no one is the wiser.

Or you step out on your marriage for just one night...but the guilt and shame won't leave you and now your spouse has discovered your secret. "Wait--do-over!" And suddenly your marriage is put back together again.

What a great concept, if a simple “Wait! Do-over!” would un-change all the bad mistakes and stupid choices we make or dumb accidents we have because we’re not paying attention. But it’s not that simple. There is no magic do-over rule. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Have you ever experienced that rule? For every choice you make, there is a consequence. That’s the rule. If you want good consequences, you have to make good choices. But if you make bad choices, there are bad consequences to have to deal with. That’s life!

Some of you are carrying heavy loads because of the choices you’ve made. Some of you are absolutely miserable deep under the surface, even though you outwardly are all smiling and joking.

See we live two different lives. One that is on the surface that we let everyone see, and one that is beneath the surface that we desperately try to keep hidden, except from a choice few people that we’ve learned to trust. And you live life scared to death that someone you don’t trust might find out who you really are and not like you because of it, or worse, use it against you.

Some of you have done stuff that you badly wish you could go back and undo. Perhaps some of you even did stuff this past week that you have been kicking yourself for and hoping and praying that no one finds out about.

You desperately long for a Do-over. A new beginning. One that says….ok…I have really screwed things up in my life, but wait—do-over!!! I just want to be at peace inside myself. I just want to be able to look at myself in the mirror again and know that I’m an ok person. I just want to be loved for who I am. I want to drop this load of guilt and shame. And I just wish I could start all over and not be so stupid and make the same mistakes.

Did you know the Bible says that there is such a thing as a do-over. While it can’t erase all of the consequences of your sin and bad choices, it can make you appear, to God, as though you had never sinned. Grab your bibles, let’s go on a quick trip to the land of do-overs.


Romans 3: 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Man’s condition is rotten. Basically, God is saying: “I DO know all about you. I know your heart. I know your deeds. And they are not good. In fact, Romans 3 goes on to say: 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus

Did you see that? All have sinned and fall short. That means that the pastor has stuff in his life that needs as much forgiveness as you do. That means that I am as much of a sinner as you are, and there are things in my life that I want to keep hidden as much as you do. And how can I condemn you when I have sin in my life? Does that mean that I can just excuse your sin because I want you to excuse mine? No…if we did that for each other, it would still leave us in a miserable mess.

Romans 6:23 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If I keep doing the things I have done, I deserve death. There is no hope. I’m up the creek without a paddle. I’m in a sinking ship with no hope. I’m drowning in a sea of sin. If I just stop at the beginning of that phrase, it’s hopeless. Oh, but praise God, I don’t have to stop there. BUT…the gift of God.

What does gift mean?
Can I earn it?
Can I buy it?
Can I barter for it?
Can I trade for it?

John 3:16    “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

I can do nothing except receive it. How?

By faith. By simply trusting in His sacrifice. Trusting in the completed work of what Jesus did on the cross and claiming it for your own. He said that if I would receive His gift, He would put his life’s record in place of mine. I can’t add anything to it. It’s perfect. It’s the biggest do-over possible!

When Satan, the accuser of the brethren comes and says, “Keele is mine…he’s sinned and he’s sinned big! I want him and you must release him to me”, God the Father looks over at Jesus…and instead of seeing my record riddled with sin and mistakes, He looks at me THROUGH Jesus…as though I had never sinned. Jesus simply says, “My blood, Father. He has accepted my blood.” And God looks back at that old serpent, the devil and He says, “Devil! You don’t know what you’re talking about! NOW GET OUT OF HERE AND LEAVE MY CHILD ALONE! And I am saved from the accusations. Saved from the Devil. Saved from eternal death. Is that Good News or what?

Ok…so what do I do?

 Confess.

 

1John 1:8,9    "If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.  9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness."  

Confess that you have done wrong. God already knows it. You already know it. Tell the truth! And determine to turn away from sin. Don’t keep wallowing in the miry quicksand of the sin that has sucked you in. Get out of it. Turn away. Don’t just casually say…oops, sorry God. Oh well. Hehe.

But confess it and ask him for power to turn away from it. And claim Jesus as your Savior.

1 John 5: 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

God wants you to have the assurance of your salvation. He says that if you have accepted the Son of God into your life, you may KNOW that you have eternal life. And that’s cause to celebrate. That’s cause to be happy. Knowing that you have been released from your past. Knowing that you also have grace to live for the future.

Learn to accept it...then learn to offer it.

DO-OVER! Starting with a Clean Slate

It is right, at this time of year, for us to pause to reflect over the past year. It is good to see how the Lord has blessed and how His leading has brought us through both tragedy and triumph. But have you taken time to reflect on whether your life has made a difference in the past year…especially for the cause of God? Have you considered how your life will make a difference this next year? 

Have you ever considered how even seemingly small things can make a huge difference in the outcome of things. Take temperature for an example. Consider how things change when the temperature changes.

What happens when things get cold? At 45 you grab your coat on the way out the door. At 32, water freezes. 28- Human skin in danger of frostbite. –27. Ammonia changes from liquid to gas.

What happens when things get hot? 90 is the melting point of butter. 100- crank up the air (that happens for me at about 80) 140 5-second exposure to the human skin causes 3rd degree burns. 212- boiling point of water.

Isn’t it interesting that in the physical environment, just a change of temperatures can cause so many reactions?

Just think about how a change in temperatures affects you. Have you ever stopped to realize that a change in temperatures causes you to change? If you are person that loves cold weather, then you may have gotten up in the past few weeks and found yourself invigorated by the cold, crisp mornings. On the other hand, if you don’t like the cold, or if you are like my wife and hate the cold, then you have suffered through the past few weeks, perhaps huddled around a wood stove or a gas heater or something else that radiates warmth.

If you are like me, let it hit 90, and my whole disposition changes. It’s too stinkin’ hot and I just want to stay in the A/C where I can live a normal life.

No, I don’t want to go on a picnic—or a bike ride—or anything that requires me to haul my body outside. Mowing the lawn happens as close to sunrise or sunset as possible in order to protect against meltdown. Sandy, on the other hand, always wants to open the windows and just enjoy the summer. I can tell you, that makes for an interesting marriage, but that’s a whole different blog post, so I’ll not get into it here.

I just find it interesting, that just a change in temperature can cause reactions in not only our physical world around us, but in us as well.

But did you notice what happened to things that stayed at room temperature? Nothing. In the physical world, no temperature related reactions take place at room temperature. Have you noticed the same is true for us? We are able to relax at room temperature. Not too hot…not too cold. Just right. Ahhhhhhh.

Thank you Pastor Don, for this incredible lesson in science and physiology, but that isn’t what I came to read. Come on Mabel, let’s go, we have other stuff to do.

Hold on, Mabel…not so fast. Here’s the point. In this season of evaluation, recognizing that just a change in temperature can cause a reaction in the physical world, have you stopped to reflect on your life? That’s the question that needs to be asked! Is your life, more specifically, your spiritual life, causing any reactions? Are you really who you say you are, or have you just settled for a room temperature faith existence? Do you see a reaction, any reaction, to the way you live out your faith?

When was the last time you heated someone up spiritually? Or when was the last time you found yourself chilling someone’s enthusiasm for the gospel?

Jesus isn’t saying that he wants you to be cold. But He is saying that He would rather you be cold towards your faith than just lukewarm. If you were cold, people would at least know where you stand. If they wanted to be cold in their faith walk, they could come join you. If they want to be on fire in their faith walk, they could avoid your chilling effects on their lives. But lukewarm? Nasty…God says.

You ever had a hot day where you got really thirsty while mowing the lawn or doing some yard work and you just couldn’t wait to rush inside and pop open a can of lukewarm Sprite? Nasty. It foams everywhere and leaves you feeling more unsatisfied, and just as thirsty.

Or what about that cold day where you are out raking leaves and getting chilled? You rush inside to grab that nice cup of lukewarm chocolate…not hot chocolate…lukewarm. It just doesn’t do it for you.

It doesn’t do it for God either. Notice in Revelation 3: 15,16

Rev. 3:15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Some versions translate that word: spew, implying not just a spitting out, or emptying the mouth, but a violent and rapid evacuation of the mouth. A spewing forth. So we see that with God, lukewarm does cause a reaction. And it isn’t positive.

God is saying that He wants His people to be hot, to be on fire for Christ. If not, then be cold. Lukewarm isn’t a state He wants His people in. What causes “lukewarm-ness”? Verse 17 gives us a hint.

17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

You’ve grown comfortable with where you are. You feel like you are doing ok. You feel like, in the spiritual realm, you are all right. You’ve accepted Christ. You’ve given up things that you needed to get rid of. You’ve walked, or at least lounged, on the path of righteousness for a long time…so you figure you’ve got it pretty well made in the shade with a glass of lemonade.

But God says that you’re real condition is less than ideal. He says you are wretched. He says you are pitiful. He says you are poor. He says you are blind and naked. In essence, God is saying that your self-sufficiency can cause, or has caused or is causing your spiritual walk to go bad. He’s saying that you’ve grown soft in the middle of the battle. He’s saying that you’ve grown so used to the comforts and accouterment of modern life in America, that you’ve forgotten this isn’t your real home.

And so He sends a new year—a giant conspiracy of grace—a colossal do-over, so that we can stop and re-assess where we are in life, and once again start with a clean slate.

I suppose one of the greatest things about a new year, is that, though many in our society say they don’t believe in God, they participate in one giant celebration of Grace. A colossal “do-over” as it were. The world, at this one time of year, gets a glimpse of grace. It’s as if they have read and understand God’s words in the book of Isaiah

Is. 43:18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Every one is ready to forget the past and start fresh. Everyone desires a clean slate.  How will you write the next chapters of your life?  Will your life make a difference for someone else this year?

“Today we are going to draw a picture,” Timmy’s kindergarten teacher announced.

Good, Timmy thought. He liked to draw pictures. He could draw lions and tigers and trains and boats. He took out his crayons and began to draw.

But the teacher said, “Wait, it’s not time to begin.” She paused until everyone looked ready. “Now,” she said, “we are going to draw flowers.”

Good, Timmy thought. He began to draw beautiful flowers with his orange and pink and blue crayons.

But the teacher said, “Wait.” She drew a picture of a flower on the blackboard. It was red with a green stem. “There,” she said, “now you may begin.”

Timmy looked at his teacher’s flower. He liked his better, but he didn’t say anything. He just turned his paper over and made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red with a green stem.

A few days later the teacher said, “Today we are going to make something with clay.”

Good, Timmy thought. He could make all kinds of things with clay—snakes and snowmen and elephants and mice. He began to pinch and pull his ball of clay.

But the teacher said, “Wait, I’ll show you how.” And she showed everyone how to make a dish.

So Timmy rolled his clay into a ball, flattened it, and made a dish like the teacher’s.

Timmy learned to wait and watch and make things just like the teacher’s. And pretty soon he stopped making creations of his own.


Then one day Timmy’s family moved to another city, and Timmy started at a new school. On his first day, Timmy’s new teacher said, “Today we are going to draw a picture.”

Good, Timmy thought. And he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do. But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room. When she came to Timmy, she said, “Don’t you want to draw a picture?”

“Yes,” said Timmy. “What are we going to draw?”

“Well, I don’t know until you draw it,” the teacher said.

“How should I make it?” he asked.

“Why, any way you like.”

“And any color?”

“Any color,” the teacher said. “If everyone drew the same thing in the same color, how would I know who made what?”

“I don’t know,” said Timmy. And he began to draw a flower. It was red with a green stem.

When Timmy was very young, he was robbed of his creativity. His teacher told him that there was only one way to draw a flower or shape a lump of clay.

You may be more like Timmy than you realize. You have the potential to draw outside the lines, to be creative, to use your talents and gifts in a remarkable and unique way, but the world has told you that you can’t do it.

The world we live in conditions us at an early age to believe that we all have to look the same, act the same, and think the same. The world tells us that we must walk in lock-step with them, through the seasons, through whatever it is. And we often blindly follow along. So, when we(I mean society, not the church) ring in the new year, we have to be at a party, dancing, drinking and waiting for that magical moment when one year rolls into the next. Next comes the month of love, and you are supposed to give out cards and candies with printing on them and be especially sweet to your special love. Then later on, when it’s time to party at Carnival, society says, go ahead, be vulgar and crude. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it in the name of fun. And if you’re a bit inebriated and do some really wild things…well, that’s just part of it. After all, this is your last chance before Lent and you have to be all spiritual for awhile.

Then there’s Easter, and we all pause to remember Christ rising from the tomb and we dare to imagine if God’s grace might cover us for all the stupid things we did at Carnival. But once that slips behind us, there’s a call to be a little wild at Spring break, and who are we to argue? Then it’s be nice to mom day. So we run buy cards and chocolate and some nice gift. When those hot summer days come, the world says, especially to the young…stay out late and explore. Do what you want, because after all, it’s summer. And many even in the church, follow that call. And in the middle of that, we stop and have a be nice to dad day. When society says that it is time to be patriotic, then we stand at attention and chant the pledge of allegiance and watch fireworks. Next we go back to school with little to look forward to except remembering those who work and remembering those who died in battle. When the season calls for halloween, society says buy candy and dress up, and do a few devilish tricks or be downright rotten and show a little of your dark side. And then, a few weeks later, when the calendar says be thankful, we gather and kill the fatted turkey, and talk about how thankful we are for all of God’s bounties…or at least for our own hard work that put all of the money in the bank and the food on the table.

And finally, we come to the Christmas season, and the norm is to act a little nicer, be a little more generous, let a few more things go that ordinarily we would nail people for, and of course, buy, buy, buy, so that our loved ones and significant people on our list will know that we love them, or at least would consider it a major faux pax if we were to not get them something. And then we start the cycle over again. And the scary thing is, the church is not far behind the rest of society in these things. What am I saying, that we shouldn’t celebrate holidays? Not at all. But we must recognize that we, like Timmy, have been programmed by society. And often, we go through the holidays and do everything the world does and never stop to think that we have been called to more. And when Jesus calls us to be different, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to respond to his call.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). If we are going to live the miracle of Christmas all year, that is, live in the joy of Jesus all year, we have got to allow Jesus control of our lives and break out of the mold the world is trying to squeeze us into.

History Shaped in a Cradle

The year was 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births.

For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England’s finest statesman. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner.

On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby’s name? Abraham Lincoln.

If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I’m certain these words would have been heard: “The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today.” But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news—when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Saviour.

Isn’t it amazing that we have gotten so good at determining what is important and what is insignificant? We are masters of deciding, in a split second, what really matters. And isn’t it equally amazing that oftentimes we are dead wrong in our assessment?

We ascribe worth to the worthless and demean things that are truly of value. We value cash in our pockets more than the homeless man on the street all the while saying that we believe in the sanctity of human life. We devalue what we don't like or don't understand and we place a higher value on what we wish we had.

If the Baby in the manger teaches us anything it is to assess our own value systems. He left the wealth of heaven to come to a sinful, fallen world. He valued YOU and me more than life itself. Now that's some value!!