Does God Really Care About Christmas?

     I went to the mall this week to buy a last minute gift for my wife and I saw this incredibly long line weaving through the mall.  I began to wonder what they where waiting in line to see.  As I finally got to the front of the line I saw an overweight man with with white hair and a white beard dressed in red and white sitting on what appeared to be a throne of some sort.  I watched as child after child approached this stranger with great fear and trepidation.  The parents of these children encouraged them to sit on the strangers lap for a picture.  After great struggle by the parents and insanity by the camera lady to get the children to smile against their will, the picture was taken and the parents were happy.
     Had I been an alien from another planet I would have thought this ritual was quite strange!  Who is this odd man and why are parents making their kids sit on his lap?  Why do they go to great lengths to try to maintain this myth in their children's minds?  Why do they spent so much money on presents then tell their children that they are from this imaginary man?  
     Before you accuse me of being one of those crazy Christians that thinks that Santa is equal to Satan, I want to bring a different perspective.  I don't think that Santa is the major source of the Christmas confusion.  Neither do I think that people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is a battle worth fighting either.  In the past well-intentioned Christians have boycotted stores because of their refusal to say "Merry Christmas."  Well this year many of the stores caved to the pressure and started saying "Merry Christmas" instead.
     My question is, how many people's eternal destiny was changed from heaven to hell because Wal-Mart cashiers are now saying "Merry Christmas?"  Don't get me wrong I still say "Merry Christmas."  I am just wondering if God really cares about what we call Christmas at all.
     Lets face it, we as Christians celebrate basically the same way non-Christians do.  We fill our time with shopping, holiday parties, wrapping gifts, decorating our homes, over-eating, and spending time with family.  None of which is wrong of course, but it all tends to be quite self-centered.  But do we really stop to think about how God would want us to celebrate the birth of his son?
     To me the way we celebrate Christmas is the like the way we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday.  We give kids a day off from school to celebrate his memory.  Looking at all of what he stood for is that the way he would want to be remembered?
     Look at the first Christmas.  No one who was invited to the first nativity was their for self-centered reasons.  Joseph took Mary as his wife even though she became pregnant before their marriage.  Mary agreed to what the Angel told her even though she knew the social stigma that would be attached to her.  The Shepherds came to worship Jesus and the Wise men travelled for months to bring their gifts to a newborn baby.  That scene was about any of them, it was all about Jesus.
     Now over 2,000 years later we still celebrate Jesus' birth but it seems to be all about us and very little about him.  I don't claim to have all the answers or solutions to this problem.  Neither do I claim to celebrate Christmas exactly the way God would like.
     I also realize that you may think of several ways that you celebrate Christmas that may honor Christ, but if we were to weigh that against our expressions of self-centeredness which would win?
     I know this doesn't feel like a real cheery blog, but after all it is Christ's birthday in the first place maybe we should take the time to ask these sobering questions: "How would Christ want me to honor him on his birthday?"  "Is the way I celebrate Christmas really all about me or about others?"          

I Wish You Would Go To Hell!

    Are you ever appalled by your own selfishness?  I often am.  I recently pulled up to the street corner where Alex begs for money.  (If you would like the back story on Alex please read "I really am a horrible person")  I have reached out to Alex multiple times, initially with a great response but since then it has been hit and miss.  I was in a hurry to get to an appointment and didn't want to bother with him.  So I pulled over in the far lane and hoped he wouldn't recognize me.  Well that didn't work.  He came running across the lanes of traffic to say "Hi" to me. The light turned green and I pulled away.  I immediately felt horrible.
     I realized I had been sucked back into my own selfishness again.  I was trying to ignore the obvious need right in front of me because of its potential inconvenience.  So I decided to make it right.  Alex had mentioned that he was sick.  So I went and bought him some hot soup and coffee and went back to give it to him.  I was reminded again through that experience that compassion or selfishness are moment by moment decisions.  Each day I can live for myself or I can choose to live for something greater.
     Today, I would like to look at the final chapter in the book of Jonah.  Jonah is an example of someone who knows so much about God but who in this story chooses to act so little like him.  God's word says that Jonah is ticked off at God's mercy.  Listen to what he tells God, "Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord?  That is why I ran away to Tarshish!  I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  You are eager to turn back from destroying people.  Just kill me now, Lord!  I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen."
     How appalling!  Jonah has every preacher's wildest dream come true: To preach to a city of 120,000 people and see the entire city repent and turn to God!  Jonah should be dancing in the street, but instead he is sitting on a hill pouting and complaining to God about his mercy.  He is so intense about this that he says he would rather die than see these people not get what they deserve.  He is essentially saying "I wish they would all go to hell!"
     I ask the question again: "How can someone who knows so much about God act so little like him?"  But then I realize that I am guilty of the same thing.  In those moments when my schedule, my priorities and desires are more important to me than sharing God's grace and truth with another person, I am essentially doing the same thing.
     I think all Christians can get sucked into the trap of knowing a lot about God, but not acting like him.  I think that is one of the primary reasons why Non-Christians aren't impressed by Christianity: "They know too many Christians."
     But all they way back in Genesis God declares his purpose for humanity "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.'" I refuse to be someone who knows a lot about God but doesn't act like him.  That is why moment by moment, decision by decision, and choice by choice I determine to follow Christ and become more like him.              

Sheep Wearing A Sackcloth Suit!

     Ever come across something that is so out of the ordinary that it demands your attention?  What if you came across a sheep wearing a suit of sackcloth?  Well, you might think that you are watching a cartoon episode to see an animal wearing clothes.  What if everywhere you look every beast was wearing burlap?  Sounds like a strange dream doesn't it?
     Well, where we pick up the story of Jonah describes this exact scene.  After spending 3 days in the belly of a great fish and being vomited back upon dry ground, Jonah decides to obey God.  He goes to the great city of Nineveh and begins to shout, "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed."
     My first question is "Could Jonah possible have preached a more pathetic message then this."  He doesn't even try to preach to them.  The Bible doesn't record that he even tried to tell them about God.  Obviously his heart is not in this mission at all.  He sounds like a crazy man on the side of the road holding a sign saying: "The end of the world is near."
     Using this approach, you expect the people to totally ignore him but instead the Bible says "The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow."  Even the king joins the people by dressing in burlap and sitting on a heap of ashes.  But that isn't the most extraordinary part of this story.
     The king makes this proclamation: "No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks may eat or drink anything at all.  People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God.  They must turn from their evil ways . . ."  Now that is the kind of leadership that we need today!
     I am amazed at the level of repentance you see in this passage.  Not only does the entire city repent of their sins, but they declare an extended fast from both food and water.  They also dress in burlap and sit in ashes, but they are so serious about this that they make their animals fast and dress in burlap as well.
     How difficult would it be for a shepherd to dress his flock in sackcloth?  How much work would it be to a farmer to clothe his entire herd of cattle in burlap?  It sounds absurd doesn't it, but that is how serious these people were about repentance and following God's words.
     The principle that I find in this Scripture, is that many times people who do not know God are better at doing what he says than those of us who claim to follow him.  I have seen over many years of ministry that the most effective people at bringing others to church with them are not church people, but non-Christians or new Christians.
     I love being around new Christians, because they are so serious about learning God's word and doing what it says.  It is refreshing and challenging to me.  I want to be that serious about learning and doing God's word.  Even if it means looking ridiculous to other people.  Let's be honest, you know the Ninevehites had to been ridiculed by other people for this ridiculous spectacle of all their beasts dressed in burlap.  What if we as Christians were this passionate about learning and doing God's word?  How different would our world look?
    Unlike Jonah, I refuse to become so accustomed to hearing God's word that I completely miss the point.  (We will talk about this more in my next blog.)        

What a Pathetic Prayer!

     I am a father of three children ages 9, 7 and 6.  So needless to say I have heard my share of crying over the years.  It starts with the most beautiful cry you have ever heard: "A babies first cry!"  Then you start to be able to distinguish between different cries.  You have the: "I am wet" cry, "I am tired" cry and "I am mad" cry.  As they get older the cries become different.  Now you have the: "my sister is picking on me" cry, "I don't want to clean my room" cry and "This is so not fair" cry.  I have become quit good at ignoring these cries, but the cry that always gets an immediate response from me is the "I am really hurt" cry.  I come running to the rescue of my children when I know they are in trouble or danger.
     Today we pick up the story of Jonah as he is crying out to God from the belly of a great fish!  I can only imagine how terrifying that place would be.  Jonah describes his life slipping away, and how God rescued him from the jaws of death!  In fact some scholars believe that Jonah drowned in the fish's stomach and that God brought him back to life when he was spat back upon dry ground.  Regardless, Jonah prays this prayer in chapter 2 out of complete desperation.
     As I read this story, I can't help but think about how pathetic Jonah's prayer sounds.  I get mad at Jonah, "It is your own fault, you are there.  You rebelled against God.  He is actually saving your life by having a great fish swallow you."  But then I think about all the times I have cried out to God in my own horrible situations created by my own bad decisions.
     Jonah says, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me."  God is a loving heavenly father and he hears and answers the cries of his kids when they are in trouble.  He may not always answer those prayers exactly the way we would like but he always answers.
     We can be tempted to think that our prayers have to be elegant, theologically accurate and in King James English.  But I think God wants to hear our pathetic prayers.  The word "pathetic" means "having the capacity to move one to a compassionate pity."  God hears our pathetic prayers.  So if you are in trouble today don't stop praying pathetic prayers.  

How can you sleep at night?

     Have you ever asked anyone this question?  Usually the question comes after we have heard about someone else's unwise, unsafe, or immoral behavior.  We ask this question because we think about how our conscience would drive us crazy if we were living the way the other person was.
     But even though we hear God speaking to us by his Spirit (which we call our conscience), we can easily choose to ignore it.  When we consistently choose to ignore God's voice, it can become as if we don't even hear it at all.  God's word gives us the picture of our conscience being "seared with a hot iron."
     We see an interesting picture of this in the story of Jonah.  Jonah was a prophet.  Which means his calling was to hear from God and deliver his messages to others.  Normally, the Israelite prophets delivered messages to God's people: the Israelites.  One day God gives Jonah a different assignment: deliver a message of repentance to the pagan people of Nineveh.
     Jonah hates the idea of pagan people getting the chance to repent.  He thinks they deserve punishment.  So instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah gets in a boat and goes the opposite direction.  He says he was trying to run away from God.  When I read this story, I think to myself, "Silly Jonah, everyone knows you can't run away from God."  But then I realize how often I am guilty of the same faulty thinking.  "God won't see this."  "God won't know about this."  "God won't care about this."
     While they are on the boat a violent storm hits them and they are all fearful that they are going to die.  Everyone except Jonah, that is.  He is down in the boat sleeping!  Jonah is clearing disobeying God, his life is being threatened, and he is sleeping peacefully.
     Jonah: the great prophet has so hardened his heart against God that he seems completely comfortable in his rebellion and defiance!
     Unfortunately, it can be so easy for us to see this in other people's lives but at the same time totally miss it in our own lives.  We can be living in direct rebellion to God's word and yet be so seemingly comfortable in our lifestyle.  The reason we seem so comfortable is that we have ignore God's voice for so long that it is almost as if we don't hear it any more.  This is such a dangerous place to be!  I know because I have been there!
     The only way you and I get of that dangerous place is an unpopular word called "Repentance."  Repentance means that we have such a change of heart that we turn 180 degrees from our sin and head in the opposite direction.  Repentance is not a one time thing.  It is the lifestyle of a follower of Christ.  I have to daily turn from my sin to follow Christ.
     The reason why I am so challenged by this story is that I don't want to have to be swallowed by a fish like Jonah in order for God to get my attention. (I will speak more about this in tomorrow's blog.)
     Today, I repent.  Today, I turn away from my sin.  Today, I refuse to ignore God's voice.            

Are You Naked?

     Have you ever had one of those disturbing dreams where you show up to school or work and you realize your naked?  My thought in my dream is always, "How in the world could I leave the house and forget to put clothes on?"
     Here is a interesting thought: God created us to be naked!  Look at Adam and Eve, it was only after their sin that they felt shame for their nakedness.  Now, before you think that I am trying to have some weird creepy argument for us all to join a nudist colony, here me out.  I am just saying that our life-long obsession to cover up who we really are was never God's plan.
     I think we can try to cover up who we are in many ways: physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, and spiritually.  It doesn't matter if you are a Christian or not, the same temptation is there.
     John addresses a church in the Revelation 3 that is dealing with the same issue, "You say, 'I am rich.  I have everything I want.  I don't need a thing!'  And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."
     For the first 10 years of our marriage, Dianne and were so blessed, but it always felt like money was tight.  Recently, God has blessed us again and it feels like we are more comfortable financially.  Dianne and I have always strived to be generous with God and others concerning our finances, but I must admit it seems like the more I have, the more I want to hold on to it and spend it on myself.
     The words we just read from Revelation are a loud warning to us.  I don't know about you, but I refuse to become rich financially, but become poor in what really matters.  I refuse to become so obsessed with "clothing" that I don't realize how naked I am without God's grace.
     John gives the solution to this dilemma of becoming so blessed that we forget God.  He says in 3:19 "So be diligent and turn from your indifference."  Indifference is so sinister.  It is that "I don't care" attitude that can creep into our lives.
     If you have been reading my recent blogs, you will be familiar with my stories of God challenging me to reach out to a homeless man named Alex.  This morning I drove past Alex's corner and a different homeless man was standing there with a sign.  Upon seeing him, I immediately found myself drowning in a sea of my own indifference again.  I thought of all the reasons why I shouldn't help.
     In that moment, I was "poor and blind and naked."  What I keep learning is that just because you win a battle with indifference one day, doesn't mean you win the war.  That is why John challenges us to be diligent in turning from our indifference.  We must continue to turn from indifference or as John says we become "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."  This is not at all what I want my life to look like.  So I ask you again, "Are You Naked?"           

I ain't going to hell wit ya!

     I was recently listening to some a random Christian hip-hop song I had on my ipod while I was fixing supper.  The message of the song seemed pretty good.  It was a song about standing up to the crowd for God and righteous living.  But the tag line in the chorus shocked me.  It said "I ain't going to hell wit ya!"  

     That seems to me to be a common Christian attitude.  I got my ticket to heaven and I am not too concerned if you get your ticket.  I just hope your wickedness doesn't rub off on me.  

     After recently watching the movie "The Nativity Story" my wife and I were talking about the Christmas story and she asked a great question, "Why did God draw shepherds and wise men to see Jesus?"  "What was the symbolism in drawing these diverse groups of people?"  She then had a theory.  "I think it was to show that Christ had come for all people both rich and poor.  

     I then began to ponder what my wife had said.  God did come to the rich and the poor, but he came as a poor man not a rich man.  That is the wonder that we celebrate at Christmas: EMANUEL "God with us."  God lowered himself to become a man and he challenges us to do the same in Philippians 2 with statements such as these: "Don't be selfish."  "Be humble." "Don't look out for only your own interests."  "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had, he gave up his divine privileges he took the humble position as a slave and was born as a human being."

     I recently wrote about my interaction with a homeless man named Alex in my post "I really am a horrible person!"  Yesterday, I saw Alex again and stopped to give him some food and a winter coat.  I talked with him for a couple of minutes and as I was leaving I saw him crying.  I was reminded of how powerful it is to humble yourself to minister to some one else.  Lest you think I am patting myself on the back, let me remind you I only lower myself for a few minutes when I minister to homeless person, Jesus lowered himself for a lifetime to minister to us.  

     Jesus didn't have the "I ain't going to hell wit ya" attitude.  He had a "I will go through hell so you won't have to" attitude.  How far are we willing to go as Christians so others can know Christ?  What are we willing to sacrifice for them?  Christ was willing to sacrifice everything?