Christmas Is Illogical!

My Christmas blog.

God isn't asking us to explain the Christmas story, that is to make logical and absolute sense of it. It is not possible that we could, for it is, after all, the most illogical account of love that has ever been told and recorded. It is the account of the totally irrational, nonsensical and preposterous, and some would say absurd love a creator has for his creation; passion that a designer has for his design; the love of the lover for the beloved. But though God isn't asking us to explain it He is asking that we be witness of it, and yes, you can be a witness of what you have seen but can't explain. When a child sees a shooting star does she deny what she saw because she doesn't yet understand what she saw? I dare you to find a single participant in the biblical narrative of the Christmas story, who could, or even tried to explain what they saw, and I double dog dare you to find one who would or could deny what they saw. Three scholars from the east traveled, some say for years, not to explain the star they followed, but only to worship the one to whom the star lead them. Shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem didn't come to the stall where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were, in order to explain the angelic appearance and announcement, but they did come because of it. I see now that the purity of God's love can never be contaminated by the filth of the lives it embraces; that the strength of God's love can't be dimished by the weaknesses of those it is held out to; that the depths of the oceans of God's love can never be measured by the puddles we are standing in now, nor can the reason for His love be discouraged by our inability to "get it". At times it seems to me that God hung the stars in space and set galaxies spinning just for the sheer joy of it, to keep us guessing and searching, (whether humanity knows it or not we need to be kept guessing and to keep searching). By unanwerable questions and undiscoverable details God has ensured that we will keep looking up even when continuing to seems a most irrational, preposterous and absurd waste of one's life. But, this is, I  think, the way it is for witnesses, for those who can't help but look up, to talk about what they've seen, heard and experienced regardless if what they do, what they "waste" their time on seems a most absurd thing to those who have yet to see what they have seen and to hear what they have heard. The delay of details does not mean the absence of them. One day for those who have continued to look up, the irrational, illogical and absurd love of God will come into perfect focus. On that day details that out number the stars in the Milky Way by a million to one, will be revealed with clarity that will make every starry-eyed witness dance a jig while shouting; "I knew it. I just knew it.", and sing a song that confirms what many have suspected all along. Hadels' Messiah....that was just choir practice.

   Merry Christmas, fellow witnesses, Merry Christmas. Keep looking up.

Silence

How odd that one of my greatest enemy as come to be one of my dearest friends. Silence - how I once hated you, and at times still dislike you, but now I can not live without you, and so often can't wait to retreat into you again.

"You will not come to Me." "Come unto Me..."

  "You will not come to me that you might have life." John 5:40
  "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:23

   I know you are busy so I will get right to the point. I had no idea that the English words "come" as used to represent the original Greek words in these two verses, were so unbelievably far apart in meaning and intent. In John 5:40 where the author records the words Jesus spoken to some Jews who had come to kill him, the English word "come" is translated from the Greek word "erchomai", which means to come from one place to another. In Matthew 11:23 the English word "come" is the Greek word "deute" which seems to be best understood as a strong plea or invitation, "Please, come here!, Come now!"
   The word "come" in John 5:40 can be understood to be a statement of reality and rebuke, while in Matthew 11:23 it is an invitation to be accepted, a passionate offer to be accepted and embraced. To the Jews who were out to destroy him, Jesus said. "You refuse to leave where you are so you can come to me and live. If you stay there, all hundled up in your pride and positions, and in your rules and regulations, you will die." But, to the physically and spirtually weary people who were in the crowds that followed Jesus, who hung on his words and stood amazed in his presence; to those who the religious leaders and officials continued to burdened down with rites and rules, the LORD of Glory opens his arms and with a word compels them to walk right into the heart of the Father. "Deute! Deute! Quickly, quickly, come to me now! Leave that burdensome, baggage behind. As a matter of fact, throw it on that pile over there with the others. Now, come unto me and I will give you the repose and rest you need, for the rest I give... it is one that goes beyond the physical or emotional levels. My rest is a deep rest, one that penetrates down into your soul. Come, lay beside still waters for awhile. Deute! lay down in green pasture. Let me restore and refresh your soul, strengthening you to go on. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

    I know you are busy, so I will stop here. I hope you will too. Stop here, right here where the arms of Jesus are held open wide, extended in your direction. Could you get around his reach? Sure, if you really want to, but he would prefer you didn't. He wants you to stop right here, here, and walk right in. That's what the invitation is for! But you're hesitating! Yes, you are! You are too! Oh I wish you wouldn't, but you are. Why? Stay tuned and I will tell you why. Ok, I will give you a hint. Just because you have had baggage ever since you can remember does not mean you were meant to.        

The Speed of Prayer

My good friend Cliff Boardman send this to me this. I thought it is so wonderful that it desires a big audience. With his permission I am posting it.

"Have you ever wondered how soon could God answer your prayer? We know from experience that sometimes we must wait, as hours turn into days and days turn into weeks. But I’m talking about a prayer that reduces us to tears and instills in us a sense of panic. Sometimes we find ourselves in a desperate situation and we believe that we need an answer from God or a miracle now. I am very thankful for the prayers of others, which include prayers for healing, strength and endurance to go through another medical valley. The speed of computers sends us a prayer request quite often. Someone is in an emergency room and is requesting that you pray. Do you simply say “God help them.” or, do you bow down on bended knee, with a fully surrendered heart and ask God for immediate help? Does your relationship to the injured person make a difference? How fast can God answer? I believe the answer is found in Isaiah 65; 24 “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” I ask you, how fast is that?

Some might say this scripture refers to a new world, as the prophet Isaiah writes, that is in the future. Verse 24 is in quotes, which means God is saying this in His voice. This is a promise of God. This says something about the power of God. If God can do this in the future, He can certainly do this now, because scripture tells us God changes not. God will not suddenly have more power in the future than He does now. Take comfort in knowing that God hears your prayer and will answer in His time."

Cliff Boardman 12/17/11

God's Word - God's Witness

"I have stuck unto thy testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart." Ps 119:31-32

   In every day street language here is how I read what the Psalmist is saying. "Lord, I have done my best to cling, to adhere to what You have said about Yourself and about what You require. Please don't deny. Don't let me be disappointed. I will take off like a runner on a mission if You will increase the amount of You my heart can hold."

   It is somewhat of a  revelation to think that God's Word is actually His own first-hand witness of Himself. To believe what God's witness (His Word) is saying about God is to believe what God has said about Himself. His words are His own witness. This becomes even more meaningful when I understand and believe that Jesus is actually the Word of God incarnated into human form. Everything Jesus said and did He did as God's witness, as the testimony of God.

   If you have been around Christendom long enough you are probably already saying "I know all this!", but do you really? To know in the head is not the same as to know in the heart. Personally, I have not held a high or holy enough view of God's witness, His life-giving, living and active, Self-revealing, Word.

   Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. Lord, I see men as trees walking. I want to see clearly. Lord, please open the eyes of my understanding. Please, enlarge my heart by Your Word, then pull the trigger on the starting pistol.   

  

Thy Cross

Thy Cross



Thy cross, Thy cross, Thy cross, O Lord,
How it stands throughout the centuries,
And decades, unto every generation.
Towering over the carnage of human history,
Casting its shadow over the butchery and brutality
That spews out from every heart that rejects its bloody remedy.

This cross, Thy cross, must become my cross.
Its ignominy and infamy I must accept,
And run to where its shadow may fall on me.
For in my heart are found the deep, dark paths of sin.
The corridors that demons negotiate
To breach the limits of a bodiless subsistence,
And with cunning learned throughout the ages of man,
Find those through whom, whether they claim ignorance or
Ignorantly boast of full cooperation,
Lucifer removes all doubts as to his existence.

Over against the jagged edges of chaos,
Up out of the shambles of the chronicles
Of little kings and petty princes,
Stands the only and final hope for humanity,
The cross of Jesus Christ.
Upon which the Almighty utter words
Nearly too loving to embrace,
Too magnificent to believe,
Too august to come from the lips of a naked,
Condemned and unrecognizable man.
And would be,
If the man where not a lamb,
If the lamb were not a lion,
And the lion were not The King.
“Father, forgive them,
For they know not what they do.”

Living, Dying & Believing

   There is just no way around it....our faith defines us. Regardless of our faith position; what we think we believe, or say we believe; whether we have faith to believe God is there, or faith to hope He is not... our faith defines us. What we truly believe shapes our lives, and this fact is beyond our manipulation and control. Therefore, how we live exposes what we really believe. This, I think, is why the scriptures are right when they reveals that a tree is known by it's fruits.

  But, there may be one other situation that will uncover our true beliefs more how we live does... that is how we die. How we face the finale' of ours lives in this world will probably speak more about what we believe than our words ever could.

My Ways, God's Ways

    I am taking myself through a little study on Psalm 119. Verses by verse, and in some cases almost word by word, I am slowly making my way through this extraordinary Psalm. This morning I spent my time in verses 25 and 26, and has been the case with all the verses up to now, I find myself amazed at the raw realities of life that the Bible actually gets down to, and the solutions to life's problem we find in its pages. 

    First the verses, then my humble interpretation of the verses as I prayed through them and looked to apply the truths to mine own life. Psalm 119:25-26 "My life is down in the dust, give me life through Your word. I told You about my life and You listened to me; teach me Your statues."

    LORD, through the events of life the very essence of who I am, my appetites, my emotions, my physical body, even my very breath, has been brought down to the dust. What You formed me of and where I have been brought down to are the same. Ashes to ashes; dust to dust; I am now laying in what You made me of. But, in all this, even though life has not gone as I planned, in all this I still have this one hope, that You would speak, and by Your words breath life back into my racked body and deflated dreams. That You, my God, would lift me again out of the dust. 

   LORD, I told You about my ways, the road I am on, the course my life has taken, my journey, and You responded. Yes LORD, I told You my ways, now teach my Your's, the things You have prescribed, the specific actions I need to take, so that according to Your word and ways, and even by them, I can be revived. I thank You that Your words are living and active, and get down to the real meat of life, and that by them and through them I can actually, really, and truly live.

   The words of an old familiar hymn come to mind. "Speak them over again to me, wonderful words of life. May I more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life."