Archive for December, 2010

O Holy Night

Posted in Encouragement on December 24th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

I’ve been singing O Holy Night since I was a child and it is one of those songs that has the power in melody and lyric to still chill my spine, sweat my palms, and take my breath away. Undoubtedly I’m not alone. Now if this timeless song can effect emotions and blood pressure some 2,000 plus years after the fact,  can you imagine the dry mouths and spiked heart palpatations of those who were actually present that “night of the dear Savior’s birth”; the night when the world was introduced to JESUS?

There will never be another night like “that “ night . It was unprecedented; perfectly designed and perfectly fulfilled in every detail. It was an ordinary night that became holy because of the only one who was, is, and will always be holy; without fault; set apart; righteous through and through; God with skin; JESUS.

We live in a world that still struggles with sin and error, still stumbles in weakness and oppression, and still searches for true peace and love.

O Holy Night is poetically crying out, “Stop struggling! Stop stumbling! Stop searching!”

 The “Holy One” has demolished sin, meets us at our greatest point of need, and teaches us how to live in true peace and love.

The “thrill of hope” is not only a historical fact but a daily reality for anyone who has declared “Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever”…and His Name is JESUS.

My resolve this year is a lofty one. I desire that  every word from my mouth, every thought in my head, and every action from my entire body would be a “grateful chorus” of praise and obedience to the One who has broken the chains of an unholy world and touched me with His holiness; to the One who grew from a lowly manger to be my King of Kings and my Suffering Savior…JESUS.

When I think of my sinful condition and His sacrificial intervention, I am deeply humbled. How can I offer any less to JESUS

When I think of that “Holy Night” I think of one of the most stirring and humbling movies I have ever seen, Amazing Grace. It’s the true story of William Wilberforce’s stand off with the British Parliament regarding the abolition of  slave trade. One of the most gripping scenes in the movie was during a conversation between Wilberforce and the nearly blind former slave trader turned minister, John Newton.  As Wilberforce considered the monumental mountain before him, Newton spoke some poignant words to his young friend to help him maintain a heavenly perspective on a seemingly impossible earthly task.

The lyricist of that beloved old hymn, Amazing Grace, told Wilberforce, “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly. I’m a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior!”

O Holy Night directs us beyond where “the stars (were) brightly shining” to a grusome rockface called “the skull” upon which a tree of death was placed. Our great sin  should have hung us on that rugged cross but instead it was willingly occupied by a great, holy substitute, JESUS.

“O night divine”  and its victorious completion, some thirty-three years later, have made it possible for me to enjoy a life divine. I sure hope you are enjoying it as well. 

Wow, will you look at that…sweaty palms. Thank you JESUS.

“His power and glory evermore proclaim!”

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom HIs favor rests.”  Luke 2:14

 

BACK TO BASICS

Posted in Encouragement on December 5th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

While visiting my grandson’s pre-school recently I was reminded of a refreshingly fun book I read a number of years ago entitled Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. I wholeheartedly agree with Fulghum’s simple assessment; “Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School”.

As I watched the sights and listened to the sounds in Caden’s classroom I found myself longing for a world that emphasized the basics of life like they were emphasized in his classroom. Consider what our world would be like if everyone…shared everything, played fair, didn’t hit people, cleaned up their own messes, didn’t take things that weren’t theirs, said sorry when they hurt someone, used inside voices and loved…all of the time. Throw in The Golden Rule, flushing the toilet, Stop-Look-Listen, washing your hands before eating, cookies and milk and a nap in the afternoon, and occasional holding hands and then perhaps we could sing along with Sam Cooke of the 60s, “What a wonderful world this would be”.

Then I got to thinking why our world isn’t always a wonderful place to be; it’s people. We’re the problem. We’re selfish, we cheat, we hit emotionally as well as physically, we get even, we complicate the simple, we leave our messes for someone else to clean up, we steal, we don’t know how to say I’m sorry, we’re loud and obnoxious, we’re too busy, and we love when it’s self-serving. Now we’re not all guilty of all these attitudes all of the time but we all could plead guilty to many of them. We can blow it off by saying, “No one’s perfect” but that still doesn’t solve our world’s woes. How far we have wandered from the simple lessons learned when we were so impressionable, so teachable, so trusting, so obedient.

We can’t change the fact that we are all imperfect people but we can decide to draw upon the only perfect source to bring back the wonderful into our world. Perfect comes from the one who is called Wonderful; Jesus. And Jesus’ plan is to impact the world through his kingdom which can only be experienced and accessed by returning to our childish roots; back to basics. Jesus was very adamant in his expectations when he declared: “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in. Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them” (Mark 10:13-16, The Message).

Jesus is the only one who can bless a life, a family, a nation, and a world with what they are so sorely missing. All he asks is that we step into his kingdom kindergarten and bring our impressionable spirit, our teachable mind, our trusting heart, and our obedient will back to his basics.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9, NIV).