Greg's blog

You Can Still be Merry!

"The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”  (Luke 2:20 NIV) 

We celebrate the birth of Jesus, and then we return to the office, to school, to the things we normally do.

Do you remember that Christmas was just a few weeks ago? (Or are you still thinking about when you’ll take down your decorations?)

The shepherds of Bethlehem returned to their fields. God had sent them to find the baby Jesus in a manger. They marveled at God and knew they’d been blessed to see the Messiah’s arrival, then they returned to their flocks. They returned with an energized faith, glorifying and praising God, but still they returned to their routine.

God takes us to the mountaintop where he shows us great miracles and wonders, but he doesn’t leave us there. It is in the fields and among the flocks that our faith grows, nurtured in the soil of the day-to-day, the mundane. This is where we die to Christ, allowing his life to blossom within us (Galatians 2:20) I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

You may have returned to your routine, but God wants you to know this:

* The things we truly believe emerge day-to-day. It’s the conflicts over who makes the coffee, who cleans up the mess, who gets to go home early, or who gets the biggest piece of pie that tests whether it is Christ who lives in us or if we’re still saying, “No, it is I who live.”

* God wants you to succeed, and he is going to stay with you to help you get it right. As Pastor Jim often says, God is on your side. This means God’s intent is not to catch you doing something wrong; his intent is to reveal where you still need to yield to the Jesus-life growing in you.

* You can still be merry! Don’t we always point out how friendly, cordial, loving, and giving people are during the Christmas season, and then lament the fact that they aren’t like that during the rest of the year? It may be January, but you can still be friendly, cordial, loving, and giving right now. It is a choice!

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy Return to Routine.

Pastor George 

Love Requires Risk

Luke 10:34-35 NKJV

34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.

To love your neighbor as yourself, you must be willing to take risks. Many times, the one thing that keeps us from doing for others is our own fears. Fear makes us unkind. The cruelest people are the most fearful people. Just imagine the fears the Good Samaritan could have had — they were all legitimate.

He could have said, “What if I go over and help this guy, but the robbers are still here? They’ll rob me, too, and take my clothes, my donkey, my riches.”

He could have said, “What if I go over and help this guy, and it’s a trap? He jumps up, beats me up, and takes all my possessions and leaves me by the side of the road?” or “What if he rejects my help?” (Jews and Samaritans were divided by race, religion, and politics) or “What if I get blamed for it?”

Today we might say, “What if he sues me?” or “What if I don’t know what to do?” or “What if I don’t know what to say?”

There’s one big fear we don’t like to talk about, but I need to mention it. We often don’t want to get involved in other people’s pain and brokenness because it reminds us of our own pain and brokenness. We have the pain in our lives pushed down, and we want to keep a lid on it.

That’s why we need to let God grow his love in us, so that we can love others the way God loves us.

The Bible says, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. 1 John 4:18.

What are the things you fear that may be keeping you from loving other people? How did those fears start? Take those fears to God and ask him to help you trust him:

“For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught. (Proverbs 3:26b NKJV).

God's blessing to you,

Pastor George  

Syndicate content