WHAMM: December 2023

Monday, December 25, 2023

Dreams of a White Christmas

The other day, we went to the lake for a picnic dressed in shorts and short sleeve shirts. On December 20. Five days before Christmas. The day before the winter solstice. It was 74 degrees. I’m still not used to the December winter in Arizona. Having spent most of my seven decades in Michigan, December means snow. Christmas is supposed to be white. Even though every horizontal surface and much of the vertical surface in our home is covered with Santas and elves and reindeer and angels and nativities, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas.

As I thought about this incongruity, it occurred to me that I had fallen prey to the ghost of Christmas present: the consumer driven marketing program of this age. It seems harmless on the surface, but even my favorite seasonal movie, White Christmas is about romance and revenue with a dash of philanthropy tossed in for good measure. Having watched it every Friday after Thanksgiving for fifty-some years, I can safely say that the words Jesus, Bethlehem, Savior, or God are not in the script. I’m ashamed to say that all our favorites score a zero on religious theme presentation: Miracle on 34^th Street, Scrooge, The Santa Clause, Yes Virginia; There is a Santa Clause. The only movie we watch every season that hints at a Scriptural meaning in Christmas is Scrooge, and although It’s a Wonderful Life implies that there is another dimension, I wouldn’t recommend getting your theology from Frank Capra.

Unless you tune in a Christian radio station, the same thing holds true in music of the season. Popular Christmas music has nothing to do with Christmas. “Deck the Halls,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause,” “Jingle Bells,” “Silver Bells,” “The Christmas Song” aka “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” etcetera ad nauseum. It isn’t hard to imagine that in 336 A.D. when the Roman Catholic Church replaced a pagan holiday with the Christmas celebration, the drift from its true meaning began. Emperor Constantine may have thought he was doing Christianity a favor when he substituted it for emperor worship as the state religion, but it hasn’t worked out that way. For all but the devout few, Christmas is for all intents and purposes a pagan holiday today.

Many years ago, I attempted to counter the secularization of Christmas decorations by making a window display patterned after a drawing from the Bethel Bible Series. It showed a cradle sitting below a cross that was overshadowed by a crown. That is the true message of Christmas: cradle, cross, and crown. Believers have a perfect opportunity at this time of year to explain why Jesus came to earth. The cradle stories are warm and fuzzy, but the cross route to the crown gets messy. As I have written previously, most of our nonbelieving neighbors have no concept of sin, so they cannot fathom that a sacrificial, substitutional death is necessary. It’s actually worse than that; most don’t even believe that a Creator God exists, or if He does, they feel no responsibility toward Him.

The true meaning of Christmas is what makes Christianity unique among world religions. Only Christianity has a Creator God who makes the necessary sacrifice to bring people into a right relationship with Him. In every other religion, it is the people who must sacrifice to appease their god. The worst of these involve human sacrifice, but all require giving something of value to assuage the god’s wrath. Our God poured out His wrath on His one-and-only beloved Son on our behalf. That is unimaginable!

The prophet Isaiah was one of the earliest to detail how God’s righteous requirements would be met. The prophet foretold how God’s righteous Servant would suffer and die for His people. His message begins with this imagery: “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow.” There it is. I am dreaming of a white Christmas – one in which the scarlet stain of sin is made snow white, one in which the Babe from the manger changes the swaddling cloths for the white robes of the King of the universe. I know that will not fully happen until the whole world is made new, but I can dream.

Monday, December 18, 2023

Why Did God Do That?

I have probably said dozens of times that when something bad happens we should not ask why; we should ask what, not looking for God’s reasons but for our response. I have written many times on this subject, and some of the articles are linked below. I am finishing the book of Acts in my daily reading, and Paul’s life and ministry is foremost in my mind. As far as we know from the biblical record, Paul had the greatest influence on church history of all the Apostles. It was through his efforts that the gospel was spread throughout the Roman Empire, and his writings comprise the lion’s share of the New Testament.

With such a prominent position, you might expect Paul to have been especially blessed: doing God’s work; getting God’s blessings. The biblical record says otherwise. For starters, he was on the wrong side of the new work God began with the introduction of Messiah. Paul was what we would call a staunch conservative when it came to Jewish law. Being a Pharisee, he was in Jesus’ crosshairs much of the time. Perhaps Paul was not among the hypocritical group Jesus criticized, but he was certainly mistaken about the true nature of Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God. Paul’s zealous persecution of the disciples of Jesus make him the seem like the least likely choice for the work God had planned.

But there it is. On his way to arrest the Christians in Damascus, Paul had a one-on-one encounter with the risen Messiah. Blinded and led by the hand into the city, he had three days to reconsider his position. When Ananias told him the plans God had for him, he was sufficiently humbled to take him at his word. After he began meeting with the church in Damascus, you might think his troubles were over. Not so. The Jews he had turned away from came to the city to do what he had been sent to do: arrest him as a blasphemer. He had to sneak out of the city by night.

At this point, Paul’s circumstances become a little unclear. We know from what he told various people in his letters that he travelled home to Tarsus and later to Jerusalem. During these “missing years,” he spent considerable time in the Arabian desert being taught by Jesus Himself. He also reports spending time in “heaven,” but he is unsure whether he was in or out of his body at the time. He was told things during that unique experience that he was not allowed to share with anyone. Imagine that!

When his missionary journeys began, Paul was already a well-respected member of the early church leadership. His supernatural call and his unique time with Jesus would seem to have placed him in a position of privilege. Again, not so. Throughout his journeys, Paul was imprisoned several times, beaten with rods, stoned to death (they thought), and shipwrecked while on his way to trial before Caesar himself. We are told he spent two years in prison in Caesarea, and we believe he spent as much as two years under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial. Yet he was not discouraged. He told the Philippians, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”

This was not the first time God used less than pleasant circumstances to further His plans. Consider that Joseph spent years in prison in Egypt before he was used by God to save His people. Moses spent 40 years in the desert tending his father-in-law’s sheep before God called him. Jeremiah was detained on more than one occasion for speaking God’s word to the Jewish leaders. One might also question why God left his people without a witness for four hundred years between the last prophet and the revelation of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah.

The most egregious slight of all would seem to be that God’s own Son was rejected and murdered by the people He came to save. Every Christian is familiar with Peter’s explanation of why that happened: “this man [Jesus], delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing to a cross through the hand of lawless men. God raised Him up, having brought to an end the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” It was God’s “determined plan” to bring salvation to all who believe through the death and resurrection of His Son. Hallelujah!

Many years ago, I suffered ministry burnout and left my career as a Christian school teacher. I intended to take a short sabbatical but instead I spent twelve years driving a truck. Looking back, I can see that God used that time to reshape my thinking and my behavior. Satellite radio in the truck provided hours of Christian teaching and music, and I did some serious soul searching as well. I asked myself if God had put me “on the shelf” like He did with Paul’s prison time and Moses forty years in the desert. My wife will testify that I am a different person – a better person for having spent that time away from paid ministry. I think I am a better witness for Christ than I was before.

Paul encourages believers to examine themselves to be sure they are living appropriately. God can use every season of our lives for His purpose. We need to be sure we are getting the most out of our circumstances and doing the best we can to fulfill God’s will for our lives. If you are not completely happy with your circumstances, maybe you need to ask not why, but what is God doing that is for your benefit and for His perfect will in your life. One of Paul’s most surprising statements comes after having lived through his many trials and tribulations: “I have learned to be content in whatever state I am.” He could undoubtedly see why God had done all that He had done. We need to imitate Paul.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Comfort Ye My People

I have just spent the last few days in bed with a cold and fever that made me miserable. Coughing, sneezing, shivering, and aching all over got me down. Here on day seven, I still have a lingering cough, and my stamina isn’t what it should be, but at least I don’t hurt everywhere. If it sounds like I am whining, I am. If you ask my wife, she will confirm that I have been whining for the whole week.

A couple of days ago, I read about the Apostle Paul’s trials and afflictions during his missionary journeys. You probably know the ones I am talking about – the ones he called “light and momentary.” My immediate response to myself was, “MAN UP, wuss!” The fever may have left me feeling like I had been stoned and left for dead, but Paul actually was stoned to death (they thought), among other physical and verbal insults to his person. If he could call his light and momentary, mine were insignificant by comparison.

Paul puts a positive spin on his troubles by telling the Corinthians that “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Five times he uses “comfort” to explain what God has done so that we can imitate His comfort towards others. It’s my turn. My wife caught the bug I brought home (Isn’t that always the way?). Now I get to take Paul’s advice. (Pardon me. I have to get my wife another dose of Emergen-C.)

I can also think of a couple family issues I have had to suffer that helped me to comfort friends when they had problems with kin. It is good to have someone to come alongside and bolster your strength so that you can find a place of forgiveness that allows healing to begin. Had I not suffered indignity and found that God’s grace could bring me back to loving forgiveness, I think my advice to my friend would ring hollow. “Been there; done that” is the only qualification you need to offer genuine comfort.

This got me thinking about the level of comfort we take for granted in America today. Got a headache? Take a Tylenol. Got a stomachache? Take a Pepto. Got a muscle ache? Take some ibuprofen. Got a heart ache (the emotional kind – not the cardiac kind)? Take an antidepressant. We don’t want to put up with the tiniest discomfort; we want instant relief. We want comfort. That thought led me to the well-known passage in Isaiah, “Comfort ye, my people.” I realized that God's offer through Isaiah was not a Tylenol or a Band-Aid type of comfort. It was more along the lines of “My Servant is going to die, but He will rise from the dead on schedule.” Therefore, take comfort.

In other words, God did not want Isaiah to promise a bed of roses. Actually, He promised a bed of thorns, but His balm in Gilead would salve their wounds at the proper time. This was the conclusion Paul came to when faced with a “thorn in the flesh… from Satan.” He could glory in his discomfort because he knew where his ultimate comfort was coming from. That attitude also put credit where credit is due. He said, “Therefore I delight in weaknesses… for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

I am happy to have returned to the state of ridiculous comfort I am blessed with – what most of us in this country are blessed with. But I am reminded that discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. I have written before that God is more concerned with our character than our comfort. If he allows discomfort, it is likely because He is molding our character into the perfect likeness of Christ. That’s what I want, whether it’s comfortable or not. Can you feel me?