This post is one that I have been mentally writing for over a year, but now that I actually sit to type it out I am finding it difficult to express my thoughts. For a long time now I've felt that this blog has run its course, but until a few months ago I was unwilling to let it go. For the last five years I have written at the very least monthly. In that time I have shared my thoughts, feelings, and some of the insights God has revealed to me about Himself, His church, and His word. This blog has seen over 18,000 page views in that time with readers from six contents. I am truly humbled by that.
Over the past year my activity has dwindled greatly. 2014 has been an exhausting year, and I have found my life full of new challenges, responsibilities, and passions to which attention now turns. Nothing lasts forever, and this blog has done what God has intended for it to do. I don't know the lives who have seen this, I hope they have been touched by what God has led me to share.
I pray that God will continue to use the words that have been written, and I pray that what He is leading me into will have an even bigger impact for the Kingdom.
I thank everyone who has taken the time to read. And so for the last time I will share the closing thoughts, and say good bye.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
Let's Stop Celebrating Christmas
Let me ask you a question, what is the point of Christmas?
If you ask anyone with any concept of the Christian faith you'll most likely hear something along the lines of "To celebrate the birth of Jesus."
To that I ask this question, why was Jesus born?
Asking the same demographic as before you'll probably hear something to the effect of "To die on the cross and save us from our sins."
That's all good, but it isn't a complete answer. If Jesus' sole purpose in being born was to die then there is about thirty three years of wasted time between those two events. If the only point of the mission was to die then He could have done it differently. He could have shown up on the scene as a thirty three year old man and just gotten it over with. I've heard the argument that He had to be born in order to be fully man, but this is God we're talking about, He can do things however He wants to. And He chose to be born, and then to live for thirty-three years, culminating everything in His death and resurrection.
The birth of Christ, celebrated on December 25, is an important event. The death and resurrection of Jesus, on Good Friday and Easter, is the single most essential event in history. But, again, if that is the point, there is a lot of wasted time there.
Jesus' purpose in coming to earth was not solely to die on the cross. Again, it was the most essential moment in history, but it was the culmination of His mission, not the whole thing. Jesus came to earth not simply to die, but to live. As Mel Gibson said portraying William Wallace, "Every man dies, not every man really lives." Jesus came to really live, showing the world how to, and then died and rose again to make it possible for all to follow His example.
Christmas marks the birth of Jesus, not simply to die, but to live.
I think a big part of the reason that American Christianity is in the state it's in is due to the fact we have misunderstood the point of Christmas. For so long we have given the message of Jesus came to die, and we have left it at that. Jesus came to live. Jesus modeled for us what life was intended to look like. He lived a life of obedience and dependence upon the father. He lived in relationships with others, teaching them about God and how to live for Him. Finally, as He ascended back to the Father, He commissioned all who would follow Him to go and do what He had done.
Jesus' birth was about so much more than His death. He was born not simply to die, but to live. The events that took place in a Bethlehem stable over 2,000 years ago were simply the beginning of what God desires for all of us. He desires for all to born into new life through what Christ accomplished on the cross. Following that crucial moment, His intention is for all to live as Jesus lived, in relationship with the Father, and with others, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. God's design is for us to become disciples of Jesus, in order to make more disciples of Jesus.
Christmas was merely the beginning of a life that perfectly modeled how God would live life as a human. Human life ultimately ends, and the death of Jesus was essential because it paid the price for sin once and for all, and the resurrection brought the empowerment to follow in Jesus' example. It was new life that led to living new.
Christianity is not simply about being forgiven to get into heaven when we die, it is about embarking on a new way of living. It gives new life so that we may live new. It invites us into discipleship so that we may in turn make disciples. It invites us not simply to die, but to really live.
Christmas is not the end, but simply the beginning. So let us stop celebrating Christmas and begin living it. Let us embrace the life that Jesus was born to model, through the power of His death and resurrection. Let Christmas not be an isolated event, but something we strive to live in daily. It is not about God being born to die, but rather to live. New life is only life if it is lived, not if it is spent waiting to die and get to heaven. Christmas is not about ultimate death, but about real life.
This season let us seek to live as Jesus was born to live. Let us live as He modeled, fully trusting and obeying God, and teaching others to do the same. Let us not celebrate Christmas, but live it.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
If you ask anyone with any concept of the Christian faith you'll most likely hear something along the lines of "To celebrate the birth of Jesus."
To that I ask this question, why was Jesus born?
Asking the same demographic as before you'll probably hear something to the effect of "To die on the cross and save us from our sins."
That's all good, but it isn't a complete answer. If Jesus' sole purpose in being born was to die then there is about thirty three years of wasted time between those two events. If the only point of the mission was to die then He could have done it differently. He could have shown up on the scene as a thirty three year old man and just gotten it over with. I've heard the argument that He had to be born in order to be fully man, but this is God we're talking about, He can do things however He wants to. And He chose to be born, and then to live for thirty-three years, culminating everything in His death and resurrection.
The birth of Christ, celebrated on December 25, is an important event. The death and resurrection of Jesus, on Good Friday and Easter, is the single most essential event in history. But, again, if that is the point, there is a lot of wasted time there.
Jesus' purpose in coming to earth was not solely to die on the cross. Again, it was the most essential moment in history, but it was the culmination of His mission, not the whole thing. Jesus came to earth not simply to die, but to live. As Mel Gibson said portraying William Wallace, "Every man dies, not every man really lives." Jesus came to really live, showing the world how to, and then died and rose again to make it possible for all to follow His example.
Christmas marks the birth of Jesus, not simply to die, but to live.
I think a big part of the reason that American Christianity is in the state it's in is due to the fact we have misunderstood the point of Christmas. For so long we have given the message of Jesus came to die, and we have left it at that. Jesus came to live. Jesus modeled for us what life was intended to look like. He lived a life of obedience and dependence upon the father. He lived in relationships with others, teaching them about God and how to live for Him. Finally, as He ascended back to the Father, He commissioned all who would follow Him to go and do what He had done.
Jesus' birth was about so much more than His death. He was born not simply to die, but to live. The events that took place in a Bethlehem stable over 2,000 years ago were simply the beginning of what God desires for all of us. He desires for all to born into new life through what Christ accomplished on the cross. Following that crucial moment, His intention is for all to live as Jesus lived, in relationship with the Father, and with others, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. God's design is for us to become disciples of Jesus, in order to make more disciples of Jesus.
Christmas was merely the beginning of a life that perfectly modeled how God would live life as a human. Human life ultimately ends, and the death of Jesus was essential because it paid the price for sin once and for all, and the resurrection brought the empowerment to follow in Jesus' example. It was new life that led to living new.
Christianity is not simply about being forgiven to get into heaven when we die, it is about embarking on a new way of living. It gives new life so that we may live new. It invites us into discipleship so that we may in turn make disciples. It invites us not simply to die, but to really live.
Christmas is not the end, but simply the beginning. So let us stop celebrating Christmas and begin living it. Let us embrace the life that Jesus was born to model, through the power of His death and resurrection. Let Christmas not be an isolated event, but something we strive to live in daily. It is not about God being born to die, but rather to live. New life is only life if it is lived, not if it is spent waiting to die and get to heaven. Christmas is not about ultimate death, but about real life.
This season let us seek to live as Jesus was born to live. Let us live as He modeled, fully trusting and obeying God, and teaching others to do the same. Let us not celebrate Christmas, but live it.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
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