All Things New

In last week's posting I made a mistake--not a huge mistake--but a mistake, nevertheless. I could tell you that last weekend my computer was having ISP problems, so I didn't get my post up on Friday night as is my goal. By the time my sons helped me get the problem resolved, it was late on Christmas eve and I really wanted to have last week's post up before Christmas. So I got in a hurry and made a mistake. An explanation, but not an excuse.

If you'll re-read last week's post you'll notice (as one of my alert readers did--thanks, Jim!) that I referred to the Mary's pregnancy as the Immaculate Conception. Major goof! For those of you who don't know the Immaculate Conception actually refers to the birth of Mary.

My point this week is not to dwell on the subtle points of the Immaculate Conception. Rather, my point is simply this--in case you haven't figured this out yet, humans make mistakes. Some of us occasionally get away with relatively minor ones (last week's posting, for example), while other mistakes we make have major long-term consequences.

The fantastic thing about grace is that God gives us a chance to start over. Notice what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who...gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them."

Isn't that great?! When we are in Christ, God doesn't count our sins against us! I don't know about you, but as I reflect on 2005, God could count plenty against me. I won't bore you by cataloging all the mistakes and blunders of this past year, but trust me, there were plenty. And as the minutes count down on 2005, I'm looking forward to a new year, with new opportunities, new possibilities, and new directions in my life.

There are a lot of reasons why I'm looking forward to turning the calendar to 2006, but the biggest reason is the opportunity to experience a fresh start with God because of His grace. Join me in experiencing all things new in 2006, won't you?

Christ in You

Put yourself in her shoes for just a moment. You're a teenager, perhaps only 15, when suddenly an angel shows up. That in itself might be disturbing, but then the greeting comes, "You who are highly favored." Highly favored? "I'm 15 years old, I'm a woman in a man's world, and I'm highly favored?" you might think. Then comes the stunner. "You will be with child. You are to call him Jesus for he will be the Son of the Most High." Shaking, you reply, "How could this possibly happen. I'm a virgin."

Now comes the tricky part, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the one born to you will be called the Son of God."

It's beginning to sink in. You have been selected to be the mother of Messiah. But how is it supposed to happen again? That's right, the Holy Spirit will impregnate you and the child you carry will be the Son of God. Preposterous, right?

The notion is so amazing we refer to it as the Immaculate Conception--a miracle of the human and the divine.

But isn't that what grace is--the intersecting of divinity with humanity?

Listen to Paul's words in Galatians 2:20 in the midst of his discourse on grace. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

One of the miracles of grace is that as surely as the virgin Mary literally carried Christ within her for nine months of pregnancy, just as surely He can live within us by faith. In Colossians 1:27, Paul refers to this as "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

As you celebrate Christmas, the miraculous birth of Christ, may you also celebrate the ongoing miracle of the human and the divine--Christ in you!

God bless and have a Merry Christmas!

Coming Home

Our two sons will be home for Christmas. One is in the air right now on his way home from college. Our older son is taking a few days off from work to come home with his girlfriend. My wife and I are anxious to have all 3 of our children home at Christmas. It's been a couple of years since that's happened.

As you can imagine, the Christmas tree is up, the lights have been hung outside, the house is decorated, cleaned, and smelling like a pinewoods forest! But best of all (have I said this already?), our children will all be home for Christmas.

As thrilled as I am, I can only begin to imagine how another father felt when his son came home. The story in Luke 15 tells of a son who became discontented with life at home and left his family behind. We don't know exactly how much time elapsed, but eventually this son came to his senses and decided to return home, admit he was wrong, and face the consequences.

But a funny thing happened when he arrived at home; instead of the expected reprimand, his father greeted him with a hug and a kiss (remember, he had just left a pig pen), put a wonderful robe on him, sandals on his feet, and gave him access to the family wealth (the significance of the ring). What was expected was supplanted by the unexpected.

That's what grace is all about. What we deserve is not what we receive. But what we do receive is, in fact, a reflection of a Father who, more than anything else loves it when His children come home.

I don't know where you've been or what you've done--the fact is, that makes no difference. What matters is that we each have a Father who wants us at home during this Christmas season. Won't you plan to spend the holidays with Him? There's nothing better than coming home!

God Works in You

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

Do you remember learning how to ride a bicycle? My older brother had a small red bike that he rode and one day my dad decided I was ready to accept the challenge of riding that bike. We lived on an acre of property in the country that had a downhill slope, so the first thing my dad did was to have me coast on the bike down the hill on our property. Once I'd mastered the art of keeping my balance by coasting, my dad took me out to the gravel road in front of our house and ran along with me as I attempted to both balance the bike and pedal at the same time. Again there was a slight slope to the road, so eventually as I pedaled slightly downhill it became easier and easier to both pedal and maintain my balance.

Maintaining your balance is as crucial in your Christian life as it is in riding a bike. Lean too far one way or the other and soon you find yourself laying in the gravel with all kinds of scrapes and cuts (I speak from personal experience in both areas!).

Paul wanted to make sure the new Christians in Philippi maintained a sense of balance in their lives. In Philippians 2:12 Paul encourages them to continue to obey. But notice this encouragement to obey comes after Paul has talked about the obedience of Christ in verse 8. Our obedience is never designed to earn God's favor, but is always in response to God's favor.

Then comes a phrase, that taken out of context, has tripped up many a person. Notice: "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." Now taken alone, this makes it appear that our salvation is up to us, and unless we clench our fists and grit our teeth and work really hard we'll be in danger of not being saved.

But notice verse 13 which is a continuation of this phrase. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Did you catch that? God does two very important things for us according to this verse.

First, He gives us the will, or the desire, to obey. Now be honest: Haven't you faced a situation where you really wanted to do something you knew wasn't what God wanted you to do? Paul says God has the ability to help us want to obey.

Second, He gives us the power to obey. Again, how many times have you been in a scenario where you knew what was right, but you also knew you didn't humanly have the power to what was right?

That's the incredible thing about the gospel of grace: God calls us to obey (in response to what He has first done), He gives us the desire to obey, then He gives us the power to obey. All we have to do is cooperate by tapping into the desire and power He gives us.

Grace is absolutely amazing, isn't it? God not only works for us, but God works in us!

Keep your balance this week, OK?

As High As the Heavens

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him." Psalm 103:11 (NIV)

When I was in elementary school Time/Life published a series of books about nature. My favorite was the one entitled "The Universe." I was fascinated by space and the utter immensity of the universe. When I went to summer camp for the first time, I took a class called "Stars." I can still remember the night Mrs. Johnson, our teacher, took us on a walk and pointed out various stars and constellations to us. My love for astronomy didn't go very far, but I still enjoy going outside on a clear Colorado night and looking up into the heavens and seeing the hundreds of thousands of stars and planets that appear in the night sky.

Thus my attention was caught this week as I read about the world's largest telescope that is under construction on Sierra Negra, a dormant volcanic peak int he Mexican state of Puebla. This telescope, which is the size of major-league baseball infield is reported to have the capability when finished of peering into the universe for a distance of 13 billion light years. Isn't man's quest to see to the "edge" of the universe fascinating? With tremenous advances in science, however, we still haven't seen that "edge" of the universe where it theoretically ends.

Now consider the psalmist David, looking up into the night skies over the Middle East one evening thousands of years ago and writing these words, "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him." For David it was impossible to conceive that God's love could ever be fathomed. And so he did the best he could at describing the greatness of God's everlasting love.

David continues in Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Where does East meet West? It doesn't! And that's David's point. God loves us so much that when He removes our sins from us, they can't be found!

Both of these verses come after this passage in Psalm 103:10, "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." For those who would suggest that grace can only be found in the New Testament, let me present Psalm 103 as Exhibit A in my case that grace permeates the entire Bible--both Old and New Testament. David had experienced God's grace in amazing ways (remember the story of Bathsheba?), and in Psalm 103 describes grace just as surely as Paul in the New Testament.

Bottom line: I'm grateful God doesn't treat me as my sins deserve, but instead favors me with unconditional love and grace. By the way, if you ever reach the upper limits of heaven or find where east meets west, let me know. But in the meantime, I won't be holding my breath waiting. I'll be basking in a grace that is as high as the heavens!