"The Gospel Tree"

The Gospel Tree

[A] sign that will be spoken . . . so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

~ Luke 2:35

There was a shining Christmas tree
Standing out where all could see.
Its brilliance captured every eye
And seemed to cheer each passer by.

“The lights are so bright,” they would say
And hesitate to walk away.
The tree stood proud ablaze with light
For every light was burning bright.

Then one bulb was heard to say
“I’m tired of burning night and day;
I think I’ll just go out and take a rest
For I’m too tired to do my best;

Besides I am so very small
I doubt if I’d be missed at all.”
Then a child lovingly touched the light,
“Look, mother, this one shines so very bright.

I think of all the lights upon the tree
This one looks the best to me.”
“Oh my goodness,” said the light
“I almost dimmed right out of sight.

I thought perhaps no one would care
If I failed to shine my share.”
With that a glorious brilliance came
For every light had felt the same.

Our Gospel, like this Christmas tree,
With little lights which are you and me,
We each have a space that we must fill
With love, and lessons and good will.

Let’s keep our tree ablaze with light,
With testimonies burning bright.
For our Gospel is a living tree
That lights the way to eternity.

Lord, help me to keep my Gospel ablaze with light throughout the coming year. Amen.

If Only...

I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor.

~ Philippians 4:12

The Fir Tree is a Christmas story written by Hans Christian Andersen. This sad tale has a melancholy flavor of the life of a gloomy little fir tree. The moral of the story is to remind us to be content right here and right now, instead of losing precious time on wishful thinking.

The story tells of a little fir tree growing in the forest. He hears stories of adventures beyond his little space in the woods. He says within himself, “Oh If only . . . . ” He wants to be bigger. He wants to be taller. He wants to see sights. He wants anything but here and now. He is advised many times in the story to be content in his present state and circumstances; however, he does not heed this advice and wastes his time wishing for something else.

I admit that I am guilty of this. I can’t say how many times in my life I have said, “Oh if only the weekend was here,” or “If only I could go on vacation.” When I was a child I would say, “If only I was bigger,” or “If only the bell would ring and school would be dismissed.” I am even guilty of saying, “I wish Christmas was over so life can get back to normal.”

I wonder how much time I have wasted on my “If Onlys”? Some of my loved ones have now passed away no longer to be here to celebrate Christmas with me, but I was too busy wishing for that Christmas to end. Some of those younger days could have been relished with carefree abandonment. The weeks that passed by can never be returned. We have only one now and it’s at this very moment.

Are you like me, wishing Christmas was finished and out of the way? Are you always hoping for something better than your here and now? I think it is time we grow content in all our present circumstances because we never know what tomorrow may hold. The little fir tree got some of his “If Onlys” to find out that they were not what he expected.

So what is the secret learned in this scripture to being content in all circumstances? I think the secret is this: If we are too busy being grateful to God for the here and now, that leaves no time to waste on wishful thinking. Give your “If Onlys” to Christ and learn to be content with the now.

Thank you Lord for this very moment. Through Christ I pray, Amen.

Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

Lazarus died. The angels took him and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. He was sent to the place of death and was in great pain...You had all the good things in life, but Lazarus had nothing but problems. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering.

~ Luke 16:22-23, 25

A classic movie that plays every year around Christmas is A Christmas Carol. The story tells of a crotchety old man named Scrooge. With his terrible disposition, he gets an attitude wake-up call three times on Christmas Eve.

He is visited by three spirits, the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future. Mid way through the movie, there is a scene that gives me cogitation. Scrooge is being visited by the ghost of Christmas present. At the end of Scrooge's lesson, the spirit opens his big cloak to reveal two pitiful scrawny children. Their names are Want and Ignorance.

Why would this jovial spirit, who seems full of good will and cheer, be harboring these detestable looking children? And what exactly is the lesson to be learned? The story eludes that the spirit is showing those in need whom Scrooge neglects, and although that indeed is true, two other aspects are revealed:

First, it is showing a place of security and peace. A haven of sorts for those who come to him, the sick and depraved, full of ignorance and want.

Second, the spirit is showing the very attributes of Scrooge himself. Scrooge was selfish, bad spirited and miserly, but he was living in his state of deep sleep. He did not even think of his actions. His irredeemable philosophy of life was so well embedded within himself that he not only displayed, but became his very own code of subsistence. Scrooge was in want but was ignorant of that fact. He was wasting away in his misery.

Scrooge may have been rich monetarily but he was poor spiritually. He, himself, had become Want and Ignorance. Therefore, had he not changed, his fate was death.

This begs the question: Do we become so desensitized by “our” way of thinking that eventually our attitudes become our very nature? Do we think we are so perfect just as we are that we become blinded to the fact that we are pitiful, sickly, and skinny in spirit? We cannot see ourselves the way God sees us.

God knows our want and ignorance, yet sees beyond that to our potential for magnificence. He loves us so dearly. He is waiting with His cloak open wide and inside He provides a place of protection and blessings. It is there that we shed our nature and become clothed in His radiance, clean, whole, and forgiven. Then He opens that cloak to show others that their imperfections are accepted into His righteousness.

We should run, not walk, into the soft, comforting folds of His embrace. It is there in the warmth of His love that He will be ours and we will be His, forever.

Dear Savior, Thank you for loving us in our present state and for making us magnificent in your cloak of love. Amen

Christmas Reality Checklist

Christmas Reality Checklist

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

~ Luke 2:7

These are typical words we hear during the Christmas season: merry, peace, happy, joyful, jolly, cheer, and good will. But for many, Christmas is just the opposite of these terms. It can be a time when many sink into deep depression. The days are shorter and so are the pocketbooks. The only thing brimming over is a barrage of commitments: concerts, parties, school plays, church programs, shopping, wrapping, baking, etc.

I have been a church musician most of my life. I have enjoyed doing this, but at Christmas a musician is spread very thin; everyone wants music, old carols, and concerts. Not only was I a church musician, but I also had several part-time jobs, five children, a husband, and a dog. It’s no wonder I ended up in the hospital in January. I was never so worn out in my life. It was not a merry, joyful, jolly, peaceful time of cheer. The only relief I had was an I.V. in my arm and a not-so-comfortable bed.

I think maybe the time has come to make a new Christmas reality checklist. Maybe we need to put a limit on our commitments. Could the decorations be less? Could we limit our card sending? Could we buy less? Could we commit to only the very important things? Could we still have Christmas without Christmas having us?

Jesus’ birth was a simple event, just a couple, Mary and Joseph; a long trip to Bethlehem; and no room at the inn. My goodness, The royal King Immanuel was born in a stinking cow stall, and wrapped in rags. Luke 2:12 says, This shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Maybe our sign is that we need to follow in His humble footsteps and focus on things much more important. He tells us not to be anxious for anything, so maybe we could scale down all the things that give us anxiety and cast all our cares on Him. That’s what He wants anyway. We give Christ our hearts, and He will fill us with peace, love and joy.

We can still do the Christmas things that give us pleasure. It’s always good to show love to others, but when all the activities become a burden, we let God draw the line on our Christmas reality checklist. Then, when our friend sends out 100 handmade Christmas cards while we send out zero, we do not feel bad because we did not cross God’s line. This is the way, at the very least, to a more peaceful, manageable Christmas.

Thank you God for the simple birth of a royal King, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

~ Jenny Calvert

"The Anchor of Hope"

 Heb. 6:19

Hebrews 6 has been a warning to these Christians because of their dullness of hearing. The writer has warned them that they must be moving from the basics and the milk and grow in their spiritual maturity or else they will fall away. But the writer has hope that these Christians will press forward and have the same diligence to the end, imitating the faith and patience of those who inherit the promises. In Hebrews 6:13 we see that the writer is going to use the need to imitate the faith of those who inherit the promises as a springboard for hope for these Christians, as well as give hope to us. The writer is going to use Abraham has his example as he begins in Hebrews 6:13.

The Promise to Abraham (6:13-15)

The writer reminds us of the promise made to Abraham and quotes from Genesis 22:15-18, which occurs immediately after Abraham passed the test regarding offering his son, Isaac.

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:15–18 ESV)

Now the writer of Hebrews wants to make a point about this event. God not only made a promise to Abraham and also took an oath, swearing by himself since there is no one greater for God to swear by. He swore by himself because he is the highest power. Now verse 15 contains the first key teaching the author wants to make in his paragraph. “And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.” Remember that the primary purpose of this book is to give courage to these Christians to not give up, even though they are suffering and having difficulties because they are followers of Jesus. He wants us to consider what happened with Abraham. Abraham waited patiently for the promises.

This is something we are typically not too good at, especially in our society: waiting patiently. We have grown so accustomed to instant satisfaction in our culture that it is difficult to say that you have to wait for anything. Amazon is testing same day drone dropping of your purchases because two day shipping is not fast enough. New smartphones come out showing that it is worth paying another $1000 because your apps will open three milliseconds faster than last year’s model. We have on demand programming so that we do not have to wait through commercials anymore. We just do not want to wait for anything. We just want everything to work out now. We want everything to be right now. We want our comfort and joy now. If you recall, Abraham had the same struggle as he waited for the promises to be fulfilled. Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands trying to help and hurry the process along. But God expressed the need for Abraham to wait and trust that God will fulfill his promise. So what did God do to help the waiting? God made an oath.

God’s Desire (6:16-18)

The writer points out why people take an oath in verse 16. The purpose of an oath is to end all dispute. The oath is the confirmation. That is why a person takes an oath. The oath is to remove all doubting. The oath is to remove all concern. The oath is to remove all arguing or disputing. Now listen to verse 17.

“So when God desires to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.”

This is amazing and beautiful. I love this about our God. God desired to convince you about his promises. God desired to show us in an even more convincing fashion regarding his promise. In particular, God desired to show us “the unchangeable character of his purpose.” God’s purposes do not change. God is going to do exactly what he says. We can trust that. But God desired to prove that all the more so that we would be fully convinced about the unchangeable nature of his purpose. God wants you to have a foundation for your faith. God wants to you have something you can hold on to during the hard times of your life.

Now look at verse 18. Therefore God has given us two unchangeable things to give us hope. The first unchangeable thing God gave is his promise. God said that we have promises and it is impossible for God to lie. There is no evil or deception in our God. Here is another “impossible” statement. It is impossible for God to lie. He cannot do it. So when he says that something is going to happen, it must happen. So when God says that you have very great and precious promises, God cannot lie. It must happen. The second unchangeable thing God gave was his oath. God desired to prove to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have these promises.

Why did God do this? Look at verse 18. “So that we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” God wants us to have a solid, strong encouragement. God does not simply say, “Trust me.” God wants us to have a strong encouragement to hold on to. Who gets this strong encouragement? Who will be greatly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that God has promised and taken an oath over? Look at verse 18 again: “We who have fled for refuge.” The picture is that in our difficulty that we run to God for help. When we suffer and when times are hard, God is the fortress that we run to. This is the repeated picture in the Psalms. Think about how often God is described as a rock or fortress that God’s people run to. Listen to the beginning of Psalm 18.

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1–3 ESV)

Listen to the beginning of Psalm 62.

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1–2 ESV)

This is what God is saying to us. This promise and oath is not simply to Abraham or to David. This is also to us. When we run to Christ as our strength, we have strong encouragement to hold on to hope set before us.

Anchor of the Soul (6:19-20)

Now look at verses 19-20. We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. We have a hope that rests in the very presence of God. What is the purpose of an anchor? What makes an anchor good? An anchor is to keep you in place. An anchor keeps you from drifting. An anchor keeps you from going where you do not want to go. This anchor that God gives to us will keep us from spiritual shipwreck and avoid eternal loss.

God is telling us that we need an anchor for life. We need an anchor for life to give us the hope we need. We need to ask ourselves what our life anchor is. We can have all kinds of false anchors. We try to make our life anchors out of money, careers, parents, children, homes, friends, and so many other things. Here is the problem with using any of these things as an anchor: all of these things change and move. People die and people let us down. Jobs change and money disappoints. Everything in this life is always shifting. None of these things can give us the anchor that we need. Only God does not change and does not move. God is the refuge we need to run to. When we run to Jesus as our refuge and anchor then we are given a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. We are given the hope we need.

Conclusion

Jesus has secured our hope. Jesus has gone into the inner place behind the curtain as a forerunner on our behalf. He has become the high priest we need so that we can have a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. We have a hope that does not disappoint because God made a promise and took an oath so that we can be fully convinced of the hope that lies ahead of us. But there are two actions that are given to us. First, wait patiently to receive what is promised. Our hope is not now. Our hope is not in this world. Our hope is not in the near term. God calls for us to wait for what is promised. Second, the hope is for those who have fled to the Lord for refuge. Where are we running when times are difficult? Where is our hope placed? Is our hope placed on something or someone that is not and cannot be an anchor or in Jesus who has gone as a forerunner on our behalf into the inner place? God has promised and sworn with an oath that you have a hope set before. Let us hold fast to that hope with strong encouragement.

Certainty of Salvation

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His Name.

~ John 20:31

For one last time, we will make it clear just what is required of the soul that comes to God through Christ. There are those who speak of conditions. There is one, and only one, condition. You must cease from any trust in yourself or anything that comes from yourself, and you must rest in Him alone. The word “rest” must be taken in its strictest sense. This leads naturally to a story that will illustrate the nature of a belief better than anything known to me.

When John G. Paton landed in the New Hebrides to begin his mission work, he faced an enormous task. The language had never been reduced to writing. He had to listen to the speech of the natives and write down in his notebook the sounds that he heard them speak. Little by little, he developed a large vocabulary and finally thought that he could begin his work of translating a part of the New Testament.

It was not long before he discovered that he had no word for “belief”, for “trust”, for “faith”. One cannot get far in the New Testament without a word that conveys to us the idea or thought of “trusting”, yet try as he might, he could not obtain any expression of this thought from the natives. But one day he went on a hunting trip with one of the islanders. The day was hot, the road was long. A large deer was shot and the game carried down the long mountain toward his house.

The two men struggled with their burden and finally reached home. They flung the deer down on the grass and dropped, exhausted on to two lounge chairs on the porch overlooking the sea. The islander said: “My, but it is good to stretch yourself out here!” It was an expression that Paton had never heard before, and he made haste to have it recorded in his notebook. When his translation was complete, this was the word that was used for “belief” and “trust”. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever stretcheth himself out upon the Saviour, shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.” “Stretch yourself out on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house.”

This, then, is faith. It is the turning away from everything that is in self, and the utter reliance upon all that Christ has done for us. If this has been your experience, then you may claim the promise that goes with the resting in Christ. It is something that belongs to you, then, as a right. You have the right to say: I am saved. I have been born again. I now possess eternal life. You have that right because God has given you the authority to speak so.

Lord, teach me to rely upon you and not upon myself. Amen.

"Being fruitful and multiplying"

 "Being fruitful and multiplying"

Gen. 1:28 & John 15:1

The Bible often uses the metaphor of fruit to describe the produce of our lives. Fruit can be either good or bad (Matthew 7:18; Luke 6:43). Romans 7:5 says, “For when we were in the realm of the flesh . . . we bore fruit for death.” A fruitful Christian will produce better results: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life” (Proverbs 11:30).

Fruit is the direct result of whatever controls our hearts (Matthew 15:19). The fruit of a life not surrendered to Jesus includes “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage,” and many more evil acts (Galatians 5:19–20). In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit of God is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

God the Father is the gardener (John 15:1), and He desires us to be fruitful. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). As branches cling to the vine, we cling to Christ, drawing our very life from Him. The goal is “much fruit,” as Christ uses us to bring about blessed, celestial results in a broken, fallen world.

When we have committed ourselves to Christ and live to please Him, the natural result is behavioral choices that look like His. He was clear that true followers of Christ will be recognizable by their fruit: “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16–20).

There are many ways Christians can be fruitful. True fruitfulness begins in the heart with the fruit of the Spirit. That inner fruit affects outward actions; our words and our activities will glorify the Lord, and God’s will is accomplished. God’s desire is to transform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and make us as fruitful as He was. In our allegiance to Him, we want to be characterized by good works (Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:7; Colossians 1:10), humility (Ephesians 4:2; Titus 3:2), and forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13). We want to always be ready to “give an account for the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15). We desire to be the “good soil” Jesus spoke of in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3–9. The result of spiritual fruitfulness is that God is glorified, we grow, and others come to know Christ—this is the ultimate fruitfulness for a child of God (Matthew 5:16; Acts 20:26–27; Mark 16:15).

God had just finished all His creation, ending with His masterpieces, the very first man and woman, when He told them to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). The world was now fully created with days and nights, seasons and years, plants and animals, and Adam and Eve; and God set in motion His plan to fill the world He created with people (Isaiah 45:18). The world was Adam and Eve’s inheritance to fill, and, as stated in the beginning of Genesis 1:28, it was God’s blessing for Adam and Eve to have children and work the earth. Commentator Matthew Henry wrote that God blessed the first couple with “a numerous lasting family, to enjoy this inheritance . . . in virtue of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth and continue to the utmost period of time.”

Simply, God desired for Adam and Eve to have many children and for their children to have many children. But fruitfulness also denotes much more. God didn’t intend Adam and Eve to have children just to have children. In the remainder of Genesis 1:28, we see a useful and desired result: to “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Was the blessing bestowed upon Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply also a command for us today? Some take this view and refuse all forms of birth control. But if Genesis 1:28 is in fact a command to us as individuals rather than a blessing upon mankind in general, we run into a few problems, especially when looking to the New Testament.

First, Jesus walked the earth for 33 years having no wife to bear children. As a Jew, Jesus was raised according to Jewish laws and customs (Galatians 4:4), and He fulfilled the Law of God perfectly (Matthew 5:17). However, Jesus was not physically “fruitful,” nor did He “multiply,” indicating that Genesis 1:28 is not a command for every person to obey. In addition, Jesus said that celibacy is a personal choice, neither condemning it nor praising it above marriage and childbearing (Matthew 19:12).

Second, the apostle Paul encourages Christians that it is better to stay single than be married (1 Corinthians 7:38) so that individuals can place their entire focus on serving God (verses 32–35). Paul affirms that being married is a good thing, but he insists that being single is better in certain circumstances. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle would not encourage us against bearing fruit and multiplying if that were one of God’s direct commands.

Finally, if being fruitful and multiplying is an express command for all couples to bear children, we run into the problem of infertility. While the Bible does say that children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127:3–5), nowhere in Scripture is infertility condemned as a sin or a curse from God.

We can have lives that are pleasing to God and bring Him glory whether we have children or not. Indeed, we can be spiritually fruitful and multiply the citizens of the Kingdom of God when we obey Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).