In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown seeks out advice from Lucy who is a 5-cent psychiatrist and happens to be “Real In” when he wants to talk about the source of his depression. She says that if he can identify his problem, then he’s part-way to solving it so she lists a bunch of phobias. Our culture is quick to apply labels and to assign phobias (e.g. homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia) and other assorted hatreds. There are two groups that it’s apparently okay to hate: Christians and Jews. It’s connected if you understand the Jewishness of our Savior.  The Jewishness of the Messiah, the Christ, who was born to Jewish parents in Bethlehem, the ancestral home of their father King David of Israel.  You know, that Jewish event we celebrate as Christmas.

I’m not sure when anti-Semitism became okay, culturally speaking. It’s not okay with me. It never has been.

But there was a day worldwide when we experienced a collective grief about the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism was very real for a time. Lately however, we don’t hear too much about that. Israel, for too many people, is seen as a problem state of land and religion…and Jews as a problem people.

They aren’t. Israel isn’t. God never revoked Chosen People status in order to bring the Gentiles in. 

Salvation is still from the Jews.

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.

Indeed God has enlarged the nation and increased their joy because of the Jewishness of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Messiah foretold by the prophets.  He’d be born a Jew but would save Gentiles too.

Isaiah 9:4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The Messiah of Christians and Jews–all who believe in His Name for their salvation– Jesus, will reign on David’s throne and over his forever kingdom as promised in Scripture. It’s the Jewishness of our Savior. And Christians can rejoice as ones grafted into the olive tree by faith (Romans 11)! There is no phobia or anti-Semitism as God will continue to reach out to the unbelieving Jewish people as He does to everyone without prejudice.  He desires that all come to faith and no one perishes.  It’s why He came.

For further reflection read Romans 11 and  John 4: 21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Jesus came to remind us of God’s Government -a government that existed back in Eden before Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ushered sin into this world. God’s Government might be called Walking with God.

It is something we will not have again in fullness until Jesus returns. But God’s Government is here and now spiritually because Christ was born. He rules in our hearts from the throne of the Cross.  Spiritually, we can walk with Him even if we won’t physically until we see Him face-to-face.

During this series called Timeless, we’ve been looking at what is timeless about the message of Christ and trying to keep what is political, what is fake, what is secular, and what is simplistic from turning a Rock My World event into a pile of tinsel, a tree at the curb, crumpled wrapping paper in a garbage bag, and happy songs about how cold it is outside.  But Christmas is more.  Isaiah said so.

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isn’t it strange to think that a human solution to war and violence is to do it better than our adversary? Be a better warrior? Oppress more oppressively?

Somehow, God shatters the yoke and reduces our enemy to rubble…without becoming a worse oppressor than the evil oppressing us now (death and sin).

Reflect today on whether you have allowed God’s Government to preside over your heart. A government based upon the righteous rule of a Christ Child who went to the Cross so He could truly be God with us.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

It’s really easy to lose sight of how a tiny baby in a manger could change absolutely everything.  Jesus Rocks Our World. Don’t you find it interesting how the world of Christ-haters and Christ-deniers hate Christ’s birth every bit as much as they hate Easter? Easter I can understand, but Christmas? A little baby? Are you serious?

Absolutely serious. Jesus Rocks Our World.

It’s why we can expect protests against Nativity scenes and terrorist attacks on Christmas events…even ones called “holiday parties.” The world of Christ-haters and Christ-deniers knows that He came to Rock Our World and they don’t want theirs rocked.

Christ’s birth was no common deal. His birth showed us that any foundation of understanding, any basis for morality, any knowledge of the Truth, any conceptualization of true power, and any hope for humanity is centered upon Jesus Christ. In His birth, the Rock experienced inauguration…and at His death, coronation. At His return, He’ll bring Judgment.

So, these modern-day Grinches fight His Christmas birth thinking they can stop Christmas from coming, His rule from occurring, and His judgment from happening. Fools. Reading our passage in Isaiah 9:1-7, we see He is no ordinary child. He’s a Son but the Everlasting Father. He’s a baby but He’s Mighty God. He’s a newborn, but He’s a Wonderful Counselor. He’s Truth in the flesh, sharp as the sword coming out of His mouth in judgment, and yet, He’s the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9: 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Reflect on how the zeal of the LORD Almighty then and now accomplishes this. And forever, Jesus Rocks Our World.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Even in the organized Church, we can’t get away from fake news. Twisted Scripture has always existed, but it has become part of the order of the day for modern Christians, even the Pope according to Christmas reminds us that Jesus was a migrant like today’s refugees, says Pope Francis

(Sorry Pope Francis, I call them as I see them. Jesus was not a migrant like today’s refugees looking for permanent residency and asylum.  To conflate them does a disservice to both.  Let’s keep the Jesus in Scripture, okay?)

In a recent Catholic Sun article entitled, The Child Refugee, Jesus, the author Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted writes,

As we recall during this holy season how Jesus, as a little child, suffered the hardship of being a refugee along with Mary and Joseph, let us not grow weary of welcoming the Lord Jesus among the smallest and most vulnerable who come, in our day, to our beloved country.

True, Jesus’ parents fled to Egypt only long enough to escape Herod’s slaughter of the baby boys (Matthew 2:13-18) and that WAS political persecution, but they weren’t looking to be forever residents of Egypt (see verse 13). In all of those things, God was fulfilling Scripture.  Far from hardship in one sense, Jesus’ parents had the Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to fund their escape and to provide for their livelihood while they were in Egypt. They also came back to Israel after Herod died (Matthew 2:19-23). Why? God tells us in verse 23 “and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

It’s twisted Scripture to equate what happened with Jesus (fulfilling Scripture) to what is happening with today’s migrants: a confusing combination of politics, Hijrah (jihad-by-migration), and a genuine, horrific humanitarian crisis. 

Still others tell wild stories of Mary and Joseph being homeless, Jesus being homeless…which also is twisted Scripture. Mary and Joseph had a home. Jesus had a home. Not if you read this opinion piece with thinly veiled political fake news stating that Jesus would be an “undocumented immigrant.” The letter’s author, David Iacono, states that Herod was a developer (hint, hint) and then he writes:

What would happen if Jesus returned to America? He would return as a Jewish person of color living in poor communities and helping the “least among us.” Since Jesus would be considered an undocumented immigrant, he likely would be rounded up by immigration officials, held in a for-profit detention center, and eventually deported. He likely would be involved in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience against social, economic and environmental injustice. He probably would be pepper-sprayed, beaten, thrown in jail or sued for exercising his First Amendment rights. After all, we can’t have any competition or challenge to the wealthy and powerful in this country.

Fake news is not Jesus’ story.  Justice and Truth are.  It’s a story that’s Timeless!

There is a Jesus in Scripture and that’s all we need.

The truth is Jesus’ parents had documentation. Hello?  They went to register because it was the law!  But it wasn’t an immigration roundup but registration of citizens–at the place of their ancestral birth–for paying taxes (especially in the case of the Jews who were exempt from the other purpose of the census: military service).  Therefore, it was more like an extended trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles (only giving birth along the way). There was no room at the inn for a reason (Scripture doesn’t say, but God’s pattern is to avoid the shrine aspect of “God slept here” and maybe also so the shepherds would be the first visitors and not an innkeeper’s wife casting doubt upon the whole thing). Furthermore, Jesus and His parents had a home after His birth and lived there for some months before they fled to Egypt. Joseph’s work skills as a builder/carpenter would have made it fairly easy to set up shop even if it was uncommon in those days to be so mobile.  No matter how many Nativity sets have wise men, the Magi didn’t come to the stable in Bethlehem, but to a house which proves Mary, Joseph, and yes, Jesus were not homeless.

And Jesus wasn’t pepper-sprayed, Mr. Iacono, He was crucified. And that, too, was to fulfill Scripture.

For further reflection, ponder how politicizing the birth of Christ is a disservice to Jesus and His Word.  Read the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew for the Truth of what happened to the Jesus in Scripture.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Isn’t it rich? The people most loudly decrying fake news these days are often the very people who have been telling us for years that there is no absolute truth. It is relative: what’s true for you and what’s true for me can be two different things. Therefore, you must give up your holy roller Christianity and finally acknowledge moral relativism so I can do what I want without guilt. Who are you, Christian, to push your beliefs on someone else? And yet someone else now can determine what’s fake and what’s real when it comes to “news.” Does anyone else find this incredibly ironic? The truth suddenly matters and it’s not relative at all.

The big and original Christmas event–the birth of Christ–is Evidence Exhibit A that truth is absolute and He is a person. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 )

Yes, the Christ Child, Jesus, is God’s means of bringing about judgment. And justice, reconciliation, peace, mercy, punishment, and even wrath. There will be no deliverance without His Truth, and no life without His Christ.  Salvation is found in no one else.  Acts 4:11 [Jesus] is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Consider all the “fake news” out there about the birth of Christ, His life, and ministry.

• Jesus was just a good moral teacher and a prophet. The Quran says so.
• He wasn’t born of a Virgin. A consensus of scientists says that would be impossible.
• He isn’t God’s only Son. Elvis says so,  Santa knows that we’re all God’s children. That makes everything right.  Fill your hearts with Christmas cheer. ‘Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.
• He isn’t Savior. It’s dust to dust like for all the animals. Darwin said so.
• Jesus isn’t God’s unique Son, but was elevated to godhood because He lived such a good life. We’ll all get to be gods if we do likewise. Joseph Smith of Mormonism heard that from the Angel Moroni.

Bunk.  Fake news.  Totally false!

Now get this: Longtime atheist activist Rob Sherman died a few days ago in a plane crash. Sherman loved to push a false narrative – fake news – about Christianity in particular. He was the Green Party candidate for Congress this year and wrote this into his platform.

No more God on our money. No more God in the Pledge. It’s time for the federal government to stop bullying atheists that way. Eliminate Christmas as a federal holiday. Christians want to put Christ back into Christmas. That won’t happen as long as the government is involved. When the government is involved, Christmas has to be bland, generic and secular. Christians want Christmas to be religious. You do that by getting the government out of Christmas. Also, I will sponsor legislation to eliminate the National Day of Prayer. The government has no business telling us when to pray or if we should pray since, when you pray, Nobody is listening. Nobody lives in Heaven.

Here’s the interesting thing about fake news… it’s not fake if it’s true. I wonder what Sherman thinks of Nobody now and whether he wishes he’d been listening to the One alive in heaven. 

Reflect on this truth:  Not even the government can take the Christ out of Christmas.  The angels said so.

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Mark Lowry’s lyrics in Mary Did You Know ask many questions, each stanza concluding with a confidence-inspiring statement about what the birth of Christ actually means. The Christmas story is more than just a baby in a manger. A pregnant Mary and a believing Joseph not finding a place at the inn. Giving birth in a stable.

It set in motion the most confidence-inspiring event of all human hope in history to-date.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

Justice is coming, but it will be God’s kind. Because of the birth of Jesus, we have witnessed God’s perfect love and have no need to fear.

The angels even said so: Luke 2:9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

For further reflection, read the lyrics to Mary Did You Know and listen to this version by Pentatonix

• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
• Did you know
• that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
• This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.
• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
• Did you know
• that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
• When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God.
  • The blind will see.
  • The deaf will hear.
  • The dead will live again.
  • The lame will leap.
  • The dumb will speak
  • The praises of The Lamb.
• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
• Mary, did you know
• that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?
• Did you know
• that your Baby Boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
• The sleeping Child you’re holding is the great “I am”

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

God’s Kind of Justice is the whole reason for Christmas. Somehow, God had to hold onto His holiness, His Law, His love, His mercy, His wrath, and His justice–all at the same time in order to be perfect.  God’s justice goes beyond any parent’s “tough love” in which those being disciplined actually experience the consequences of their actions for their own good.

Why is it not “tough love”?

Because Jesus didn’t do anything wrong. Ever. 

God did something completely unexpected with the birth of Christ.  The process began by which He would accomplish justice by taking our punishment upon Himself at the Cross and offering the free gift of forgiveness back to us without partiality.  God’s Kind of Justice is not something the world readily understands.

Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

God couldn’t force forgiveness on us any more than He could force love on us or force us to love Him.  That kind of force isn’t Love and isn’t really just either. God’s Kind of Justice is a different kind. His justice is an equality of opportunity that He purchased when He purchased our freedom.  And He offers it freely, but it still requires a response on our part.

John 3:7 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

God’s offer and our response complete the circuit. God’s offer is sufficient all on its own. He took all the punishment and He offers all the forgiveness. We bring nothing to the table but a willingness to receive.  Will you receive the Christ Child and the forgiveness He was born to make possible?

For reflection, read again this passage in Isaiah, looking specifically at the concept of God’s Kind of Justice. Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

We live in an age in which feelings and facts have traded places in forming our understanding of reality. A modern generation says, “I feel…” far more often than they say “I think…” or “I believe.” The latter two are fact-based, doctrine, and logic-reasoning means of processing information and responding to it. True biblical love is more than a feeling. But it’s also more than just knowing about God’s love .

I confess to this being my greatest ministry struggle: to really understand what God’s love is…and to feel like I’m loved by Him. Oh, the doctrine is perfectly clear:

• Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s love is too big for any human to wrap his mind around completely. It’s too big to be contained in any human heart. But amazingly enough, it all fit perfectly inside a little baby named Jesus who was sleeping in a manger.

For further reflection on this Timeless message of the Gospel, consider how God’s love and justice meet in the person of Christ: 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

I’ve had cause recently to think about love, yes, but also about how many people are spending Christmas alone … or with an empty seat at their table. We can acknowledge that it’s a Hallmark version of Christmas (or Walmart or Target…take your pick) that shows a family happily gathered around the tree, delicious and festive foods, party finery, great big gifts, and celebrations.

For many of us, however, Christmas comes with a certain degree of sadness. For us, we’ll have a blue Christmas…a Christmas alone.

How do we get through it?

Many of you, my dear readers, have heard this story before, but please indulge my telling it again. There is a ministry purpose to it. In 1998, my third child, Julia Marie, was stillborn on my due date of December 22^nd.  About that Christmas alone, with a fresh wound of deep, deep sadness, I recently told a friend: “Christmas 1998 remains the most profound, beautiful, symbolic, and truly joyous Christmas we’ve ever had as a family…

We found that when everything else fell away, we had the most joy when we had the least to be happy about.”

Why would I say such a strange thing?

It is because Julia’s death was a reminder that apart from the birth of Christ to be our Savior, we’re totally without options for our own salvation. The birth of Christ means that I’ll see Julia again and she’ll see me! She’s alive—more than I am—because she’s alive in heaven and that would not be the case except for Christmas alone.

For without the birth of Christ there would be no death of Christ.

Were it not for the Christmas alone, I wouldn’t have the clear vision of the kind of love it takes for God to send His Son. For the kind of love it takes for Christ to step down from heaven into our world. And the kind of love it took to be born to die so that a Christmas alone—for me, for you– isn’t the end of the story, but a chapter in why we can still have joy to the world. You see, it’s Christmas: the Savior comes. Let earth receive her King!

For reflection, consider how the birth of Christ was necessary in order for His tomb to be empty and our Lord risen.

Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Confession: I have read Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility a bazillion times. It’s one of several books that form my nighttime please-shut-off-my-mind reading ritual. Some people read the Bible to turn their minds off, lay down their burdens, and set their hearts on a path of restful peace. I can’t do that. The tragic flaw of ministry is that the Bible becomes work and it turns my mind on. Not that I mind it. It’s just reality that I really enjoy this type of work.  (Judge not! LOL)  Anyway, the excessively romantic Marianne (one of the sisters in the book) has a dogma she lives by –that a first love is the only love and a forever love. Jilted in that love, one can never love again. She learns at the end of the book to embrace falling in love one more time, having nearly died from the pain of a former love rejected.

At the risk of ruining my reading ritual, I’ve been thinking a lot about love.

Why did Jesus come as a baby at Christmas?

Only love explains that.

• Only love could cause Jesus to leave the glory of heaven to enter our earthly pain.
• Only love could rescue the Image of God so dear to His Father, a love rejected when Adam and Eve rebelled against Him.
• Only love was worth the sacrifice and pain of Incarnation and death.
• Only love makes forever worth it.
• And only love of His Father compelled Christ.

Many people personalize John 3:16 to make it say that Jesus died for … me. (Most don’t intend the implication lurking in the background, that it’s because I’m important and God loves ME). But the truth is God didn’t do it for me, my flesh, my soul, my happiness, or my person. God did it because buried deep underneath everything I bring to the table–all my sin and flesh and (intentional or not) personal rejection of His love–God did it because no credit to me, I bear His Image. That’s why Jesus had to come and no one else could do the job.  God’s Image was at stake and Jesus loves the Father (John 14:29-31).

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

Only love could do that.

Reflect today on how God loves us with an only love, a forever love, a redemptive love, and a forgiving love.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!