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Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Colossians 3:1-2
It’s a new year. As I write this we are a few days away from watching celebrations across the world as we enter in a brand new year. People will get engaged. Relationships will be healed. Goals will be set. Resolutions will be formed.
Each year is the same. We talk of hope. We talk of new goals. We talk of new opportunities. The problem is, the vast majority of those things pledged entering the new year will go unfulfilled. Changes will be temporary. New crisis’ will form. Life will, at best, go unchanged.
Are we better off than we were a year ago? If we look at things from a worldly point of view I think we’d all agree things aren’t getting better. In fact, if you look at things like world hunger, wars and rumors of wars, disease, relational and racial conflict, mental health issues and more, it can get pretty depressing!
So, how can we rise above the discouraging things looming in the shadows of the future and maintain a positive outlook on life?
Perhaps we need to look at the world situation through the eyes of our new life. Paul reminds us that when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior we are no longer citizens of earth, but of heaven. Here, in Colossians he tells us to focus on the realities of heaven. He isn’t telling us to be so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good. Not at all. But he is challenging us to allow the situations we face to pass through the lens of Heavenly Realities.
What are some of those Heavenly Realities?
- Our God is Sovereign. All things are under his control, especially those things we don’t understand, those things that worry us, those things that cause us pain.
- God never asks us to understand him, he asks us to trust him.
- God’s love for us is new every day. He never gets weary of hearing from you, watching over you, helping you heal.
- You are God’s number one! You are made in His image; given eternal life through His Son, Jesus; Empowered by His Spirit to accomplish all He has planned for you.
- The worst day in heaven will still be better than the best day on earth.
These are just a few things we can focus on as we enter a new year, as we enter new challenges, as new worries attack us. Can you think of more? The true hope of the new year looks back to that baby in the manger!
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
I’ve been accused from time to time of being unobservant and I have to admit I’m guilty as charged. Sometimes I miss trivial things. I’ve never been able to find Waldo. He’s MIA in my book. Those ‘magic eye’ pictures. Yeah, no. Sorry.
While not being able to see pictures in a puzzle is a trivial thing, with no real damage done except to my pride, sometimes we can miss things of importance if we aren’t careful. A hunter needs to keep a keen eye out for whatever he is hunting, especially if they are camouflaged against the background. When driving at night in my neck of the woods it’s wise to keep an eye on the ditches for wildlife that may wander onto the highway.
We can miss a lot in life if we don’t pay attention. Automobiles have a large windshield and a small rear-view mirror for a reason. It’s important to keep an eye on where you’ve been, but more important to see where you are going.
The prophet Isaiah paints a great word picture for us going into in the new year, or any other new situations we may face. He gives us a challenge and a promise to take with us as we move forward, which by the way, is what God intends for us. As one writer stated, in the Christian life there is no standing still. We move three steps forward, or we move two steps back.
Our ‘challenge’ as we move forward into the unknown is to look carefully for how (not if) God is working.
Our promise? The way is already started. He provides a path through the wilderness. Not an interstate, not even a back road. A path. I love to hike and while some trails are easy to follow and even paved, some are nothing more than game trails through the forest. But I’ve also noticed that in many cases, the more obscure the path, the more beautiful the scenery.
God offers us a path for a purpose, so we can see the wonder of what he is providing for us. He also will provide for us in the wilderness. He provides a stream, not a well. A stream can be followed and offers continual refreshment, a well is a one-time stop. A stream allows you to move on. A well requires you to stop or even camp out.
I’m a worrier. Not proud of it, but it’s a trait I constantly battle. The reality I can rest on, even when the enemy of worry attacks, is that the path God has for me is already complete. Mine isn’t to blaze new trails through the brush, mine is to look for his way in the wilderness and drink from the stream he provides for the journey.
As you move forward into whatever wilderness you may be in, look for the way God has for you and enjoy his provision along the way.
”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“ Psalms 51:12
We’ve been talking about joy-killers this week. Those things in our lives that can take away, or appear to take away the joy promised to us through the birth of Jesus.
Joy-killers can be a result of the actions of others, or natural things that happen in life such as life transitions, grief over the loss of a loved one, natural disasters, etc.
While actions against us, or those actions we perceive are against us, can rob us of joy, I think one of the hardest joy-killers to deal with are the self-inflicted ones. It’s relatively easy to point the finger at others and play the victim. It’s easy to blame Mother Nature and say, ‘Woe is me’. But what about those times when you look in the mirror and realize the person you see is both the perpetrator and the victim? Then what?
That was the decision King David faced. His enemies were largely defeated. He was popular among the people. And God had a nickname for him, ‘A man after my own heart.’ Imagine that! The God of all creation looking down on you and seeing someone so in tune with His heart that he calls him out. God says, ‘HUGE SHOUT OUT to my buddy Dave. He’s got it all together. He knows what I like and he does it!’
Pretty cool, right? Not so fast. David had a heart for God but he also had a heart for pleasure and sometimes pleasure took the place of God.
Can you relate? Oh, maybe you didn’t have an affair and murder one of your friends like David did. Maybe you didn’t see your daughter raped and ignore it. But what about the other ways we choose satisfaction over surrender?
Those times we gossip. The times we lie and then lie to cover up that lie, and then lie again…well, you know the picture. The times we harbor wrongs committed. The times we hang on to judgmental attitudes.
Surrender brings joy, satisfaction (in the human sense) destroys joy. I love David’s honesty in Psalms 51:12, ”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“
David knew his limitations. David knew how easy it is to sacrifice surrender for satisfaction. But David also knew the joy that comes from total surrender to God’s ways. Easy? Definitely not. Worth it? Beyond description. Available? That’s grace.
The joy of Christmas is much more than a babe in a manger. It’s being totally surrendered to God through the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the babe in the manger.
”So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.“ John 16:22
Joy killers. They can sneak up on you and catch you unaware. Joy killers rob you of your joy. They whisper lies in your ear about your inability to succeed. They remind you of your failings. They accuse you of your weaknesses. They refuse to let you forget the hurt of being deceived and rejected. They poison you with bitterness for wrongs committed and unforgiven actions.
If you have something of value, you go to great expense to protect it. You put on locks. You build walls. You have your own set of alarms that remind you, ‘Never again.’
Jesus knows all about joy killers. He wrestled with them all through his time on earth. He was misrepresented. He was misunderstood. He was labeled. He was rejected by the very people he came to rescue.
One of the greatest joy killers can be the transitions in life and accompanying feelings of the unknown. The unknown is a huge joy killer. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels announced his birth and great joy with his arrival. 30+ years later, Jesus told his disciple he would be leaving them for a time.
For over three years they had experienced the joy of his presence. They celebrated the miracles with him. They endured the storms with him. They were accosted physically and spiritually with him. Now he’d be gone and the joy killer of the future hit them hard.
Jesus saw the sorrow in their eyes. Jesus understood their fear. In the midst of their fear, in the midst of their sorrow, Jesus reassured them that this time of sorrow would be temporary. In the midst of their sorrow they had a guarantee that would go with them throughout life. The joy they had when they were with Jesus would return.
Sorrow is temporary. Fear is temporary. Joy is eternal. No matter what things in life attack you, when you draw close to God you can experience joy in the midst of sorrow. Joy in the midst of fear. Joy in the midst of worry. Joy in the midst of hurt. Joy in the midst of rejection. Joy in the midst of grief.
Don’t allow the lies of the enemy keep you from experiencing great joy through the giver of joy, Jesus.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. Ephesians 2:14 NLT
Without Christmas there would be no Easter. Without sacrifice there can be no forgiveness. Without love, there can be no unity. Without unity there can be no peace.
Hours before Jesus was brutally murdered he knelt in the garden to pray. He prayed for strength for the upcoming test of endurance. He prayed for a way out. He prayed for the unity of his followers.
He could have prayed for our courage since we would experience hatred because of his name and even be killed because we were his followers. But he didn’t. He prayed for unity.
It’s important to remember that unity does not mean uniformity. He never asked that we would think alike, act alike, speak alike and like all the same things. In fact, one of his followers, the Apostle Paul, says that divisions among us can be useful for the health of the body (1 Corinthians 11:19).
Jesus prayed for us to be unified because he knew the Father was a God of creativity. While we are all made in his image, we are certainly different from one another! How boring would life be if everything in nature was green. The grass, the water, the sky, the rocks the trees?
God knew what he was doing when he created us in his image and consequently with a creative component. Ironically, perhaps, it’s our differences that make unity beautiful. I like to think of unity in the way illustrated by an orchestra. Each instrument playing its part but in harmony with those around it.
Jews and gentiles? Gay and Straight? Black or white? Republican or Democrat? The body of Christ is made up of all of these. The unifying factor isn’t heritage or denomination or ethnicity or orientation. The unifying factor is Jesus. The result is peace on earth and goodwill to those in whose God finds favor.
Jesus came to be the example of how we can live in unity. His birth in the manger was to be one with us. His death and resurrection destroyed the walls of hostility so that, different as we are, we can live in solidarity because of him. Unity is not uniformity, but unity is peace and peace is power.
