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Every year at this time many people begin the year with New Year’s Resolutions, firm decisions about something they are going to do, or not do. Resolutions range from healthy living decisions, to relational decisions, financial decisions, etc.
Most resolutions can be summed up in five words: “I want to be happy.” Some will even qualify that by saying, ‘After all, God wants me happy, right?” Here’s the spoiler alert. God doesn’t want you happy! That may sound cruel. How can a God of love not want you happy? The simple reason is that he wants better for you. Happiness is based on circumstances. A healthy bonus makes you happy, a lay off notice does not. An engagement ring makes you happy, a divorce summons does not. A healthy doctors report makes you happy, a bad report does not. Happiness is conditional to your circumstance!
God doesn’t want you happy, he wants you blessed with the joy and peace only he can give. Joy isn’t CONDITIONAL, joy is POSITIONAL. A friend of mine went through a divorce recently. When asked how he was, his response was always, “I’m blessed” He said that to me on good days, on the day his son passed away due to cancer, and the day he told me his wife left him. Blessed? Yes. Blessed. Certainly not because of his circumstance but because of his faith in Jesus.
Jesus tells the story of a man who demanded his brother give him is share of the inheritance. You can read about it in Luke 12:13-21. This story is often used to teach about greed and money but another look at it reveals something more important. There are three questions that need to be answered in regards to joy v happiness.
Rather than resolutions, this year set some goals. Goals are more action oriented and these questions may help with that.
What’s most important to you?
‘Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ‘ Luke 12:13
Imagine the situation. Jesus is teaching about trusting God not material possessions when suddenly a man shouts out his desire for Jesus to intervene in a family squabble. There are many lessons from this, but in short, the man was more concerned about fairness, his own rights, and money. As you enter 2023, ask yourself two questions. 1) What is the most important possession (material or immaterial) I own? 2) Can I give that up? Is Jesus more important than this?
What do I hope to accomplish?
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ ‘ Luke 12:18-19
Jesus tells a story to illustrate his point. A man had a bumper crop. He was blessed. He had been blessed with so much that he had no place to store it. So he decided to build more storage, sit back, and live an easy life. There is nothing wrong with investment. Nothing wrong with a healthy retirement account. But that’s not what we are talking about here. This man took all the credit for his blessing rather than acknowledging God in the process. We aren’t in control of what we’ve been given, but we are responsible for how we use what we have. Investing in the future is wise, but investing in the lives of others is divine.
Are your goals for 2023 others-oriented or self-oriented?
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ‘ Luke 12:20
The last question to ask in 2023 is, ‘What legacy do I want to leave behind?’ The other day I was doing some writing at a local coffee shop. An acquaintance I hadn’t seen in years greeted my by calling me my father’s name. Dad died in 2012! I doubt this person even caught herself. I was honored to think that my dad’s legacy was so strong. Someone once said, “Live life according to what you want people to say about you at your funeral.”
You may say you aren’t important enough to live a legacy but each of us is building a legacy now, every day of our lives. The good news is that through Jesus, legacy building can start now.
Happy New Year! May 2023 draw you closer to Jesus, reveal what’s truly important, and be the beginning of a Godly legacy!
The angels were gone. The shepherds had made the trek to see the babe in the manger. They marveled at the thought of this little one being the Messiah. When morning came the town would be abuzz with the news of the babe that was born and the story the shepherds told of the angelic visit. Who would think that Jehovah God would come to earth as a human!
Mary and Joseph would return to Nazareth continue to be parents to the very son of God. They would be visited by nobility from the east. They would flee to Egypt for their lives. They would see their young son interaction with men far older and more learned.
Mary would see his miracles, his rejection and his death, only to be witness to his resurrection and ascension. That was over 2000 years ago! 2000 years of skeptics and antagonists trying to refute the story of the babe in the manger.
Yet through out HIStory God has shown himself true. The first time Jesus came he came in the quiet of the night with no fanfare except for angels.
The next time he comes the whole world will see him. The first time he came as a helpless infant, the next time he comes it will be as a conquering warrior.
The manger reminds us that we serve a God that can be trusted in the past and in our future. Are you ready for his return? Are you trusting him with your struggles today and your victories tomorrow? He’s a God that can be trusted to do what he says he’ll do!
Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those who trust in him!
Human trust is mutual. I can trust you because you’ve proven to be trustworthy. You can trust me because I’ve proven myself trustworthy. But trust in God’s eyes is really a one-way street. We can trust him because he has shown himself trustworthy even when we are not.
That night in Bethlehem, every promise God made concerning the salvation of his people was either fulfilled, or the fulfillment was put in process through that little babe in the manger. After hundreds of years of waiting, after 400 years of complete silence, God showed up in a way he had never done before. Imagine, the creator becoming the created!
We can trust God to say what he says he’ll do, but can he trust us? Sadly, no. He knows we will fail. He knows our best intentions will fall short. He knows our passions for this life will pull us away from passion for him. Still, he comes to us, dwells in us, forgives us, loves us.
The very first people to hear about the birth of Jesus were shepherds. In that time period there probably was no people trusted less than shepherds! Shepherds were crass. Shepherds were dishonest. In some peoples eyes, shepherds were lower on the social ladder than the sheep they tended to! Yet, shepherds were the first ones God showed himself to.
Why did he show up to these people? Why not the priests who should have been expecting Messiah’s appearance in Bethlehem according to their study of scripture? Why not to the king or nobility?
The answer lies in the God we serve. Our Heavenly Father reveals himself to those who need him most, to those who can’t be trusted. That night, the shepherds saw God in a whole new light. They left all they had to see this babe in the manger. Suddenly their personal desires became second place. They had a new story to tell. They set aside the social stigma. They set aside the anger and resentment they may have felt for the way they were looked upon. Why? Because they’d seen Jesus.
How has trusting Jesus changed your life? Are you willing to risk all to tell others about him?
One of the things I love about shopping at Christmas time can be summed up in two words. On. Line. Don’t get me wrong. I love giving gifts. I love getting gifts. I love people. But I don’t love standing in line. Rude customers and tired, crabby, overworked store clerks take the ‘joy’ out of ‘Joy to the World’.
I wonder what it was like the day Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. The normally quiet streets of this village were no doubt teaming with people. Visitors from all over the region had descended on Bethlehem due to the census called for by the government.
Was it an oversight on Joseph’s part that left this young couple without lodging? It had been a long journey. 90 miles by donkey would have taken four days at best. Four days for this woman, a young girl really, who was 9 months pregnant. Four days of daytime heat and perhaps sleeping on the cold, hard ground at night.
We don’t know for sure why accommodations weren’t made for the young couple. Joseph was ‘going home’ to his hometown. He had relatives there, brothers, cousins, boyhood friends. How is it that no one had room for him? Was it true that there was literally no room for them? Not one, single back room at a relatives house/ Or was it because Joseph came ‘home’ with a very pregnant girlfriend? Was it because no one wanted to deal with the gossip and scandal?
We don’t know of course. What we do know is that not a single room could be found. No one reached out to help this young, very needy couple. Still, a lowly manger was the perfect place for the son of God to be born.
Spending the first night in a cave was perfect preparation for the life this infant would call ‘normal.’
Spending that night in a cave was the perfect way to let this young mom and her husband-to-be learn the lesson that trusting God doesn’t mean life will be easy. Nothing is farther from the truth. It does mean, however, that God will make a way when a way seems unlikely.
When everyone else lets you down, God prepares a way. What cave are you in today? What rejection have you faced or are you facing? Our loving God has prepared this time to remind you of his provision during the lonely times.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 