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Happy New Year!

Today’s Reading: Genesis 19-20 & Mark 2

I have found myself sick the last two years around New Year’s.  It’s no fun because of the impact on plans and the added responsibilities in our household. In the midst of feeling under the weather, I connected with the story told in Mark 2.

⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Maybe it’s a sickness? Maybe it’s a decision to be made? Maybe you have sinned and are letting the sin sit in the back of your mind.  Take it all to God this year.  Repent, pray, and trust. Praying for our faith to be stronger than ever.

Today’s Reading : Genesis 1-2; Psalm 19; Mark 1

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We use words every day. We use words to uplift each other. We use words to put down each other. We use words to heal each other. We use words to hurt each other. Words are the essential communication devices that we use every day. It doesn’t matter what language, dialect, or accent you use.  Everyone uses words. One of the traditions for the new year is to make a resolution or words of resolution for our sales. But when we make these words, we have to be very careful in how we use these and how we are the purpose behind these words. These words have meaning these words have power.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭3‬, ‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In these three passages that we have today, words are shown to have immense power. These words can transform and these words can change the very essence of being. When God spoke these words, he was actually giving life and existence with his spoken word. With us, being in the image of God, the words that we speak, give life in existence to others. Sometimes we do not fully understand or grasp the concept of how our words can have power. Christ told us that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to speak things, and the things that we speak would happen.

In Mark, it shows the power of the word in Christ and how He knows how to use the power of the word to increase others and use it for the betterment of others:

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;repent and believe in the gospel.” And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”“

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬, ‭17‬, ‭24‬-‭25‬, ‭37‬-‭38‬, ‭40‬-‭41‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Let us be strong in our hearts and minds and speak words of power and strength in this new year and beyond.

Be blessed

There was a lot of excitement and anticipation for our family vacation to a favorite destination. I had a good night’s sleep the night before our journey to a distant land and I even managed to get some exercise the morning of our departure. We had two eight-hour flights as well as a two-hour layover. We booked the least expensive economy seats so it was going to be a really long trip. There would be a meal on the flight so I tried to consume healthy, smart, and not too many calories before the journey. I was energized and ready!

The meal was quite good for airplane food and shortly after dinner I was feeling a bit drowsy so I adjusted my seat and arranged my belongings for maximum sleep comfort. I fell asleep almost immediately, then about thirty minutes later I awoke in a panic with a feeling I hadn’t had in a very long time: I was going to vomit. On an airplane.

Feeling delirious, I grabbed the motion sickness bag and tried to open it. The cabin lights were dimmed and I couldn’t find the opening, so I jumped out of my seat as quickly as possible and darted toward the lavatory. The look of panic and horror on my face must have scared everyone nearby as they quickly got out of the way.

Fortunately, I was able to enter the lavatory, lock the door and “hit the target” without making a mess of the restroom or myself. All I could think as the contents of my stomach were violently emptied was “when will this be over” and “one moment at a time”. I was all alone on the dirty floor of a very small bathroom (a germophobe’s nightmare), feeling miserable and scared. Was it something I ate? Will my family also get sick? Will I get worse? When will it end?

The long journey became a really long journey as I vomited throughout both flights. My main prayers were that I’d make it to the toilet (and not have to vomit in a bag from my seat) and that none of my family would get sick.

Reflecting on those dark hours, I think I caught a glimpse into what Hell might be like. Emptiness, pain, loneliness, darkness, sorrow, and hopelessness. I felt those emotions with a huge magnitude. I wanted to cry out and while I knew God was with me, those feelings were real because we live in a fallen world, full of diseases of the physical and emotional kind.

This all leads me to the cross where Jesus hung. He was mocked, tortured, rejected, betrayed, and alone. I suffered involuntarily and only with a brief illness. Jesus voluntarily suffered and gave his life. He died so that you and I could live a life abundant, without fear of eternal punishment. His cross was unimaginable. He was perfect. I am a sinner but saved so I do not have to endure the eternal suffering because Jesus already paid the price.

Wherever you are today, whether high on the mountain or down in the depths, Jesus knows your name, he died for you, he knows your suffering, and he loves you more than you can comprehend. Rest and be glad today in his love, mercy, and grace.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, (Philippians 2:7) 

Salvation that comes from trusting Christ – which is the message we preach – is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart” (Romans 10:8 – Life Application Study Bible, Tyndale House Publishers).

This passage in Romans is Paul quoting Moses’ words to the Israelite people in Deuteronomy 30:14, where he was asking them to return to God. I chose to reference the Life Application Bible version above because of its clarity.  God’s people in the Old Testament had a destructive pattern of turning away from God and worshipping idols.  When things got really bad, they came crawling back and pleaded with God to turn his favor toward them again.  Same story, different names, throughout the entire Old Testament.  God was faithful and kept his promises every time.  The context of this verse Romans was a little different.  Here, Paul was telling believers that salvation through Jesus Christ was attainable.  It was attainable for both Jews and Gentiles back then.  It is attainable for us today.  But is it really close at hand?  Is it really on our lips and in our hearts?

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in the church. My Dad was a pastor and my Mom was a Sunday School teacher.  Not just your average Sunday School teacher though, she had a very distinct role.  She was the memory verse lady.  Her specialty was Middler Worship – 3^rd and 4^th graders.  I remember my Mom leading Middler Worship in the basement of our old church building at 1705 Towanda Avenue for years and years.  When I read Romans 10:8, I can hear my Mom leading the weekly memory verse saying, “We are going to hide God’s word in our heart.  When we need it, he’s going to help us remember it.”

My Mom was right. Spending time in God’s word, and memorizing key messages from it, is the recipe for keeping the message close at hand, on our lips and in our hearts.  As we close out 2023 and look toward 2024, can you commit to staying in God’s word and keeping his message close at hand, on your lips and in your heart?  It takes intentionality, so plan ahead.  After eight years of writing this blog, I can attest it is worthwhile.  My life has been changed.

With the coming  of advent and the Christmas season I have had time to reflect on the trueness of the season.  Christ is the reason for the season, but his presence is the culmination of reconciliation with the father through the spirit.  God the spirit had been separated from us since the garden of Eden and now He has reconciled himself with us to be in fellowship with us eternally and forever.

In the traditional sense of conflicts and tell: Man and God, Man and community, Man and self.  Christ presence is restoring all the relationships in which we have had: humanity’s relationship with God, humanity’s relationship with others, and our relationship with ourselves. Before Christ came into our lives there was division that was unreconciled. Confusion and the distance that we had in relationship with God and others, and ourselves was never able to be fully reconciled. But with Christ, being born, we now have the ability to be reconciled with , all our relationships.

My daughters were in a ballet production that was depicting the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The main theme of the renowned story is how we sometimes can lose our perspective on our relationships and allow other things to replace our relationships. But things can be replaced, but individuals cannot.

During this Christmas season, let us reflect on our relationships. Christ has  given us the ability to reconcile all of our relationships no matter what has happened. It takes a point of maturity to be able to fully understand how love conquers all. This is not to say that we will forget some of the atrocities and the hardships that we have encountered, but this does allow us to release ourselves from the anguish of regret and grief.

Maybe celebrate this Christmas, and all the Christmases to come with a renewed understanding of how to reconcile a relationships. Not just at this time of year, but throughout the year. There are many things that happened to us that we wish have not happened to us, but we cannot let those experiences damper our relationship with others and our relationship with ourselves and our relationship with God. We can reconcile our relationships and our outlook on life each day with Christ in our heart.

Merry Christmas.

Be blessed.