Category: Gratitude

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Abundant

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.”

2 Corinthians 9:8-9

God is able. What do those words mean to you and me? Able to do what? When? How? Where?

For some, the notion of God being “able” rings hollow. After all, when was the last time we actually saw or experienced God’s work in our lives? For others, God is simply another in a long string of those who have disappointed them throughout their lives. Those who overpromised and either under delivered or never delivered at all. Those who fill us with hope only to break our hearts and shatter our souls.

It’s natural in a world so filled with secular noise to place God – an invisible, remote, impassive God – in the same category as His human creations. Is He really in control of everything? Is He concerned with us? Can He, in Paul’s words, cause “all things to work together for good?” Is He even there?

The passage I began with is one of only two instances in all of the New Testament where we find the words “God is able” (the other is in Romans 11:23). In the Old Testament, we see it once in Daniel 3:17. Yet to the reader with eyes to see and ears to hear, “God is able” has eternal meaning, the omnipotent power to do what only He can. 

Limitless

Consider for a moment a few of the limitless things only God has power to do.

  • God is able to save and protect us – forever. Peter wrote that God can protect us through our faith “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” When we place our faith and trust in God, His power to save and protect us extends through eternity. We see this echoed in Hebrews 7:25, which tells us God saves “forever those who draw near” Him. Compare that to our own feeble attempts to demonstrate our power over the trials of life.
  • God is able to supply our needs – for everything. This is the essence of Paul’s meaning in the 2 Corinthians passage. How often have we truly placed our trust in God to “give us this day our daily bread?” This covenant is endless, unbreakable, yet so many times we reach a crucial life moment, a key decision, a seemingly insurmountable problem and instead of placing our trust in God, we place that trust in ourselves. This is especially true in our tithing. How many of us actually offer God the first 10% of our increase (time, treasure, thoughts, devotion)? “Test Me on this now,” God tells us in Malachi 3:10. Are you willing to test Him?
  • God is able to cure us. Jesus built a large portion of his earthly ministry on the power of our faith and trust in God’s healing ability. “Do you believe I am able to do this?” he asks two blind men in Matthew 9:28. He poses this same question to each of us – do we believe he has the power to heal us? God may not always provide immediate physical healing, but He always heals the needs of our souls. Our belief is the tool He uses for our road to restoration. Do you place your faith in God or in yourself?
The Burning Fiery Furnace, c 1832, George Jones
  • God is able to rescue us from death. In Daniel 3 we read the account of three Jews serving as administrators in Babylon during the captivity thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after refusing to bow down to the king’s image. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire” they say in Daniel 3:17. God delivers us from the finality of death when we proclaim His sovereignty over our lives. Do you pray to God only in times of need or have you confessed Him as Lord of your life?
  • God is able to deliver us from sin. The Epistle of Jude teaches that we should “have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire” while giving glory to “Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” God works through us to reach our brothers and sisters, giving physical evidence to His ability to keep us from straying and stumbling into the traps of sin. Do you mirror God in how you treat others?

His Greatest Gift

Of course, there are things God simply can’t do. Not because He is limited in any way, but because it is impossible given His nature. For example, God is unable to lie. He is unable to love. He is unable to break covenant. He is unable to deny Himself. God is unable to not exist.

The everlasting and eternal Truth is that God cannot do anything contrary to His Word. He cannot refrain from sharing His abundant Grace and Love to all who heed His call.

No better example of this exists than the Grace God bestowed on mankind through the gift of His son Jesus. Rather than spare His son from the pain and suffering of human transgressions, He willed Jesus to take on the pain and weight of those sins for everyone ever born or who will ever be born.

Credit: www.ucg.org

There is no rational reason for this kind of grace. God owes nothing to mankind. No humans are better or worse than others – we have all fallen short and all suffer from the burden of sin. Jesus himself said “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” There is none righteous in the sight of God. No one deserving of His Grace.

Three Acts

When we bring God fully into our lives, the doors of His abundance are flung wide. Sometimes this abundance takes a material or physical form. At other times, God’s abundance shows up in our relationships and peace of mind. In all cases, that abundance is real and available to all who are called to His purpose and will.

How can we experience that abundance, opening the gates around our hearts and letting God’s grace fill us? No two walks with God are identical, and your journey has likely been different from mine. However, here are three actions all of us can take to invite the power of God to become change we so desperately need.

  • Yield to God’s Will. This doesn’t mean simply paying lip service to God, as Jesus chastised in Matthew 15:8. Rather, it means giving our hearts fully and wholly to His will, offering our undivided allegiance to His sovereignty. When we place only part of our trust in God’s will, reserving the remainder for ourselves, God reserves the blessing of His abundance.
  • Wait for His response. We’re all impatient, wanting results and blessings right now. And there are times when the abundance we seek takes the form of a miracle we need immediately to cure a disease, save a marriage, prevent a financial disaster. Yet as we read in Isaiah 40:31 “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.” God wants us to prayerfully and patiently look to Him, not ourselves. Only when we focus our eyes on God, rather than our own solutions, will be open and ready to receive His power.
  • Keep our faith. Scripture repeatedly tells us that God’s power is unleashed in our lives through the strength of our Faith. If we do not expect God to work in our lives, He will not. There is the familiar story of Jesus in Mark 6 returning to his hometown, teaching in the synagogue to friends and family. Mark reports his listeners “took offense” at him, questioning from where he got his wisdom and ability to do miracles. Because of their disbelief, God did no great works or miracles. Jesus “wondered” at their unbelief. A few chapters later in Mark 9 Jesus encounters a man in a crowd who asks if Jesus can do anything to help his afflicted son. Jesus’ response is key: “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” God brings His power into our lives when we believe.

God can deliver His abundance to each of us. There is no imperfection in His power, only the imperfection in our faith. As the late Pastor Richard Strauss once wrote: “Believe that He can do what needs to be done in your life. Expect Him to answer, then watch for Him to do it. He may work in totally unexpected ways, but He will work with supernatural power. At this very moment He is looking for people through whom He can demonstrate that power. Why not let it be you?”

Peace.
Colossians 1:17

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Twelve Days of Advent – #12 Journeys in Time

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

It’s here! Christmas Eve. Presents are wrapped, delicious food awaits us, family and friends are close. We look forward to this evening and tomorrow morning all year. For some, the journey to Christmas morning is simply from our bedrooms to our living rooms. Others travel many miles to join in the celebration. In fact, AAA recently estimated that this year over 112 million Americans will travel in some form this Christmas.

One of our biggest concerns when we take a trip, especially during the holidays, is whether we’ll get to our destination on time. Crowded airports, busy highways, overbooked hotels … when will we get there? Our travel plans sometimes seem more pressing than our travel destinations.

A different journey

There is another journey we should remember today as another Advent ends. A journey made by our Creator spanning the infinite stretches of time and space, from thought to Word to flesh to Salvation. It is the reason we celebrate this day, the Eve “O Come” became “Emmanuel.”

The Jesus so often stylized in paintings and song seems at odds with the Jesus of history. He was not born to princely riches, surrounded by the comforts of an Eternal throne. His arrival was greeted with a brief night of fanfare and praise but then life took hold.

The Jesus of history was born to humble parents, a day laborer and young girl barely into her teens. They lived not in one of the great commerce centers of Judea amidst the religious elite, but a dusty town nearly 100 miles from Jerusalem. Many in his day would never travel beyond the borders of their own villages. And it’s likely few people worried much about timetables and schedules.

Jesus’ life commenced with a journey, a continuation of the journey his Father began so many eons before. His life would end with a journey, a journey that would take him from death to transcendence. A journey that happened precisely on time.

During his earthly life, Jesus took many journeys: to Egypt as a baby, throughout Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Every trip he made, every place he visited, Scripture records the travels not of an inveterate site-seer looking to check boxes for the ancient wonders of the world he visited, but rather, someone with a single purpose: to encounter us, engage with us, teach and minister to us, bring us the Good News of the coming of his Father’s Kingdom.

A visitor to all

A lot is written about Jesus’ focus on the downtrodden and the outcast, the forgotten members of society. And indeed, he did speak to the humble and the meek and poor, both in purse and in spirit. Yet, the remarkable thing about Jesus’ journeys was how he did not discriminate between rich and poor, famous or obscure. He visited with anyone.

An encounter with a rich young ruler mentioned Mark 10:17-27 is one example. The passage begins “As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him, and ask him ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Notice the passage begins with Jesus embarking on yet another journey! Jesus seeks those who seek him – in this case, a man of wealth and means. Rather than dismissing the young man simply because of his wealth, Jesus engages him. That encounter didn’t end as the rich young ruler hoped, but Jesus still met him where he was.

Mary Annointing Jesus’ Feet, Peter Paul Rubens, 1618

Another encounter from John 12:1-8, describes Jesus allowing Mary to anoint his feet with an expensive and fragrant ointment that would sell for $20,000 today. In this story, Jesus has just come to Bethany in preparation for his final Passover in Jerusalem. Mary obviously has the means to possess such an expensive perfume and so was clearly not destitute. Yet again, Jesus did not criticize or shun her.

Jesus made an inconceivable journey for all of us. He came for the poor and rich, the unknown and the famous. He was no stranger to poverty and hardship, yet he was comfortable with the powerful and wealthy.

Jesus embodied his Father’s desire to reconcile all of mankind, regardless of circumstances. He realized that even those with means face struggles. Temptation doesn’t discriminate. He made his journey to you and me because we all hurt, we’re all broken, we all have fear and doubt.

The real point

The point of Christmas is to awaken us to the infinite capacity of God to reach inside our lives and heal us, to offer us the love and forgiveness only a Father can provide. To remind us of the journey He took to reach us.

Scholars estimate Jesus traveled over 21,000 miles during his life – nearly the distance around the earth’s equator. Yet that very last mile he walked, the mile from Pilate’s palace the hilltop on Golgotha, was undoubtedly his hardest. A mile few of us would willingly walk. And he arrived right on time.

Tonight as we prepare to celebrate the blessings of Christmas, let’s not worry too much about our own timetables or schedules. Rather, remember instead the long journey God made to reach us. And remember the journey He asks of us to reach those around us.

Peace.
Colossians 1:17

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Twelve Days of Advent – #11 Not a Silent Night

“And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men.’”

Luke 2:13

As a worship leader I get to play a lot of music throughout the year. No time is more enjoyable for me than Advent and Christmas. The songs, the vocals, the arrangements, they all bring the season alive for me.

One of my favorite Christmas Season songs for worship is Andrew Peterson’s “Labor of love” (If you’ve never heard it, find a version here). The song is a unique reinterpretation of the traditional “Silent Night.” Rather than a quiet, peaceful version of Jesus’ birth, the lyrics depict a grittier, harsher world welcoming the Son of Man.

When we look at miniature nativity scenes, do we see something like this?

A radiant Mary, loving Joseph, gentle shepherds leaning on their staffs, perhaps a few wise men looking on with knowing smiles, glorious Angels heralding the miracle, a peaceful donkey and a couple of sheep … all focused on a beaming baby Jesus. A perfectly calm picture of tranquility, sanitized and airbrushed for our consumption.

Yet I imagine the real nativity scene was quite different.

A different kind of night

To begin with, what must it have been like for Joseph to take a nearly full-term Mary the 80+ hilly and winding miles on foot or riding a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in response to the census decree from Caesar described in Luke 2? The tiny village of Bethlehem, by that time a sleepy town of about 300 people, would have swelled in size because of the census, on that night packed and noisy. The crowds were likely disgruntled at the inconvenience of the Roman census, pushing and shoving each other on the narrow streets.

On the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem today. Credit: www.nortonwheeler.com

Or consider the “shepherds in the fields” in verse 8. Imagine being these men, used to watching over their flocks all night, fighting off predators and poachers. They’re in no way timid or meek. Yet nothing has prepared them for the sight of an other-worldly being appearing from the skies and announcing the news of Jesus’ birth. Scripture tells us they were “terrified.”

Fear can be a powerful motivator. It causes us to be mistrustful and hurtful to each other. It closes our minds to those with whom we disagree. It causes us to lash out at those we see as different. We like our worlds to remain unchanging and predictable.

These shepherds had their worlds completely disrupted. Yet the Angel calms them, tells them not to be afraid and is joined a “multitude of the heavenly hosts” joining in praise.

Hardly a quiet night on the hillside.

Back at the stable and the manger, things are hardly more subdued. Unable to find accommodations Joseph was forced to bargain for a corner in a barn, probably suffering disdainful looks from other, more fortunate people who had warm fires and comfortable beds or pallets.

Mary has given birth – likely without a midwife or the comforting hands of her mother – surrounded by the raucous livestock of both Bethlehem’s residents and the visitors also there to complete the census. The scene is chaotic, noisy, dirty, and crowded.

Hardly the picture of a silent night.

Noisy, messy lives

Many of us can relate to this more realistic picture of Jesus’ birth. Like that night, our lives are gritty and crowded rather than airbrushed and pristine. Our days and nights are noisy, messy, often filled with angry voices and disdainful looks. We’re bombarded every day with messages of angst, anxiety, uncertainty.

Hope gives way to fear. Fear leads us to dread the future, uncertain of how we’ll get from day to day. We pray for grace and help while a nagging voice whispers deep inside us “what if He doesn’t answer?” Like the people of Israel during that long pause before Christ’s birth, we question how long we must wait for deliverance.

And so, we retreat inside ourselves, guarded and protective of our hearts, unwilling to engage the world in open and welcoming ways. Rejecting the needs of others, we focus on our own needs.

Credit: Billy Hunt

Hardly the makings of perfect lives.

In the midst of the chaos surrounding her, how did Mary respond? Scripture tells us she “treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Mary’s answer to the pandemonium and disorder surrounding her was to praise God for His providence, thankful for the blessing He had bestowed. She prayed and opened this most vulnerable moment of her life to everyone around her, sharing freely the precious gift God and given to mankind.

Forgetful souls

Sometimes, even during Advent and Christmas, it’s easy for us to suffer from what 9th century Irish theologian John Scotus Eriugena called “forgetfulness of soul.” We forget to love, forget to give, forget to extend our hand to others. We sing carols, go to parties, buy tons of gifts but do not, as Mary did, “treasure things in our hearts.”

Today, this Eve of Arrival, let us remember that beyond the celebrations and decorations, the true meaning of Emmanuel, “God With Us” is as close as the next person we see. We were made in God’s image, created to emulate Him and love each other openly, abundantly, and without fear even in the midst of chaos.

God has never been silent, if we have ears to hear. He has never been invisible, if we have eyes to see. He invites us to encounter Him when we protect the weak, lift up the downtrodden, seek peace in the midst of enmity.

The angel proclaimed to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” As you celebrate this Christmas Eve, this closing of Advent, proclaim the Good News: Arrival is Nigh.

Peace.
Colossians 1:17

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Twelve Days of Advent – #9 Radical Gratitude

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Christian scholar Robert C. Roberts has written: “The Christian Faith is characterized by gratitude, a feeling of delight and intellectual excitement that our world is not only created by God but nourished by his gracious presence.”

I don’t know about you, but if I’m being confessionally honest I sometimes struggle with gratitude. Ok, let’s just be frank – I can be downright ungrateful. People can (and often do) frustrate and disappoint me. My expectations aren’t met. My needs don’t get the priority they deserve. My social media posts don’t get enough likes. My work colleagues don’t pull their weight. I’m not paid what I’m worth. My house isn’t big enough.

Sound familiar?

Of course, this isn’t really how I feel (much) but, especially during Advent and Christmas Season, I can’t help but catch myself sometimes forgetting how enormously blessed we all are. Blessed to be alive, blessed to know suffering, blessed to know love, blessed to be transformed by the presence of God.

Blessings and gratitude

These blessings are the source and foundation of gratitude. And gratitude grounded in the strength of God’s favor – regardless of our circumstances – can forge faith stronger than iron, unshakeable even in the face of adversity.

How, exactly, does gratitude deepen and strengthen our faith? In many ways, gratitude is like strenuous exercise, building our spiritual muscles the more we use it. In times of plenty, when our prayers are answered and we feel the bounty of God surrounding us, faith can be relatively effortless. We thank God for His goodness, but our gratitude requires little from us. Kind of like doing arm curls with 5 lb weights.

As Rick Warren has put it, “Anybody can thank God for good things.”

But what happens when times are not so good — when things just don’t seem to make sense, when events are spinning out of control? A sudden illness, the death of a loved one, fierce prayers answered with silence, when nothing is going the way we planned. Where is our gratitude in those moments?

“Thank you, sir, may I have another?”

It seems counterintuitive to offer gratitude in times of pain and hardship, almost like Kevin Bacon’s character in Animal House assuming the position and exclaiming “Thank you sir, may I have another?” as arch-nemesis Doug Neidermeyer wields a huge paddle over and over again. But in a sense, this is precisely what God asks of us.

“I’m not sure I felt that, sir! Try again?”

Gratitude in times of hardship stretches our faith beyond any capacity we ever imagined. As our spiritual faith strengthens, the roots of that faith grow deeper, more firmly planted in the “good soil” Jesus refers to in Matthew 13:8. When we offer our thanks to God as the prophet Jeremiah did in the midst of his imprisonment by King Nebuchadnezzar, God responds with “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

In the midst of our most dire circumstances, when we face the seemingly impossible, that’s when our gratitude should be its most impactful. It is in these times we should recall David’s words from Psalm 18: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.”

The ultimate test

The ultimate test of our faith is exactly in the moments we think God has turned away (or, perhaps even doubt He was ever there). When hope seems gone, the future bleak, the promises we held close now broken, that’s when we should lift up our hearts to God in thanks, grateful that He is bigger than any problem we have, greater than any adversary.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom … I will rejoice in the God of my Salvation,” exclaims the prophet Habakkuk. In our darkest hours of waiting and fear, God hasn’t abandoned us. He remains where He has always been, standing right beside us ready to fill our hearts with His passion and lift us from the miry clay of our sorrow.

Paul writes in Colossians 2:7, “Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving.” 

As this Advent season approaches its climax, remember the power of gratefulness even in the darkest nights. When we feel we’ve lost everything, let’s be thankful for the very breath we draw. Look for what we still have rather than what we don’t.

Sink your roots into the deep bedrock of faith, being grateful for God just being Himself and knowing He works all things to the good of those who love Him.

Peace.
Colossians 1:17