What I Missed at Christmas

                                                         What I Missed at Christmas

It feels so strange. Christmas only a few weeks away, but it feels like it was months ago!

Now I remember what I missed this year!

I never heard the Hallelujah Chorus! I never heard any of The Messiah!

Feels like I missed the best part of the season!

Our ancestors were right to celebrate both comings of Christ at Christmas -- not only His appearance in disguise as a baby born at Bethlehem,  but also His victorious return in the future to reign in power and glory as King of Kings!

I am focusing on the Hallelujah Chorus right now - I have the words playing on my phone and also Alexa to give a sort of stereo affect -- Sing with me --

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!

And He shall reign forever and ever!

King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

And He shall reign forever and ever!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

Now I feel like we've truly celebrated Christmas....but nothing like we will in the future when we see it all happen with our own blessed eyes! 

Hallelujah!

Living with eyes wide open.....

Open my eyes that I may see
Wonderful things in your law.

(Psalm 119:18)

This was one of those mornings when I just don't seem to get it.

Like I am reading a scriptural passage I know is important but I can't get my brain to focus on what that message is. The ideas are blurry and indistinct. I know there is something more....something that adds to my picture of God's character and would direct me toward more holiness and obedience....but I can't seem to shake off the feeling that I am hopelessly distracted from what He is wanting to tell me.

So I pray: "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." I am asking, not just for assistance at this moment, I am asking for a miracle.

The word open used in this verse is the same word used in the story in Numbers 22 when the Lord opened Balaam's eyes so he could see the angel of the Lord standing on the road in front of him with his sword drawn.

And when Hagar was fleeing with Ishmael and was in the desert, thirsty, desperate for water -- Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.


And in Luke 24 we read about the two grief-stricken disciples on their way to Emmaus, who didn't realize they were walking and talking with the risen Savior --
then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

When I ask God to "open my eyes" to more of His truth, I am asking Him to reveal Himself to me, not in an ordinary physical way, but in a supernatural way.

When Hagar saw the well, when Balaam saw the angel, and when the disciples saw Jesus, they were not seeing things that had not been there before.

God wasn't miraculously causing the well and the angel to appear -- they were already there.
The miracle was not in the appearance of the well and the angel and Christ, but the miracle was the Holy Spirit's work so they could see what was already there.

Were they so distraught by grief, by unbelief, by desperation that they couldn't see?


I think I am sometimes that way. The words and phrases are there, but because of my distractions, my disobedience, or my unbelief I just can't really get His message.

The word has to do with removing a veil, or a covering from our eyes. And I can't do that for myself.

It is a good time to remember that everything we have is a gift from God: our faith, our joy and peace, and even our repentance -- He is the source of all. And that includes our understanding of His Word --

Another Miracle When God Opened Someone's Eyes....

William Tyndale translated much of the Bible into early modern (contemporary) English in the early 1500's. He was the first to draw directly from the Hebrew and the Greek texts. (He was a well-known linguist -- fluent in at least 8 languages.)
He was also the first to take advantage of the new printing press and so copies could be distributed fairly quickly.

The Catholic Church and the English monarchy arrested Tyndale and he was burned at the stake in 1536.(Some records say he was strangled by one of the King's men before being tied to the stake, and some say a dear friend pierced him with his sword so he wouldn't feel the fiery pain -- I hope one of those is true.)

His last words, though, expressed his final prayer: "God, Open thou the King of England's eyes."

Was this prayer answered? Well, within 4 years of Tyndale's death, there were already 4 English translations being circulated in England. These included the Miles Coverdale version, Thomas Matthews', Richard Taverner's, and the Great Bible.

And then in the early 1600's the England's King James was gathering an assembly of the great linguists and theologians of the day to publish a brand new translation which would be called The Authorized King James Bible. It was completed in 1611.

So Tyndale's last prayer was answered in ways he could not even imagine.


(And we think things change fast these days!)

King James' scholars owed a great deal to Tyndale-- 83% of the King James New Testament and 75% of the Old Testament came directly from Tyndale's translation.


So really most of the credit for the "Authorized Version" should not go to all those scholars, it rightly belongs to William Tyndale!

Tyndale was the first one to substitute "love" for "charity." And he was the first to use the word "Jehovah" for the transliterated sacred Hebrew tetragrammaton, YHWH.

Living With Eyes Wide Open...

But back to David, the writer of Psalm 119. He doesn't just pray that God will open his eyes. He tells us why. He wants to live by God's law. And if he is to live by it, God will have to teach him from it (verse 26), give him understanding (verse 27)and keep him from false ways (verse 29).

And David was acknowledging that he would do his part: he would cherish and long for God's law (verse 20), he would meditate on God's decrees (verse 25) and delight in God's statues (verse 24), and let God's statues be his counselor (verse 24) and that he would obey God's law (verse 21).

Asking God to open our eyes is not something to be taken lightly. There are obligations and responsibilities for me when I am being instructed by the Holy Spirit. It makes me more accountable!

I should not pray this prayer without serious intent to live out what He is teaching me within.

 A Personal God? Or a Life Force? Which do you want?

From C S Lewis, Mere Christianity

One reason why many people find Creative Evolution so attractive is that it gives one much of the emotional comfort in God and none of the less pleasant consequences.

When you are feeling fit and the sun is shining and you do not want to believe that the whole universe is a mere mechanical dance of atoms, it is nice to be able to think of this great mysterious force rolling on through the centuries and carrying you on its crest.

If, on the other hand,  you want to do something rather shabby, the Life Force, being only a blind force, with no morals and no mind, will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children. The One who speaks to us and holds us accountable.

The Life Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want but it will never bother you. All the thrills of religion, and none of the cost.

Is the Life Force the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet seen?

(As for me, give me a personal God. Point me to the cross and tell me about Jesus. That's the God I want to believe in. A Rescuer, a Redeemer, a Savior God! I'll cast my life on Him!)

More Reasons to Say Thanks!

 

                                                        More Reasons to Say Thanks!

Reading Romans 1 --

Here are God's thoughts on the history of mankind:

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images...therefore God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts."

So they didn't glorify Him as God, nor did they give Him thanks. Thanking God Isn't trivial or optional; It is critical! Not thanking Him leads to destruction.

And as we look at Jesus we also see the importance of giving thanks. When He fed the multitudes the record says, "When He took the loaves He gave thanks" and the 5 small fishes fed thousands!

And standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, He gave thanks! And then the dead man came out -- alive -- and into the arms of his family!

See the pattern? First "thanks" and then the miracle! It is repeated through the gospels.

Are we missing something important these days?

First Thoughts -- First Words - Eric Metaxas - From The Moon

From Eric Metaxas...


It's interesting to think that some of the first words ever spoken on the surface of the moon were those of Jesus.


"I am the vine, you are the branches. [Whoever] abides in Me...will bring forth much fruit...(John 15:5)



Astronaut Buzz Aldrin said that he'd intended to read this communion passage in his transmission back to earth, but at the same time, NASA was embroiled in a legal battle with Madalyn O'Hair, the outspoken atheist who was suing NASA becase the Apollo 8 crew had read a few scriptures from Genesis when they orbited the moon on Christmas of 1968.



Aldrin had been asked not to read the scriptures over the radio, and he reluctantly complied, reading them quietly as he gave thanks to God.



"It was interesting for me think," he said some years later, "the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements."




And interesting for us to think that the first symbolic act on the moon was a remembrance of a self-sacrificial act of grace made 2000 years earlier by the One who made the moon and the Earth and the stars.