Ponder It

"But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."  Luke 2:19

On December 23rd, two days before Christmas, I was in a big fabric and crafts store (with my wife, who needed to get something!).  The whole front section of the store was a mess, there were five or six almost empty racks of what used to be their Christmas crafts section.  As I looked at the picked over and sparse holiday part of the store, I got a familiar sad feeling that told me Christmas was over, and it was still two days before Christmas!  I then noticed over to the left, a whole area filled with fresh new craft items.  The shelves were full and nothing had been picked through, it was very neat and inviting.  The area was filled with red hearts and Cupids.  Yes, two days before Christmas the store had already set up its Valentines Day section.
Our faced paced culture is telling us, Christmas is over, hustle over to the mall and exchange those gifts, and by the way you had better hurry because Valentines is coming soon.  In the above verse we see Jesus' mother Mary doing the exact opposite.  Mary had just been through some pretty crazy days leading up to Jesus' birth, and it says she took the time and "kept" those things in her heart, and "pondered" them.
This is not the season to push on past Christmas, it is the time to all the more dwell on and ponder all of what the season is about.  I say we should hit the brakes, slow down a bit and enjoy Christmas some more.
One of the names given Jesus is "Immanuel", which means, God with us.  That does not mean that God was just with us that first Christmas two thousand years ago, it means God is with us today.  That one thought ought to give us enough to puzzle over, and wonder about, every single day.  February 14th is still a long way off, lets slow down and ponder, its still Christmas, for God is indeed with us today. 

I Get To

"And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger." 
Luke 2:16

The angel didn't appear to religious or political leaders to announce the birth of Jesus, but he went to some lowly shepherds.  I love the response of these men, they went right away, or made haste to fine this newborn Savior.  I also love the fact that they did not have to be commanded to go and find Jesus.  It seems the angel rightly accepts, that upon hearing the glad tidings of the birth of the savior, that the shepherds would want to find Him.  And of course we see that they didn't have to be ordered to go, they believed the message delivered to them from God, and therefore were driven in haste to find Jesus.
The foundation of Christianity is not a set of rules or commands to follow.  What motivates us, is our belief in the salvation given us in Jesus, who's birth we celebrate.  Ours is not a faith that says, "I have to".  Ours is a faith that says, "I want to", or "I get to", or better still, "I love to".  We serve, we love, we read the Bible, we worship, because of the love that God has poured into us by His Son.  Loving and serving the Lord is never a chore, it is indeed a great privilege.  The shepherds have set a great example for us to remember, may the reality of the message of God's grace cause us to make haste, to seek out and worship our precious Jesus.

The Lord Is Good

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" Psalm 34:8

The Christmas season is a time when our taste buds really get a full work out, and its wonderful!  This past week I was given a cookie snack that looked like an acorn.  It looked cute enough, but tasted even better.  It is very easy for me to describe to you what the snack looked like, I already mentioned it looked like an acorn, and that is easy for you to picture.  It is a much more difficult task to describe to you how it tasted....it was a tasty, crunchy, peanut buttery, and chocolate, sort of treat.  The fact is, that the words I use cannot give the true sense of how good this goodie tasted.  The best I would be able to do is to give you one of these acorn cookies and say, taste and see for yourself how good it is.
Isn't it the same when we try to share exactly how wonderful it is to walk in Jesus?  We can describe Jesus, who He is, what He has accomplished, and how to receive Him as Savior and Lord.  But words can fall short when we try to explain His love, joy, and peace in our lives.  The best we can do is present who He is, and plead, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." 
The key for us then, is to be continually walking in, and tasting of, the goodness of the Lord.  Our best witness is being able to offer the fullness of life in Jesus, a life we know to be good because we have tasted of it ourselves.

Be Sound

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind."
2 Timothy 1:7

Back in my high schools days on some boring Friday night, I talked a group of my friends into going on a scary adventure.  We went and found what was rumored to be a haunted farm house.  The house was located in the middle of an orange grove, so it was dark and spooky.  There were no doors or windows left on the house so it was easy to enter.  After looking through the house for a bit, I gathered everyone together so I could tell them why the house was haunted.  I began to tell everyone a completely made up story, that was told to me by a completely made person.  It was about a crazy farmer that lived in the house, who murdered his whole family.  As I was telling this phony story I could see my friends starting to feel a little creepy, so I poured it on more.  Pretty soon every noise from inside or outside the house seemed to be magnified, and everyone was getting even more scared.  And then something amazing happened, I began to scare myself!  I was making the story up, I knew it wasn't true, I knew it was fictitious, yet I was starting to get a little freaked out.  At long last, there was a thumping creaking sound that came from another room that made us all scream and run for our lives.
How crazy is that?  I was able to get myself into a freaked out fearful state, with my own made up scary story!  I had knowingly brought myself to a place of not being of sound mind.
There is good spiritual application to this story.  It is very important for us to be of sound mind, to be disciplined in our thoughts and imaginations, and to be clear and sober in our reasoning.  Our enemy knows how to get us to the place of an unsound mind, with one fearful thought, our mind begins skipping and our imagination begins to exaggerate situations, and presto, we freak out!  At times the unsoundness is not even from the enemy, it is self-inflicted, we magnify circumstances or problems and we create scary scenarios that drive us to fear.
Our enemy loves to keep us unstable through fear.  The best way for us to battle this, is to be disciplined in keeping our focus on the Lord and on His word.  We need to learn to take our thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), and as we do, fear will wane and His peace will reign.  Search His word for those promises that keep you heart and mind stayed upon Him.

Rest In His Word

Psalm 119:49-50 "Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life."

Words are very powerful.  I heard on the radio this morning that the stock market had taken a major plunge because of word from Greece.  I was on a hospital visit sitting with a family anxiously waiting word from a nurse.  I recently got a prayer request from a man wondering about his health, as he was awaiting word from a medical lab regarding a test he had taken.  And then there was the worry of a young man who knew word was coming from his mechanic as to how much money it would take to get his car running.  All these folks were waiting on words that would bring sadness or relief, fear or joy.
Words are indeed powerful, and we can get words from anywhere, doctors, friends, teachers, lawyers, or co-workers.  It is important to listen to man, but we must be wary not to set our hopes in the words of man, lest our lives be set on an unstable roller coaster type foundation.  Our lives are not to be set on the words of man, but on the sure foundation of God's word and His promises.  As we trust in His word we have hope, and comfort, and life, not matter what we hear from the world.

Best Effort

2 Chronicles 31:21 "And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart.  So he prospered."

A few years back, I was invited by some friends and family to go watch them run the Long Beach Marathon.  I let them know I would go, and then decided a couple of weeks before the race, that as long as I was going to be at the race, I may as well run it with them.  I had been doing some running and felt I was in pretty good shape, I had also run a couple of marathons so I figured I could run another one pretty easily.  I was very casual about the race, and showed up race day having done very little training.
I started the race just fine, but around mile 16, my legs, my back, my lungs, and my stomach, all let me know that I should not have ventured to run this 26.2 miles with such a nonchalant attitude.  I finished the race but felt miserable.  My legs were cramped, I was dizzy, and I lost my cookies a couple of times.  My race recovery, which should have taken a couple of days, took a couple of weeks.  Usually when I do something boneheaded the Lord has a lesson for me, and this time the lesson was simple....never take on a difficult task halfheartedly.  
This application of this lesson is both practical and spiritual.  The Lord desires that our commitment to Him be wholehearted.  He does not want dabbling, nonchalant followers, but those who have counted the cost and desire to put forth full effort.
Our halfhearted efforts for the Lord usually end up in our getting hurt or burned, and our witness being discredited.  On the contrary, our greatest power and joy and peace come in those times that we give the Lord our best.  Our call to the Lord is a long distance race, let's set our hearts to be disciplined, giving Him our best every single day.

Hold Tight

"For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses."  2 Kings 18:6

I have great memories of bringing my children out into the ocean waves for the first time.  I guess I saw it as a fatherly type responsibility, sort of like teaching them to ride a bike.  I would let them warm up a bit by playing with them in the ankle deep water, and then I would take them in my arms and venture out into the deeper water and the bigger waves.  I can still almost feel the octopus suction grip they would have on me as we would get knocked by the waves.  There was always fun and laughter as long as my grip was strong on them, and theirs on me.
To me this gives a great picture of one of Judah's best kings, Hezekiah.  The word tells us that as Judah's king, "there was none like him", and we are told the main reason why, "he held fast to the Lord".  And so we have a great picture of Hezekiah, one of the best and strongest kings, clinging tightly to his God, like a child clinging to his dad in the waves.
Hezekiah became king in a very difficult time.  His father was a horrible king, who promoted idolatry and even went so far as to board up the temple.  Also during that time, Assyria was a powerful enemy that kept threatening Hezekiah.  The young king was indeed venturing out into the bigger waves, yet we see he was bold and strong because he clung to God.
We are living in days of rough and choppy seas.  Our tendency might be to remain on shore, or to stay in the safe ankle deep water.  But we all know that the Lord would call us to the adventure of greater depths and bigger waves.  Its important to remember, His call it not to the waves, but to His arms, and He will never be shaken, nor will He ever fail.  What a blessed lesson we learn from good king Hezekiah, who was a good king because in the midst of difficult days, "he held fast to the Lord".