I often think of the words of the English poet, William Wordsworth, who, hundreds of years ago got it right: “The world is too much with us.” It’s with us morning, noon and night and even in the middle of the night when a message on our cell phones dings us out of sleep.

Social scientists and medical professionals tell us that our technological devices are actually changing our brains and robbing us of our ability to think deeply, to read, to be quiet.

In December, along with all that everyday life piles on us, we come to the time to celebrate the birth of the One who changed everything – who made possible healing between God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth… and Man: God’s creation, now flawed, weak, distractible and self-seeking creation but whom God loved with a love that doesn’t make sense. He did this by becoming human Himself, by loving and giving and sacrificing. And this, we celebrate!

Yet we celebrate, by “getting and spending.” Few words describe much of the world’s celebration of Christmas better than these two. We get and we spend and overdo almost every good thing there is to do, with sparkling lights on top.

But what can we do differently this Christmas? “I would hope that some, perhaps for the first time, will try staying home,” wrote Elisabeth Elliot. “You may be among the least frantic and harried if you simply stay home.” And we might need to add: unplug.

You can make choices this Christmas. You can choose to stay in, to invite in, to leave your device in the other room, to notice others, to speak words of encouragement and appreciation and wrap your celebration in inner quietness that can only come from a dogged determinedness to begin each day with Jesus and His Word He has for you each day.

What kind of a Christmas do you want to have this year? Does your heart whisper, as does the heart of writer, Ann Voskamp, when she says, “I don’t want a Christmas you can buy. I don’t want a Christmas you can make. What I want is a Christmas you can hold. A Christmas that holds me, remakes me, revives me. I want a Christmas that whispers, Jesus.”

This Christmas, of our celebration, let’s say, with the three kings, “…we have come to worship Him.” (Luke 2:2)
(BONNIE SALA, GUIDELINES INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES)

Over 365 names and inscriptions are found in the Bible referring to Jesus Christ, but none is lovelier than the one found in Isaiah where the prophet said, “His name shall be called WONDERFUL” (Isaiah 9:6).

As a light that sparkles on a tree, the WONDER of Christ can hardly be reduced to a treatment of a few minutes, but in that length of time I will give you the second five WONDERS of Christmas.

The Sixth wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS WORKS. How can we describe them! Wherever He went, He did good. To the blind He said, “Receive your sight”; to the lame, “Rise up and walk.” He stopped funeral processions and raised the dead. He made no clinical analysis; He brought in no specialists. He just spoke the Word and it happened.

The Seventh wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS DEATH freely given, undeserved, but effecting a lasting relationship for each person with our Heavenly Father.

The Eighth wonder is the wonder of HIS RESURRECTION. Pilate gave the order to seal the tomb. “Take some guards with you. God. Make the tomb as secure as you can” was his command to the chief priests and the Pharisees (Matthew 27:65).  Yet the tomb is empty and Christ ever lives.

The Ninth wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS SECOND RETURN. “This very Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come back in just the same way as you have seen him go,” spoke the messengers at the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:11).

And last of all, the Tenth wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS SAVING POWER. “He will save His people from their sins,” was the message of the angel to Joseph (Matthew 1:21). This is the great wonder of Christmas: through His blood we find forgiveness and cleansing. Thank God for the wonders of Christmas!

(HAROLD J. SALA, GUIDELINES INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES)

Over 365 names and inscriptions are found in the Bible referring to Jesus Christ, but none is lovelier than the one found in Isaiah where the prophet said, “His name shall be called WONDERFUL” (Isaiah 9:6).

As a light that sparkles on a tree, the WONDER of Christ can hardly be reduced to a treatment of a few minutes, but in that length of time I will give you the first five WONDERS of Christmas.

First, there is the wonder of HIS BIRTH. Any birth is a wonderful event, but the birth of Christ had been foretold by the prophets for centuries. To Abraham, God revealed the nation through which Christ would come. To Jacob, He revealed that Christ would be of the tribe of Judah. To Isaiah, God mentioned a family, the line of Jesse. To Micah, God whispered the name of the town of Bethlehem. To Daniel, God revealed the time of His birth. The events leading up to the birth of Christ were like the gears of a fine watch that had to mesh together so that when the fullness of time had come, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. What a wonder!

Second, there is the wonder of HIS CONDESCENSION. Really, to understand what this means, you have to remember what heaven was like and what Jesus left to come to our world and be born in human flesh. Had men arranged His birth, it would have never been in a stable. But the wonder of His condescension means that God touches the needs of humanity right where we are.

The Third wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS CHARACTER. Though we are saved by the death of Christ, His life is yet filled with wonder. Who but Jesus could say, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46). He lifted the fallen of life. He gave His life that we might have newness of life in Christ.

The Fourth wonder of Christmas is the wonder of HIS PERSON. He was human yet divine. He could grow weary, yet could say, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). He hungered, yet could take five loaves and two fish and feed a multitude. He was heaven’s Light for Earth’s darkness and heaven’s Bread for man’s hunger.

Then Fifth, there is the wonder of HIS WORDS. He spoke with authority demanding the attention of those who heard. He said, “You have heard that it was said…But I tell you.” His words are ethically true. You will find no loopholes in what Jesus taught or said. He spoke with simplicity but with great power.

During this season, our attention naturally turns to the manger. Even in a shallow way, our culture invites our focus to be on the birth of Christ. That’s certainly a wonderful thing but, we dare not miss the central message this the precious Baby came to die.

No matter how sweet the scene may be, we need to remember that this Child was born for an eternal purpose – a dark and painful purpose. He came to willingly offer His life for you and me.

Maybe instead of placing all the seasonal focus and attention on the manger scene, we ought to take a long look at the cross and remember the stone.

Paul urged us in Galatians 6:14 to focus on Christ’s sacrifice when he said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Let’s take a moment to focus on the results of that sacrifice. He satisfied (once and for all) the demands of a holy and righteous God. Because He hung on that cross and freely shed His precious blood, our sin has been covered (Colossians 1:20 “…by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross”). Because He joyfully suffered, we can be justified (declared righteous, just as if we had never sinned).

Let’s take a moment to think about the stone too. Because that rock was rolled away and He rose from the dead, we are assured of the same victory. Even in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah envisioned that moment when the Messiah would “…swallow up death forever” (Isaiah 25:8). Death has no sting for the believer. Our Savior went forth out of the grave, and so shall we!

So, maybe Advent season is a great time to allow our focus to include more than just the manger scene. Let’s move our mind’s eye to the cross and onto the stone. That Child grew up, lived a sinless life, willingly offered Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God and three days after His horrible death rose from the grave victorious over Satan and sin. He did all that so we can join Him in victory. The cross and the stone, now there’s a Christmas message to savor.

(SHERRY WOREL, GUIDELINES INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES)

Notice what happens in a race when you move forward, but you keep looking back. You can’t see the obstacles in the future, so you fall over them. You make mistakes. You hurt yourself. This is what you do when you keep looking back, while running forward. You hurt yourself because you can’t see the challenges and the hurdles ahead of you.

Here is the challenge for us as Christians, and as churches. Turn your head around. Start looking forward. Run the race that God has for you by looking forward. This means a couple of things:

1.You will only grow if you keep looking forward. You can’t say – “I want it like it was before.” Growth means that you change some things. For Christians, it may be some habits. For churches, it may be some methods and traditions.

2.You will only win the race when you look forward to Jesus. You can’t say – “I can do this all by myself.” Winning the race means that you work in a team with Jesus. Jesus is there to coach you. He is your cheerleader. He will help you win the race. But you have to keep looking to Him – not to anyone else, or anything else. Jesus needs to be your Source. This takes prayer. You have to be praying and listening to Jesus to move forward.

3.You have to believe that the future is brighter than the past. You can’t say – “It can’t get any better.” The truth is: Yes – it will get better. You have to take all of your negative thoughts and submit them to Christ. Christians need to think forward because God thinks forward. God doesn’t stay in the past. You shouldn’t either. Your church shouldn’t stay in the past.

4.You have to know that God’s love for you didn’t end when you accepted Jesus. You can’t say – “God doesn’t love me anymore.” God still loves you right where you are. He just doesn’t want you to stay right where you are. God’s love for you grows just as you decide to look forward and grow. God wants to help you with your future. Why? Because He wants you to reach the goal – eternal life with Him in heaven. You can’t there by looking back to your past here on earth. Nothing will separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ, not even your past. There is much more ahead of you in God’s love than behind you.

So keep looking forward. God has big plans for you – for you as a Christian, as father, as mother, as a student, as a couple, as a church. Keep your head up and keep looking forward. There will be much more for you with God’s love. Look forward to it.

(JIM ERWIN)

Whenever I consider Solomon, I am faced with the question of how a man of such great wisdom and discernment could end his life so far from the Lord.

He had 700 wives, and 300 concubines. His wives turned away his heart so that it was not wholly true to the   Lord   his  God.  Solomon’s   heart   was  at  first
divided between women and God, but it soon turned away altogether.

This is terrifying, is it not? A man with the wisdom of Solomon, a man who had had the Lord appear to him twice and who had heard the Lord command him not to turn after other Gods, still turned away. Though a wise man, the Lord told him “you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you.” How could this happen?

It seems to me that the key to Solomon’s downfall is found in one of his own proverbs. In Proverbs 19:27 we read “Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” Those who cease to listen to wise instruction, instruction based on the fear of the Lord, will quickly stray. While we cannot know for certain, I am increasingly convinced that this is what happened to Solomon. When he was only a boy, but still a king, he called out to God in what seems to be a healthy apprehension of the difficulties he would face as king. God was pleased to hear, pleased to answer, and pleased to give to Solomon far more than he asked. Solomon asked for discernment, but was also given great wisdom, great wealth, and great power. God lavished gifts upon him.

But as Solomon grew older, I believe he began to depend less on God. I believe he began to depend on his own wisdom and to stray ever-further from God’s instruction. Where there was once humble dependence on God, there was now dependence on himself. In so doing, he strayed from words of knowledge, and strayed from God Himself. Solomon preferred his wisdom to God’s wisdom, his ways to God’s ways. The whole earth once “sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” But I believe Solomon soon allowed his own earthly wisdom to overtake his mind. He ceased hearing instruction and strayed from words of knowledge. He strayed from wisdom. He strayed from God.

If Solomon could stray so far from the Lord, I know that I could too. This is a sobering thought. This is even a terrifying thought. Thankfully, the solution to avoiding the folly of Solomon is clear. I need to ensure that I never cease to hear instruction. I must live constantly focused on God’s Word, never believing that I have learned enough. I must know that from this day to the day I die, I need to maintain a humble dependence on God. I must trust that His words of instruction will continue to edify and strengthen me, protecting me from straying from the words of knowledge, those words that I trust to keep me on the straight and the narrow path.
(TIM CHALLIES)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything  that hinders and the sin that easily entangles.                                                            And let us run with perseverance the race  marked out for us…

HEBREWS 12:1

The army of Alexander the Great was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared that his troops might be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat.

Alexander commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon saw the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again.” Victory was assured.

As soldiers of Christ, we must rid ourselves of anything that hinders us in the conflict with our spiritual enemy. To fight the battle effectively, we must be clad only with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17).

The Bible also likens Christians to runners. To win the race, we must “lay aside every weight” that would drag us down and rob us of our strength and endurance (Hebrews 12:1). This weight may be an excessive desire for possessions, the captivating love of money, an endless pursuit of pleasure, slavery to sinful passions, or a burdensome legalism.

Yes, if we are to fight the good fight of faith and run the spiritual race with endurance, the watchword must be: Off with the weight!
(RICHARD DE HAAN)

Fight the good fight with all thy might!
Christ is thy strength and Christ thy right;
Lay hold on life and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally. —MONSELL

If your Christian life is a drag, could it be that worldly weights holding you back?