Visions & Verses

New Year, New Person?

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;  I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

~Ezekiel 36:26-27

New year, fresh start -- many people think that way.  All over, people are making resolutions with the best of intentions.  I'm not much for resolutions at new year, myself, but I certainly have made plans for personal renovation over the years.  I've planned to lose weight, lose my temper, be more patient, procrastinate less, improve my finances and countless others.  In fact, I'm a bit of a self-improvement junkie.  I used to fill my bookshelves with self-help books.  But not now.  I've found the only self-help book I'll ever need in the Bible.  And I found the only way to lasting change -- the renewing of mind and spirit through Christ Jesus.

People who know me, know that I used to change like the weather.  I re-arranged furniture, changed jobs, changed careers, changed ideologies, suddenly and without warning.  So naturally, when I found Christ, those around me figured it to be my new flavor of the month.  Now, more than a decade later, it's been the most profound, lasting change in my life ever.  And all the other improvements I had been longing to make have been coming into line ever since.  I wouldn't pretend that I'm perfect -- I'm certainly a work in progress -- but I can see a continual improvement.  And more importantly, I have a clear goal to move toward.  Instead of how the World says I should behave or think, I have the model of Jesus to follow.  It is not an easy model.  I would never deceive anyone by suggesting that becoming a Christian is an easy road.  It is as filled with trials and tribulations as life without Christ.  But the difference is Christ in you.  With the Holy Spirit living in you, and by referring to the Bible, and speaking with God in prayer regularly, trials do not seem so daunting.  Fear is replaced by hope, and the assurance that God will work all things for the good.

So, my New Year wish for you is that God would put a new heart and His Spirit in you and me so that we can love His Truth and follow in His ways, and be renewed, and re-made in His image.  This is the path to true positive change. 

Catching Christmas

Be still, and know that I am God;  ~Psalm 46:10

Stop and consider God's wonders.  ~Job 37:14

This time year it seems I'm always catching something -- catching a cold, catching a glimpse of my potbelly in the mirror, catching my breath after a long shopping trip, catching the blues when I think of Christmases past and loved ones no longer with us.

But one thing that is much harder to catch is the Christmas Spirit.  Sure, we decorate the house.  And I love to listen to Christmas Carols.  We even do an Advent Calendar.  But somehow, all the decorating, shopping, cooking, Christmas pageants and gift wrapping come all at once and make the days too short.  I'm left feeling empty instead of fulfilled.  I feel like I'm on a treadmill, running to catch Christmas, but I never quite get it.  Honestly, I usually feel the most Christmas-y in the week after Christmas, when I can unwind and spend time with the family, uninterrupted by deadlines and commitments.

Perhaps it was meant to be this way.  Imagine Mary and Joseph, hurrying to make the census, hurrying to make Mary's due date, perhaps hurrying to get through some weather.  They weren't so prepared for Christmas either.  They didn't even have reservations in Bethlehem ;0)

Still, God warned in the past that the Messiah would come when many people were not expecting it.  And Jesus warned us that his return would come the same way.  So we'll never be fully prepared for the coming of Christ, at Christmas or in the Last Days.  In the meantime, I try to take a moment to be still consider God's wonders and know that He has it all under control -- even if I don't!

Happy Hanukkah

"It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah."  -John 10:22NLT

A century or so before Jesus' birth, the Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Egypt and subsequently Judea and Jerusalem.  The king ordered an end to all religion but his own, and set up an altar to Zeus on the sacrificial altar of the Temple.  There, he even sacrificed pigs, considered unclean.  This was an abomination to the Jews.  After much bloodshed, they were able to win back the Temple, and three years later re-dedicate it to Jehovah God.  To commemorate this, they established the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah. 

On the Christian calendar, Hanukkah falls during Advent, a time of preparation -- both for the celebration of Christmas and for the eventual return of the messiah, Jesus.  Advent and Hanukkah are both solemn occasions that call us to be re-dedicated to God, and to be prepared to do His work in the world.  For the ancient Jews, there were more conquerors to come, and more challenges to their faith and very existence. For Christians today, we see similar efforts by authorities to diminish our faith.  For now it might be a relatively benign 'Holidays' or 'Winter Festival' instead of Christmas, but the Book of Revelation suggests that much stiffer tests of our faith will come.  Let us be re-dedicated and prepared then, for whatever may come.