Living Worthily

In my quiet time this morning my reading focused on Ephesians 4:1. Paul begged his readers to "live worthily of the calling with which you have been called" (NET Bible). This is an intense call. An urgent call.

In the previous paragraph, Paul ended his second prayer for the Ephesians with a doxology.

"Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or
think—according to the power that works in you— to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 HCSB)

If God is to be glorified in my daily life, as Paul challenged in Eph 4:1, then He must be glorified, not just in my words of prayer, but in my life.

If I desire to see God honored and glorified, then I must start with my lifestyle first. It is meaningless to pray that God be glorified in some general way, if I do not desire him to be gloryfied in my life.

Paul pleads that the Ephesians see the depth of God's love, realize how deserving He is of all honor and glory, and then live worthily of being called by Him.

If I do not live worthy of God's call on my life, then I will not glorify him, I wll not see him work in me and through me fully, and other believers will be affected.

A worthy walk is not optional.

A New Year: What To Do With It?

A new year! 2009.

Why is it that the New Year always seems to bring out the desire to establish new resolutions? New goals? The end of the old and the beginning of the new year cause many of us to reflect on how we lived out the last 12 months and we see areas for improvement. Generally speaking, our New Years resolutions last just a little longer than it took to make our list. A few actually keep theirs for two or three months!

Now, I'm not going to share my New Year resoluations with you. One of you might actually ask in a couple of months how I am doing with them!

There is one area though that I would like to work on that I will share here -- I want to get to know God better in 2009.

I used to work in a Christian bookstore. During the 10 years I worked there I noticed that most Christians (about 75%) bought fiction, self-help books, feel-good books and books about finances. Comparatively few bought books that would help them grow as Christians or help them grow in their relationship with God. From what I observe now, little has changed in the Christian community with which I have contact.

In today's devotional reading from the Everyday With Jesus Bible Holman Christian Standard), Selwyn Hughes wrote about this issue. It isn't that "these subjects are unimportant," he says, "but they are explored in a self-absorbed way that gives the idea that the most important thing in life is knowing ourselves better. It isn't. The most important thing in life is knowing God better."

He adds, "I tell you with all the conviction of which I am capable: if God is not our primary focus, then everything else will soon get out of focus." I can certainly testify that this is true. Everytime I get my focus on my life, my problems or events around me, it is only a matter of time before my joy and peace are gone. These other things loom huge, and God seems more distant and impotent. But if my focus stays on God and getting to know His character and ways better, then my life, my problems and even the events going on in the world all fall into place.

This year I want to get to know God--His nature and His ways--better.

And yes, you can hold me accountable as to how I'm doing in the process.

Why Was Jesus Born?

This last Sunday, we discussed the birth of Christ in Sunday School. It was a good discussion.

One of the questions that was asked was why was Christmas celebrated on December 25. That is a good question. December 25th is most definitely not when Christ was born. That date was chosen by Constantine in the 4th century. It was actually the date on which the pagans worshiped their sun god. In an attempt to appease both Christians and pagans, Constantine let the pagans keep their celebration date, but said that the holiday would be in honor of the birth of the Son of God. The birth of Christ probably took place sometime between April and November—after the winter season and in between the two rainy seasons.

While December 25th is not the actual date for Christ’s birth, it is good to celebrate the amazing fact that God entered the human scene as a newborn baby.

Another thing we talked about are some of the contrasts we see in the birth of Christ. For example, Bethlehem means “house of bread” in Hebrew. Jesus, the Bread of Life, was born in the house of bread. We see the Word of God (John 1) born as a speechless baby. The announcement of Christ’s birth was first made to shepherds tending their sheep on the Judean hillsides not far from Bethlehem. Jesus is both the Lamb of God (John 1:36) and the Good Shepherd John 10). There are other contrasts too. Can you see any others?

The birth of Christ is a great miracle, but we must ask the question, “Why was Jesus the Christ born?” Not to be a good example or a great Teacher, though, he was both of these. He did not come to enlighten us. He came to do far, far more than all these things. He came to die on the cross so that we might live. God is perfect love, but our determination to push God off and to run our own lives our own way have separated us from God. He loves us, yes, but we chose to go our own way. The consequence is that we died spiritually and unless our debt of rebellion is paid, we will be eternally separated from God. Our sin is against an infinitely perfect, holy God. There is no way we can earn God's favor. We can turn over a new leaf, but that does not undo what we have done and what we are. So Christ came. God became a human, though He did not give up His deity, and 33 years later He gave his life in our place, as if he were the one who sinned, yet he never did. His was an infinitely, perfect sacrifice. Now, God promises that if we believe that Christ died in our place, rose back to life three days later and we yield the control of our lives to him, God will make us right with himself, forgive us of our sins and give us a new and eternal life.