He Sets The Lonely In Families

It truly is a wonderful time of year. Some folks would go so far as to say it is the Most wonderful time of the year. Others would find that hard to believe. For some people it is the most lonely time of the year (just watch the opening credits to the movie "Surviving Christmas" and you'll see what I mean). It's a time when family comes together...unless you have no family. It's a time to celebrate with friends...unless your world is friendless.
Who cares if a baby was miraculously born so many years ago? Who cares that angels proclaimed the birth of a new king? Peace on earth and good will toward men are great taglines, but where are they?
Even our Christmas specials and holiday movies declare over and over again that the only thing you truly need to have a wonderful, joyful, and maybe even miraculous Christmas is your family and friends. So what good is this holy celebration to those who are lonely and abandoned?

If this is you, I would say that you have more to gain from the miraculous Christ-child than any of us. And if that is going too far, then at the very least you could understand and appreciate him and his purpose more than most. He came here for you.

In celebrating the Christmas season we rejoice in the coming (and subsequent life, death, and resurrection) of our savior, and look forward to the second coming of our glorious king.
But there is more to the birth of baby Jesus than that. There is something much more simple, and perhaps more meaningful in the coming of the God-child.
I am talking about Emmanuel.
It means "God with us." God has come down to be with us; to live with us; to know and be known by us.
Jesus didn't just come to die. He came to start a relationship between man and God that had been--for the most part--lost since the fall of Adam and Eve. He came because he sees our loneliness and wants to fill it with his love. That is why he came in our likeness to relate with us, connect with us, and show us how much he loves us: first in his life and even more in his death.
God knows we are lonely. We are ALL lonely. Certainly, we cover it up well with our schedule of activities, our social circles, our hobbies, and our vices. But when you take them all away we feel just how lost, empty, and alone we really are. God is not fooled by our antics. He knows. That's why he came to be with us.
He came to show us where we are and lead us on the right path. He came to feed us the bread and water of life. He came to care for us, to be with us, and to create a family for us with him as the firstborn and God as our father.
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing" (Psalm 68:5).
Even Christ's death was the means of making a way for us--broken and wicked humans--to approach and know the perfect and loving God. He made a way for us to have a relationship with himself now and forever.

So as we celebrate this Christmas season may we certainly worship the Christ-child as God and honor him as king, but may we also love him as our great and dear friend.
"We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

God Loves Us

Why is god so judgmental?
That seems to be the question that bothers a lot of people these days (and probably for millennia past).
"What does god have against us anyway? What did we do that's got him so ticked off?
"I don't think that's very reasonable of him. In fact I don't think that's really god at all. I think that's just the impression of god created by religious systems that want to manipulate people and scare them into their masses.
"So then, if there is a god, what is he like? What would make a good god?
"God should be kind, good, loving, peaceful. And why not? After all, we know that the opposite of those things would make for a very bad god. So if there really is a good god he must be those things. Which also must mean that he can't be judging, because judging isn't very loving..." or is it?
Let's think about this for a moment. Why is love so great?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love looks like a pretty good thing. I can see why people would want a god of love.
Looking even further we see that love fulfills all the requirements of scripture.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested [Jesus] with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'
Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.' (Matthew 22:35-40)

And again:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Does this not sound appealing? If the world was governed by love, would it not be a wonderful place to live?
Why is that? How do we know that the world would be better without these things (murder, theft, covetousness/envy)? What is it about love that generates these actions of good-will, this way of life that would be so...good?
I would submit as the answer to these questions, Righteousness.
Love knows right and wrong. Love seeks out what is right for ones own actions, and for the benefit of others.
Love longs for justice. NOT the broken justice of our corrupt human legal systems, but the justice that is governed by Righteousness and Truth.
This is why we long for a god of love. We have lived for so long in a broken, evil and corrupt world. We see the wrong done to others; the wrong done to those we care about; the wrong done to those for whom our hearts break. We want justice. We love.

Now do you see why a god who is simply our approximation of "love" is an incomplete god? We think of love, but not of righteousness. We want a god that cares for us, but we don't want a god of justice.
We cannot have true love without righteousness. We cannot have care and concern without a desire for justice.
Now do you see why God--a great God of limitless love and measurelesss mercy--must be a righteous God; a just God?
For it is written:

The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. (Psalm 9:7-10)

And again, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" (Isaiah 30:18).
If we do not understand justice in conjunction with love, it is because we are a broken and sinful people. We do not have true righteousness as our compass. That is why we NEED a God who is not only a god of love, but also a God of justice.
"Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that man gets justice" (Proverbs 29:26).
We need a Benevolent Ruler and a Righteous Judge.
We cannot have one without the other.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

The godly life is like building a bike. Only it's not like building a bike. But if it helps, yeah, it's like building a bike.
I was reading Paul's letter to the Church in Rome when this parallel occurred to me. In chapter 2, verses 12-29 Paul addresses the issue of having the law vs. obeying the law. He says that those who have the law (the Jews) yet don't obey it will be judged by it. And those who don't have the law (everyone else, aka. Gentiles) yet obey it are declared righteous.
My thoughts went to Christ's parable of the two sons who were each given the same instructions. Their father tells them to go out and work. One son says he will, but never does. The other son says he won't, yet decides later to go out and work anyway. It is the second son who is praised, even though he initially dishonored his father by refusing his instruction.
As I considered further I realized that it is very much like building a bike. It could be building anything at all, really. But for the sake of this discussion let's call it a bike.
When you first purchase a bicycle they usually come with instructions for assembly. Many a man throughout the ages has rejected the manufacturer's suggestion that they follow the complimentary assembly pamphlet. And what has been the conclusion? countless bicycles, tricycles, wagons, play structures, BBQ's, tents, book shelves, and all other sorts of structures and accessories have been utterly butchered.
What pleasure will be had from a bike that doesn't work? Who is going to praise the man that built something wrong? There is no gain. There is no reward.
So what does this teach us, that if we follow the instructions we will always be right? Not quite.
Certainly there are those people who look to and follow the instructions as they form their bicycle in a sufficient manner. And of course there are people who can assemble most things without using the instructions. These two groups--whether following the written instructions intentionally or not--will get their reward. We would agree with that. That makes sense.
But there are those, are there not, who, try as they might, don't really get the instructions even when they read them? They look at the instructions just enough to make them dangerous, but the result is a mess. Or they come into it with their own ideas of how it should go, and then glance at the directions so they can say that they had.
Again I ask, what is gained from a bike that doesn't work? Who will praise a man for building something wrong?
Paul uses the image of a structure to describe a man's life in one of his letters to the Christians in Corinth.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation [the Gospel] as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor. 3:10-15)

Here Paul is talking to people who are, without a doubt, saved. This isn't quite the issue of Jews/Gentiles or law/no law that we see in Romans. But I think the concept of living in obedience vs. living in rebellion (ie. selfishly) carries through. We have everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We have the Spirit of God within us. So how are we going to keep building this house? Will we seek God's best, and in obedience build with gold, silver and costly stones--which takes more effort and comes at a higher price. Or will we try to make it on our own, pleasing ourselves, and building with hay, straw and sticks because they are cheap and easy materials? It all goes through a purifying fire in the end. Which of those materials do you think will form into a crown of righteousness?
Who will praise the man that builds a house that is burnt to the ground?
It is far better to simply obey.
May God help me and guide me in obedience to Him.