“And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger…Then they returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” Luke 2:16, 20 Shepherds have a place in every Christmas play, and, especially when children are involved, the part is charming. Shepherds have an appeal to us. They’re cute. But not in the first century. The vocation was difficult, dirty and derided. Shepherds worked long hours. They were not able to attend at the temple or the synagogue. When they did, they weren’t especially welcomed. Fellow worshipers
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“I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." John 16:33 Deeply at peace. How wonderful does that sound? Especially at this time of year when retailers want us to be extremely agitated and overspend in the belief that things that moth and rust can destroy and thieves break in and steal will somehow fill the whole in our souls. Thus to have a December to remember, buy your loved one a Lexus, and
Read more →“God of the second chance.” I have used the phrase myself over the years, but only recently realized how untrue it is. I don’t have a God of the second chance. Not even close. I blew through my second chance so many years ago I can’t recall the details. I need more than a second chance. I need a God who forgives me far more that 70×7 times. Every time I “come to myself,” like the prodigal son, I can trudge back home to find a loving Father. Every day. Grace means God doesn’t count chances. One of my favorite
Read more →“Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’” Mark 9:24 Every parent of young children instinctively recognizes that patter of footsteps in the middle of the night. Your child has had a bad dream or is sick, etc. Like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons we grew up with, you hear the rapid thump, thump, thump, thump. A child in need. One time when he was about five, Gregory had a bad dream and came breathlessly thumping into our room at about 2:00 AM. Our strategy in such cases was to keep a sleeping bag
Read more →"Be thankful in all circumstances." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 The Sunday before Thanksgiving in any church has the same theme, or it should. In the church I attended this morning, the preacher took 1 Thessalonians 5:18 as her text and spoke of the need to be thankful in all circumstances. I have often preached on that very text, and sometimes take it as a challenge. How can we be thankful in ALL circumstances? Doesn't suffering exclude gratitude? Who can be grateful for suffering? Of course, the answer lies in the miraculous death/resurrection theme of the gospel. Suffering combined with willingness always
Read more →Next year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. It occurred to me that grace is to Christianity what relativity is to physics. You could say that grace is the quantum physics of theology. First, both are infinitely puzzling and difficult to understand. Sir Arthur Eddington was a contemporary of Albert Einstein’s and one of the earliest physicists to understand the concepts of Einstein’s relativity. He was genuinely brilliant, and both confirmed and contributed to Einstein’s work. Eddington also had a colossal ego. One time a reporter asked, “Dr. Eddington, is it true that
Read more →“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18 [Many of you have asked if GraceWaves will continue in light of my starting Chrysalis Interventions. Thank you for your interest, and the answer is yes!] I may be biting off more than I can chew with this topic, or more than will be remotely interesting to many of you, but it is my website, so I can do what I want. Let me start with a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a young woman I'll call Susan. She had been raised
Read more →“He brought me forth into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.” Psalm 18:19 I was blessed to grow up with parents who were positive, supportive, and encouraging. The words “I am proud of you” are one of their greatest legacies to me. I knew they loved me and showed it in a variety of very important ways. I knew they were very glad that I was their son. If you did not grow up with that kind of advantage then the concepts of grace and unconditional love will be harder for you to accept. One
Read more →“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1 Abram likely had never heard of this God who spoke to him. He lived in familiar surroundings, with family and friends, and security. God told him to leave. And go where? God’s answer appears to have been something along the lines of “don’t worry about it. Just say yes.” Abram did. Nearly 40 years ago I said yes to God. The question was something along the lines of “will you do whatever I ask of you?”
Read more →“Make love your aim” 1 Corinthians 14:1 Do you love yourself? It’s a serious question. Jesus said we are to love your neighbor “as you love yourself.” So self-love has an important role in our spiritual formation. But love of self is very tricky. If we don’t understand the proper motive and intention then we risk becoming narcissistic, maudlin, and even amoral. Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century monk, wrote a book entitled On Loving God. In it he described four degrees of love, each one successively better and purer than the one before. His degrees of love can help
Read more →“But with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 What is the “impossibility” in your life right now? Do you have something that seems totally beyond your ability to handle? If so, then congratulations! You are on the verge of learning more about the depths of God’s grace. We regularly encounter impossible situations, events and conditions that are completely beyond our ability to solve, control, or sometimes even comprehend. We can count on those things coming our way. We live in a world that regularly disregards our preferences and demands. Your situation may be one of a thousand things, but
Read more →“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 1 Samuel 18:7 Comparing myself to others is one of the most dangerous spiritual vulnerabilities I have. I doubt I’m alone. Saul was Israel’s first king David, who would later become king, served Saul faithfully, and never sought glory for himself. The verse above is a song or cheer from a group of women after David returned from an especially successful military encounter. David did not instigate it, but it stirred envy in Saul’s heart. He soon tried to kill David, more than once. His reign ended in ignominy. You
Read more →One of the most puzzling themes in the New Testament is the idea of embracing personal weakness as an opportunity to experience God's power. Jesus taught that being last of all and servant of all leads to exaltation, denial leads to salvation, losing life leads to finding life. Paul wrote of being a broken vessel that demonstrates God's transcendent power. His thorn became the testimony of God's all-sufficient grace, so that he boasted in his weakness. Peter wrote of rejoicing in a fiery ordeal. Etc. History is full of stories of Christians who have found a deeper faith through unimaginable
Read more →“But we have this treasures in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 When you enter the business of ministry, that is, you study and go to seminary, you take on a few role-models, people you really look up to. I have many all-time favorites, but one of them in particular illustrates Paul’s point in this verse: J. B. Phillips.Phillips was an outstanding Christian leader, a scholar of the first rank, and a marvelous author. Years after I began to admire and learn from him I ran across a
Read more →“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:2 I lived in Murray, Kentucky for three years, as pastor of First Baptist. Murray is a great town. The pace of life there is a bit slower, and you don’t have to put up with bad traffic. The winters were not harsh, the summers not too long. We had a lovely house and a loving church. It is a very nice place to live. But not everyone thought so. My first night there, I went to the grocery store. It was late, only
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