“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” Matthew 1:24

Last night was the annual Church Christmas decoration and pizza party. Wanting to give the 8 kids there something to do, I dug out the mixed up box of over 500 letters we used to use on our old sign. Wanting to display a Christmas message, the letters first needed to be organized alphabetically. As it turned out, the job was much bigger than anticipated.

It’s been a long time since I’d worked with younger kids under 11. Dropping the box in the middle of the room of 8 children, I simply asked how many knew their A,B,C’s? ALL responded in the affirmative. “Can you all organize these letters, in order, on the floor?” Again…”Yes,” was the reply. I walked out of the room!

I came back later to discover all the letters in a big pile and the kids acting like…kids! I had forgotten that what I needed to do FIRST was spark them with desire and initiative and NOT just give them a task! “Have you kids ever been asked to do something for God? Because that is why YOU are HERE!” I had their attention!

I read Matthew 1:18-25 this morning and realized that those 8 verses encompassed every living being from Heaven to Earth…and for ALL TIME! The Triune God initiated a plan, gave it to an angel who gave it to people with an expectation that ‘The Plan’ would reach and affect the whole world! Interestingly enough, I noted that the angel didn’t ASK Mary or Joe ANYTHING. He TOLD HIM! It was up to THEM to get with the program!

Being God has its advantages. After all, God KNEW that these 2 young kids would DO what was expected. I noted that neither candy nor coercion were a part of God’s approach. Since you and I don’t share His omniscience, being part of God’s Team requires us to be creative in our approach. Which can only go so far! Individuals must personally decide to DO what God actually ‘expects’ of them! Or not.

With lessons on serving, organization, leadership and doing the job (not just doing your best) AND with some help from me, I am proud to say that they got it done! I am making sure to thank them again, on behalf of Jesus, for serving Him. That included the big kids (parents and adults) too!

What is God expecting YOU to do as part of His Christmas Plan? Are you doing it? 

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” Leviticus 17:11

Having put off some yard work, it was time to ‘git-r-dun,’ So I threw the weedeater in into the truck. As I did, the thought hit me, “do you have enough gas in that thing to do the job?” Being Christmas season, and carrying a wishful attitude, I answered my own question with…”SHUUUUURRRRR!” Besides…I was in a hurry and remembered filling it up…sometime before. And you know what’s coming!

Had I lived in a northern region of the USA, I’d not even be DOING yard work in December. But Florida, ‘the land of flowers,’ has different rules. Here, grass growth slows down, but weeds never do! After I cut lawn. all that was left to do was the trimming! I fired up the weedeater and trimmed about 17 feet before I heard…brrrrrrrr-rrrr-rr! Outta gas! My thoughts? “Eh…I’m tired anyway. And besides, there’s always tomorrow!” It is a common and deadly combination of thoughts!

The Old Testament, in a VERY small nutshell, has God telling Israel that sin is unacceptable to Him and it MUST be atoned for! It’s the REASON for the commandments. Leviticus can put me to sleep, reading all the definitions, instructions and penalties for sin’s DEADLY effect. The one today made the point clear that MAN was responsible to both BRING the offering God had demanded, and then sacrifice it at the alter. A process that NEVER ended, or even WORKED!

It is important to me that I REMEMBER Christmas because THIS is the BIG EVENT that took the whole Law thing and put ‘the Fix’ on the ONLY one who could possibly make the process effective! And God had just the right Lamb!

Babies and death are NEVER put together. In fact, most people would find even the suggestion horrific! But MAN doesn’t really comprehend the horror of what sin DOES…that would make the bringing of those 2 concepts together. So I, like all mankind, have this tendency to minimize my wrongs and half heartedly expect it to be enough to satisfy my perfect enough for my Heavenly Father! Brrrrrrrr-rrrr-rr!

There is an old song that says, “He reached down to my level, when I I couldn’t get up to His.” It describes Christmas PERFECTLY. God sent his SON to DO what I couldn’t…or WOULDN’T! Jesus came to Die for ME and MY failures. Not His own. This season reminds me that I have got to STOP assuming that sin has no lasting consequence. AND STOP assuming that Jesus took care of it all anyway! Half Hearted Worship…ESPECIALLY at Christmas, is NOT acceptable to Him!

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12

Having put off shopping long enough, I planned a trip to multiple stores in an orderly fashion to save time and money. Running low, I had planned and expected to get some toilet paper. So I ‘head’ed in that direction as a first stop. But when I got there, the shelves were empty! Having noted the same situation a week ago, the store manager told me, “it’s been a problem!”

I had planned to go to 6 stores. The next stop found my attitude slightly adjusted as ‘expectation’ turned into ‘HOPING’ they had the stuff there. It seemed that at each store I went to, the crowds got bigger…while the TP rolls got smaller and more expensive! I asked a few folks if there was something going on I didn’t know about. Receiving several explanations, I headed home. I said I was LOW on TP….not OUT! What I was OUT of…was patience!

I am sick of 2020 and can’t wait to get on to next year. I EXPECT and WANT next year to be better. But as I look around and see what has been going on, HOPE seems to be flushing away. As society gets more demanding, fear and selfishness are becoming more common. Seeing a grown man wearing a mask and pushing a cart full of toilet paper is disgusting to me! It nauseates me to my core!

The theme this week of Advent is ‘HOPE.” Hope and Faith have a LOT in common. BOTH look into a future that wants things to be different and BETTER! To me, the difference is that Faith is HOPE with Holy legs under it! It is an active verb. Not a wishful noun. It looks forward to better because that is where God lives. And it is from there that He calls to me…us!!

I am a Faith Guy. While that may have a lot to do with my upbringing, it actually has more to do with my experience. I have tried SO many ways to figure out life and to try to get ahead. I hoped to become a winner and not a loser. All the attempts, fear, worry and doubt only led me to go BACK quicker and pay more attention to applying that FAITH! SO I did!

Malachi 3:10 shows God with His chest puffed out, arms crossed and a stern expression on His face. “TEST ME!” He says. Now I may not be the smartest dude in the class, but I ain’t the stupidest either! I have been through lots of trial and trouble in my life and applied the whole ‘Test Me’ thing to see for myself, and I can say THIS for certain…when it comes to Faith…there may be times I may ‘seem’ to be running low…but I am NEVER OUT! 

 What do YOU hope for?