I Hold the Light

This will be a short one because it is Christmas, so go have Christmas! 

The Light has come into the world. The Light came to us in the form of a baby. He grew to be a man so that he could reach out to his creation. He humbled himself to become like his creatures though he himself is God. This is the miracle of Christmas. Now he has returned to the Father but he left us behind to shine in his place. Do you hold his light?

Similar to a lightsaber we can wield it or not. We can use it or not. We can hide it or not. The new Starwars was so good I had to have another entry mention it. 

We shine but does it illumine? They want to call our light darkness. We live in an age that calls darkness light. The Light came into the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. The darkness does not overcome it. So the darkness tries to redefine it.

John 3:19-21
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Jesus says he is the light that shines in the darkness he shines and those who follow will not walk in darkness. 

The darkness is not however overwhelming. 

As Jesus commands in Mathew Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. He tells us that we are a city on  hill that guides the people home. 
 
Psalm 18:28 
For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

Jesus teaches that he is the light of the world and that the world is consumed in darkness. But he has passed the baton to us. We hold the light. We shine. What a huge privilege and responsibility. We reflect his radiance, at least we are supposed to. There is another option. We can hide it under a basket. Or perhaps we can attempt to let the light shine but while is it turned to dim. 

I want to shine. I want to shine as light is meant to, with abandon. This is light unfiltered, unobstructed, unrestricted, uncovered. 

Light extinguishes darkness. Darkness does not stand in the light. The light is not the issue, but the bearer is. The challenge of being a light beaer is that our world wants to call the darkness light. They want to call our light as the darkness. But that is easy to counter because light will always extinguish darkness. Truth will always win out, even while the shadow grows. But as we move forward sometime we are tempted to reconsider our light. Maybe we have been told that our light is not loving or not helpful. This is why we return to the source of the light so that he can recharge and inform us. Jesus says in John 8:12 That those that follow him will not walk in darkness. He can give testimony that what he says is true. Man's faithlessness does not cause him to be unfaithful. As Paul writes "Let God be true and every man a liar." Our failure to be light and the world's failure to recognize the light does not in any way undermine the light. 

As Jesus taught our good deeds put to shame the foolishness of men. The truest way for good deeds to be shone is in doing it for our brother or neighbor. The good Samaritan's good deeds could not be denied by the haters. His conduct pointed to a more excellent way, his light shined and the darkness could not stand before it. In first John we are reminded that if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and his love cleanses us from out sins. 

My good deeds in isolation do not speak much. It is as they find testimony in others. Others can look on and say that God is good. This is why the New Testament tells us to love and serve and do good deeds especially to the brotherhood. To the fellow believers. They can testify to the goodness of God where as someone else can write it off as charity. This doesn't ignore others absolutely not, but the light shines, and we overcome by our testimony. This is why Peter tells us we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation so we will display praises to God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

The time of Christmas is reflective of this truth. God led the wise men by the light of a star to find the true king. We see that God in his mercy has reached out to us as well. He provides grace, he gave of himself for the purpose of others. This is why we at Christmas time do so as well. We give because we were given to. We love because he first loved us and gave himself as a ransom for many. As Luke writes in Acts 13:47 it is true for us well. "I have placed you as light for the gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."

So your lightsaber, is it out?

We give gifts after our Father in heaven so go and do likewise. Arise shine for the light has come and the glory of the Lord will rise upon you. Merry Christmas.

thanks

to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/From-Darkness-To-Light#sthash.3XTUhLiF.dpuf

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/From-Darkness-To-Light#sthash.3XTUhLiF.dpuf

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/From-Darkness-To-Light#sthash.3XTUhLiF.dpuf

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/From-Darkness-To-Light#sthash.3XTUhLiF.dpuf

Easter Bunnies, Jesus, and Johnny Cash

1 Corinthians 15:14 
"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."

Without the resurrection our faith is pointless. With the resurrection our faith is everything.

Easter is here again, on Sunday. Easter is great because it means He is risen! I once had to wear an Easter Bunny costume to hand out candy to kids shopping at a local grocery store in Tucson. (I was also Chuck-E-Cheese at Chuck-E-Cheese's) My church used to have sunrise services with camping and egg hunts in the national forest of Tucson. Easter bunnies and eggs of course have little to do with Christ rising again. The tradition started with the Lutherans in the 17th century and functioned in a similar way to Santa Claus. A bunny bringing golden eggs and candy for the good boys and girls before Easter. The eggs and bunny are tied to fertility and newness with spring. As I said before with Christmas the meaning doesn't entirely matter anymore to most people as it simply adds to the celebration of Jesus rising again. 

It causes excitement and points to something bigger than itself. The celebrating is the point as I hinted at before with the Christmas discussion.  It is about what we are celebrating. The eggs and bunnies and chocolate are just a way to add festivities to the day that we celebrate that Jesus has risen and we have an everlasting hope. And Kimberly and I will definitely hide eggs with candy in them for Raphael when he gets older. For now, I will eat his candy and pet the bunny. 

But I will tell him that this holiday is the capstone of the Christian year! This is the day that all Christians remind themselves that Jesus has conquered death. This is the Gospel concluded. In the end death will not have it's sting. This is the Christian hope that one day we will rise again as Jesus did. As Paul reminds us that Christ was the first fruits of resurrection.

This is why Johnny Cash sang quoting the apostle Paul:

Oh Death where is your sting?
Oh grave where is your victory?

And he also sang:

Ain't no grave that can hold my body down

He sang these songs because he understood the message of Easter. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He has validated all his teaching. He is the messiah and he does in fact have the power over death and thus he does have the power to forgive sins. Even though the Pharisees were offended that Jesus was offering something that only God himself can do. This is why the resurrection is so great! It means Jesus was right! It means everything that he said is true! And thus he has the relationship to present us to Father in favorable terms. He himself is also God.  

Easter is the message that Christians are supposed to get to. The good news of the Gospel is supposed to get to the rising from the dead part. This is the content of faith. Who do we say that Jesus is? Our answer is what defines our faith. The Christian answer is he is God in the flesh. He is the mouth piece of God, his miracles attested to his relationship to the Father and his ability to forgive. The resurrection was the capstone of testimony to who he is. His power to overcome death is why we have a world religion following after him.

The resurrection is God's exclamation point on the witness of Jesus. If you didn't believe his message about himself from just the miracles that he performed on Earth, or from his powerful teachings with authority, then believe because not even death could hold him down. He is still alive today. Jesus Christ is not a historical past character, he is an ever present alive deity in heaven. And he is calling.

This is what Easter is about. He is real and he is fantastic! And better yet he is still offering his story to you and to me.  He is still offering forgiveness and a relationship with God. Because he is risen it means Christianity is not simply a movement that honors some long dead dude with cool ideals that we think will work for an ever crappy world.  No, Christians follow a very much alive Jesus Christ who fully suffered and died on a Roman cross in the first century and then on the 3rd day from death rose again to life.  

Do you believe that? That is the question for all people.  

I suppose only those that are interested in a relationship with God will bother to answer. But for those who have answered in the positive, they get to fully celebrate Easter as a remembrance of the amazing miracle that testifies to our very much alive God Jesus Christ.

Easter reminds us of his victory. Easter reminds us of our future. But Easter also reminds us of the world's need.

John 3:16 Says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life."

The dual message of Easter is that He is risen, that we get to rise also! But also that some won't. Some haven't yet come to terms with Jesus Christ. Some haven't believed. 

Johnny cash sang that death has no sting anymore, that the grave will not hold him down. But for many it does and it still will.  

In our reminder in this day of his resurrection, let's not forget that he has a Gospel that he wants us to share.
Let our excitement of Jesus carry over into an excitement that he offers himself to those out there in the world that need him as well. I believe part of the celebration should be that the Gospel is still readily available.  So as part of the celebration remember we are not still on the earth to simply celebrate but to perpetuate.

So be excellent to each other, party on this day (on Sunday) but share the Gospel, share your Joy!

thanks

Unhostile Takeover

There are some people who have a bit of a problem with the idea of Christmas. Why? Because yes some of the traditions do have some pagan origins.

Some of the symbolism comes from a pagan festival with a pagan god.  Some have taken this to mean that we are deceived and our Christian holiday is not so Christian. So some have distanced themselves from the holiday as if it is an affront to God.  Some are concerned over the exact dating of the event.  Still others may simply want to avoid the commercialism and materialism that veers it's ugly head in full force during this season.  The latter may be worth looking into.  

But the truth of the matter is that while these things may be true they are not what is celebrated. What is celebrated is what won out. What won out is the Christian tradition, our emphasis.

Try to have Christmas without the song Joy To the World.  What Joy to the World would there be without Jesus in the manger. The little town of Bethlehem is know throughout the world as the birthplace of Christ.  The power ballad O' Holy Night' continues to challenges and inspire pop stars to this day. These songs tie Christmas to the King.  

Christians decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th to replace the Roman Saturnalia for the winter solstice. A pagan holiday more similar to our current Halloween with a bit of the roman gods thrown in for good measure.  But Christians challenged the use of the holiday and made it another occasion to "do this in remembrance of me"  as Jesus taught at the last supper.

This is similar to prayers before we eat.  For some this tradition can be linked to prayer of protection in pagan rituals.  But again we do this as honoring to God our father our provider.  We acknowledge him as the one who gives us our sustenance as we were taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer.  We redeem meal time.  We reflect on God and bring him glory in something as mundane as stuffing our faces.

And the awesome thing is that it worked! We think of God now when we eat.  In the same way we now celebrate the 3 wise men instead of Odin or Saturn. We celebrate gift giving for a reason instead of a kidnapping troll. We celebrate the birth of our savior instead of a reversal of societal norms and gambling. We focus on the true God instead of some roman gods. We know the biblical Christmas story instead of the pagan history that I have mentioned here.

Obviously there are songs about Santa as well. But in looking at who he actually was, we learn that he was a great man worth celebrating and in even mimicking.

Sincter Klaas a Ducth man actually did live and he did show love and gratitude to his fellow man because of the great things God has done. He was generous he did give gifts, and he helped those in need.  His legend did grow into the Santa Claus we have today. Christmas both for us and for him have never been stripped of the reasoning behind the generosity. We give because he first gave to us.  

So celebrating the reason of the season is very important. It is also what we celebrate because of choices made.  So let's continue to celebrate Christmas specifically, not just the holidays.  Just as music of the season tie Christmas to the King, let us also realize that Christians decided to tie December 25th to Christmas and continue to tie Christmas to the true King.

Let's continue to join with God and be in the business of redeeming things not picketing them.


thanks