There is Only One Constant in our Lives

     Those of us who live in Florida jokingly say, "If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes and it will change."  This is often true as it can rain for twenty minutes and be sunny the rest of the day.  I am, however, not complaining as we do not have to deal with snow and ice.

 While many things, like weather, change frequently, there is one constant in life that we can depend on and that is God.

     Malachi 3:6 tells us:  "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O Children of Jacob, are not consumed."  Throughout Scripture, God reminds us that He does not change when it comes to His character, His Word and His commandments.  Hebrews 13:8 declares, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever."  This means we can count on the LORD.  Furthermore, this is why the Apostle James wrote this about God:  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."  What good news this is for those of us who walk through this fallen world where one minute culture says we must do this and the next minute it is completely changed.  I don't know about you, but walking on shifting sand each day wears me out!  Thank goodness for the rock that is higher than we are!

     Another word for God's total stability of character is immutability.  Unlike people whose mood swings can sometimes knock us off balance, God remains the same.  We can depend upon His steadfast love and promises.  One place we see this most clearly is in the Bible.  Throughout the pages of His Word, God demonstrates His holiness, righteousness, and sovereignty.  He is faithful to execute perfect justice but shows His people grace through the giving of His Son as a sacrifice for our sin.  Has any other leader ever done that in this world?  Can we find such reassurance in the newspaper we read each day?  The more time we spend in the Bible, the more we see His character and love for us.  Speaking for myself, every time I read the Word, I find something new that I did not realize before.  His Word is quick and powerful and living!

     Because the Lord cannot change, we can rest assured that what He says He will do.  Numbers 23:19 says:  "God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind.  Has He said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken,  and will He not fulfill it?"  Unlike friends or others who have let us down with a last minute change of mind, God is dependable.  I find this so comforting in the middle of our upside down world at this time.

     In my humble opinion, one of the biggest mistakes we can make is getting caught up in the ever changing controversies of this world  so much that we forget we have an anchor that will hold us firmly no matter what happens.  We allow circumstances, issues, and the ever changing cultural norms to blow us around like a piece of paper caught in the wind.  This can surely result in despair for us.  Leaders tell us to follow the science, and yet, the science keeps changing when it comes to the Pandemic.  However, the answers to our dilemmas and problems will not be found in the world system.  Man doesn't have all the answers, but God does.  Our citizenship as believers is in heaven and not in this world.  We are to be in the world but not of it.  God and His Word hold all we need for life and godliness.  More importantly,  when we begin to trust in the Lord's immutability, we will find peace as we travel through rough seas of life.

     We must all remind each other that the answers are not found in the box (this world system).  They are found in Jesus Christ....the giver of every good and perfect gift.  He is the one constant for our lives that will never change.  Selah!

The Three O's

     Early in our marriage, we made a trip to Washington D.C. with another couple to see all the sights.  One stop has remained in my memory to this day because it so impressed me as a relatively new Christian.     We made a trip to the National Cathedral (the second largest cathedral in the U.S. and the sixth largest in the world).  We took our time walking through this magnificent gothic style cathedral, and marveled at its beauty.  As we walked around the backside of the building, we looked up and inscribed on the exterior high up were the words "omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent".  How fitting a tribute to our Lord.  In fact, it made me think of Mary's prayer.

     In Luke 1:46-55, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ our Lord, praised God for the gift of the Messiah.  Her prayer centered on magnifying the Lord whom she called her Savior.  She called Him holy, merciful to those who fear Him, strong and able to bring down the mighty/proud, feeding the hungry and a help to Israel.  Such a song of praise glorified God and His attributes.

     As Mary pointed out in her song of praise, God is, indeed, omnipotent.  He has all power and ability.  There is nothing that is able to over come His rule and reign.  Mary put it this way:  "He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones...(vs.51b-52a)."  We know from the Apostle Paul's writings that God puts leaders into their positions and removes them just the same (Romans 13:1).  We may think it is the will of the people, but behind all that happens, our omnipotent God reigns sovereign over all the affairs of men.  While His hand is unseen, we can rest in the knowledge that we serve an all powerful king who made us, sustains us and loves us.

     God is also omniscient.  He knows all things past, present and future.  For Him, there is no time for He is a Spirit and is not bound, as we are, to an hour by hour day.  I am still astonished when I think that God knew me before the foundation of the world and had a detailed plan for my life.  In the New Living Bible, it says:  "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes."  This was true of Mary.  He knew the entire plan of salvation before the world was formed and His timing was perfect when He sent Jesus into the world.  This should make us all pause to consider how awesome is the God that we serve.

     Lastly, God is omnipresent.  He is everywhere at the same time.  Having been a mother of four, there were times when I sincerely wished I could have been everywhere at once.  However, because we are limited by our human body, we know it is impossible for us to be in two places at the same time.  Yet this is not true of our heavenly Father.    Knowing that God is omnipresent should give us peace for He is ever able to be with us wherever we go.   Only when God came as the Son did He experience the limitations that a physical body has in this world.  For us, it is a mystery that Jesus was fully divine and fully human at the same time.  Yet God sent Him to suffer and die as an atonement for our sins so that we might become the righteousness of Christ by trusting in Him.  

     All three of these big  "O" words are hard for us to comprehend because God is not like man.  We are made in His image, but we are not like Him as a pure spirit being.  His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  With that said, consider what a miracle Christmas really is for us.  To think that the God and Creator of the universe stepped into our world as a tiny baby born in Bethlehem should make us rejoice as Mary did in her beautiful song of prayer.  Perhaps that is why when I saw those words inscribed so high upon the National Cathedral, it made me pause to reflect on the wonder of our heavenly God and Father.  Reflect on the fact that God stepped into time to redeem us and provide for us a way to have relationship with Him....the Creator of the universe!  Selah

Have a very Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

Storing up Treasures in our Heart

      Growing up on a farm in Northwestern Ohio, I have many fond memories of our Christmas celebrations.  Of course, living in the snow belt, we usually were treated to icy but beautiful white holiday scenes.  Sitting by our fireplace on cold nights, drinking hot cocoa, caroling with my youth group and enjoying family get togethers were all a part of those happy days.  In fact, I can even say that I had a ride in a one horse open sleigh thanks to my Grandfather Hess who took me and my cousin for a ride when we were very small.  We cuddled under a bear skin rug and flew down our rural county road that was covered with snow.  There are so many wonderful memories of those days gone by, but one of the most important ones was sitting down and reading the Bible together on Christmas Eve.  Hearing the story about the babe born in a manger is a memory that never grows old.  We cannot hear it enough because it is the greatest gift we could ever receive from God.

     Our favorite passage to read came from Luke 2:1-38.  One verse always stands out to me in this story of His miraculous entrance into the world.  Verse 19 tells us:  "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."  Just as I can recall the precious times with my family, Mary took in all the things that God had told her.  She believed the Lord when He sent the angel to her to announce this coming child.  She made herself the handmaiden of God and brought forth this child.  However, I am certain she had no idea what all of this would mean or how everything would come about; yet she trusted in God.

     One of the songs that touches my heart during this season is "Mary Did You Know?"  The song recounts the many miracles that Jesus would do during His work on earth.  Could Mary have known all that would happen? One line of the song goes: "When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?"  It gives me chills when I think of that picture in my mind.  God became man that He might fulfill all righteousness in order to provide the very sacrifice for our sins that would satisfy His holiness.  Jesus was not just Mary's baby boy.  He was also her Savior as the Word proclaims.

     As we continue in this passage of Luke, we see Mary and Joseph taking the baby to the Temple for their purification according to the Law of Moses.  When they arrived, two people met them in separate encounters.  One was Simeon who had prayed that he might live to see the Messiah. He took the child in his arms and blessed God.  Both Joseph and Mary were surprised by this (vs. 33), but Simeon went on to tell them, "Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." What a telling prophecy!  Again, Mary would remember these words as she watched Jesus go to the cross.  Then, Anna, a prophetess, came to see this child and praised God giving thanks for this blessed gift from God.

     Mary treasured all of these things in her heart and stored up these memories.  I can only imagine how both Joseph and Mary felt as they watched this tiny baby who was both fully man and fully God.  Of all the gifts or memories we can have at Christmas, this is the reason behind our celebration.  Jesus came as the Bible tells us "at just the right time" (Galatians 4:4-5) according to the timetable of God.  He came to set us free from the bondage of our sinful natures (Romans 5:6-8).  This is the greatest gift we could ever receive!

     Certainly, we all have many wonderful memories of Christmas past and are looking forward to this year's celebration.  However, my prayer is that we will take time to look with wonder as Mary did and treasure in our hearts the wonderful gift of salvation that comes from a regenerated heart made new by Christ.  This year read the Christmas story again and meditate on what the Lord has done for us!   Selah!