The Complaint Department

COMPLAINING IS NOT ALL BAD. In fact, complaining kicks things into action. It all starts with the baby fussing over a wet diaper, an empty stomach or an irritation of some sort. All of a sudden, the pitiful little wah-wah’s unleash an avalanche of clean, dry clothes, milk and soothing pats and cooing voices. Even without cognitive processes, this formula gets hard wired into his brain: Need + Complaints = Satisfaction. Each time, something that feels good, tastes good or makes the pain go away rewards his protest. He’s hooked. Complaining gets him what he wants. 

Then, something starts going wrong. She cries louder, but she hears a strange, unfriendly sound in reply. He then throws his complaint into an ear-splitting high gear, falls to the ground and kicks his legs. Instead of the usual hands of comfort reaching out to him, however, rough hands grab him and yank him to his feet and plop him in a chair facing the corner. Hey! What in the world is going on? Her learned behavior that had always worked in the past now delivers a very different result. As he matures, most of these dilemmas work themselves out, but even as an adult, a certain level of residual annoyance always surfaces when his or her complaining fails to yield a satisfactory outcome. 

What have we learned? The way we complain, even when we have legitimate gripes, produce mixed results. None of us ever really stop complaining—but, we can get better at it. Consider the following guidelines to smarter complaining. 

1. Thou shalt not complain about unimportant things. People will think you are a big baby and will pay less and less attention to you.

2. Thou shalt not complain about things which cannot be changed. Weather, traffic, gas prices—why complain about things you can’t control?

3. Thou shalt not complain in an offensive manner. Coming across like an ogre spoils your complaint. Venting doesn’t address the problem.

4. Thou shalt not complain at a bad time. Every job runs into peak activity time when interruptions can’t be allowed. Choose the right time.

5. Thou shalt not complain to the wrong people. Problem with the boss? Complaining to a fellow worker, customer or client makes it worse.

6. Thou shalt not complain without ceasing. Fussing about anything and everything all the time gets really old. Firing you will be the solution!

7. Thou shalt complain about real health and safety issues. These problems must be addressed immediately for obvious reasons.

8. Thou shalt complain about unfair treatment. Discrimination or bigotry on the job must not be tolerated.

9. Thou shalt complain if reasonable, human expectations are not met. Every employee has a right to expect clean, sanitary workplace, a work area kept at a right temperature, functional restrooms properly stocked and a secure environment.

10. Thou shalt complain if you are prevented from performing your job. Any situation with personnel or workplace conditions that interferes with your job performance needs to be reported. 

Many of the issues that arise in the work environment don’t warrant the label of a complaint. They may simply be small problems that need to be pointed out so they can be easily resolved. Sometimes, however, major conflicts do occur that require everyone’s attention. You should have enough self-respect and good will toward your business and employer to talk about such conflicts. Bosses should welcome legitimate complaints. Many full-blown crises could be avoided if the right people would feel free to address the issues when they are first noticed. Complaints that get taken care of promptly and properly mean contented workers, happy bosses and satisfied customers.

Behavior with Regard to the Second Coming of Christ.

NEWS DRIVES COMMERCE.  A tsunami of activity ensues whenever a person of great influence speaks.  The Chairman of the Federal Reserve can cause the NYSE to rise or fall 300 points by simply making a statement. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can speak about our military preparedness, and the news reverberates throughout the world.  An off-the-cuff remark by the President can send the media into orbit.  Almost everyone who is a little bit up to date with the news has heard about certain global events.  We know people we’ve never met, we know about places we’ve never been, and we know about events that have no connection to us in our little locale.  

Why report the news?  We report it because the news of the day has consequences; otherwise it would be of no value.  First, it informs our feelings how to feel.  Good news brings rejoicing; bad news causes sadness and alarm.  Second, we base our decisions and actions on the news of the day.  Warnings of storms incite a flurry of preparation.  Reports of political news shape our votes.  Financial news determines how we handle our money.  It’s news, news, news.  But, if I were the head of the newsroom at ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NYT, WP, USAToday or any other news outlet, this is the headline that I would put out every day: The Bible Proclaims that Jesus Is Coming Again!  

The angels declare it.  “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”  Acts 1:11. The signs point toward it.    “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:4-8. The saints will be changed.    “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54.  The church will be raptured.  “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. 

How do the unprepared respond to these warnings?  Some allow themselves to be deceived.  2 Thessalonians 2:3.  Some indulge in gross sin and disobedience.  2 Timothy 3:1-4.  Some compromise the authenticity of the power.  2 Timothy 3:4-7. Some deny that it will happen.  2 Peter 3:3.  Some fall asleep.  Matthew 25:4-6. Some waste their opportunities.  Matthew 25:17-18.

How should you respond to the second coming?  You must live according to the scripture.  Titus 2:11-13.  You must keep material things in perspective.  2 Peter 3:9-11. You must fight against spiritual sleepiness.  Romans 13:11-14.  You must continue to love the truth.  2 Thessalonians 2:6-12.  You must take comfort in the promise. 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18.  How will He find you when He comes, and what will He find you doing?  

Behave today as though you were assured of the imminent return of Christ for His Church.

Buy the Field!

“…and because of joy, goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44 

The story of this parable seems straight-forward.  A man found a treasure, hid it in a field, then went and sold all that he had and bought the field.  We are not told if it was gold, silver, or diamonds, but he totally sold out to buy it.  Why did he have to sell out?    Why did he buy the field?  Why didn’t he just take the treasure home? Here’s the explanation: 

In the parable, you and I were represented by the man who found the treasure.  The problem was, it now belonged to the owner of the field.  We hid our treasure because we didn’t know what to do with it.  Since it was in the field, we had to go get some money to buy the field.  The cost was staggering. We had to sell everything we had.  The owner wouldn’t sell just the treasure to us; we had to buy the whole field. This is a perfect picture of grace.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. Grace comes into our possession at no cost to us, but it is hidden in a field.  The only way we can access this grace is to pay the ultimate price.  Free grace costs everything you have!  But, don’t let that stop you.  The man who spent all to buy the field knew that he was going to come out so far ahead that the price he had to pay was laughable. 

The gospel can’t be stolen.  It doesn’t come as a stand-alone commodity, as though you “cherry-pick” what you want and discard the rest.  No, that’s not the way to come to Jesus.  If you want the tree, you have to buy the forest.  If you want the Son, you have to buy the universe that comes with him.  If you want Jesus, you have the buy the field.  And, nothing is more important than your salvation!  Make whatever sacrifices necessary.  Lose your baggage.  Abandon your personal dreams, ambitions, goals and loves to get it.  But note this: when you buy the field, you have to buy all of its challenges.  Some people want the blessing and benefits, but not the trials and tests.  Some want the signs, wonders and miracles, but not the prayer, fasting and sacrifice.  Some want the power of Pentecost without the stigma of being Pentecostal.  Some want to be holy without being holy!  Some want Christ the Savior, but not Christ the Lord.  But the Bible says that God hath made this same Jesus…both Lord and Christ.  Salvation is the coin of the realm, but Lordship is the other side of the same coin.  

Buy the field!  Yes, there may be some weeds, some mice, some dead trees, some garbage, some ants, wasps and bees.  Discipleship forces you out of your precious comfort zone.  You have to fast, pray, give, sacrifice … but you are teaching your flesh a spiritual lesson.  Life doesn’t consist of eating or drinking.  It is every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!  Buy the field because that’s where the treasure is! 

God never lets you down.  He never gives you an even exchange, because when you buy the field, you get more than the treasure.  When you buy the field, you get Jesus.  And when you get Jesus, you always get more than you thought you were getting.  You’re like the man who bought a field for the stand of hardwood trees.  Unknown to him, there was a mother lode of buried gravel worth much more than the trees.  In excavating for the gravel, he struck oil!  Was he ever happy he bought the field!  When you get Jesus, you get more than an answer; you get all the answers to all the problems in the world!  You get life more abundantly.  You get more than a hug; you get a marriage proposal!  Buy the field!

There Is Hope

“For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again.” Job 14:7

The tragic figure of Job symbolizes misery, depression and despair.  Crushed by grief, covered with boils, tormented by friends and ridiculed by his wife, he represents all that could possibly go wrong in this life.  Job wasn’t exactly rivaling Zig Ziglar for a positive mental attitude when he said, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”  He goes on to say that man appears like a flower and is cut down. But then, out of the midst of his doom and gloom monologue, there is a little word that rises to the surface of his depression.  It’s called hope.  There is this creation of God—a tree—that is capable of regeneration.  Cut a tree down, and it’s not over.  Just a scent of water is all that’s necessary to awaken the branches and leaves to life.  You can cut hope down, but you can’t cut hope out of the tree. 

The world needs hope.  Poet Ellen Bass wrote, “When grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an obesity of grief…”  We are weighed down by the obesity of grief with the ravages of hurricanes, with the shock and sadness of terrorism, with the threat of a nuclear conflict, with the millions of acres charred by wildfires, and with increasing multiple mass shootings in random sites across the country.  The world needs hope.  When prospective mothers—bellies protruding in their third trimester—check in at abortion clinics, when opioid suicides surpass combat deaths among military personnel, when homeowners walk away from the entirety of their life’s dreams because of underwater mortgages, and when underage drinking has become normalized among adolescents, we cry out for hope.  

Mankind can survive the most abominable of circumstances if a ray of hope flickers somewhere on the horizon.  A person can endure profound pain and unthinkable loss if he or she can cling to a shred of hope.  One slim shaft of hope that pierces a cancer patient’s dismal outlook can instantaneously cause a drawn face to burst into smiles.  An entire country besieged with an aggressor’s attack can erupt in joy hearing that the slightest hope of deliverance is on its way.  That’s what this Gospel is all about. With Armageddon approaching, we Christians love to focus on judgment.  We may feel it is more meaningful to talk about the wrath of God coming down on this godless society.  We get intrigued by the vials and trumpets, the plagues and the widespread death, the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. There may be time for that, but we have a much bigger job.  We are in the hope business, not the hell business!  

Back to the text in Job.  There is one more point to make.  When the tree is cut down, it still has roots that sink into the soil.  The tree is a picture of the church.  “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.”  Luke 13:18-19.  No one can kill God’s church!  You may suffer loss, you may be dealing with some vicious attacks, you may be going through some hard times right now.  Keep believing!  The scent of water can cause life to begin to stir once again.  

Spread hope.  Speak hope into distraught, restless lives.  Be a beacon of hope to the depressed.  Instead of a doom and gloom prophet, be a voice for radiance and joy.  Be the epistle known and read of all men.  Don’t just represent Jesus—you can BE Jesus to a lost and dying soul!

The Day AFTER Christmas

“And when they had seen it, they made known abroad.”  Luke 2:17.

The day after Christmas is known for several things:  discarded Christmas trees, long return lines, the best after-Christmas sales, paying the cards that were so lovingly charged, eating leftovers, wishing you had as much energy to take down the decorations as you had putting them up.  The day before Christmas is one of great anticipation. Christmas Day is a day of celebration. The day after Christmas is a day of reckoning.  We can’t wait until Christmas comes; then, we can’t believe it’s here; then, we are so glad it’s over! 

The day after the first Christmas, we are left with two viewpoints. One was Mary’s. She kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. The other belonged to the shepherds. They returned glorifying and praising God. But something happened to both Mary and the shepherds that would never be forgotten. Their lives were forever changed. 

Whenever a day of great significance takes place, the impact forces a change on the rest of the world.  The repercussions of the change usually register a much greater degree than the original impact.  In the world of the first century, things moved a little slower, but it would not be difficult to chart the changes that reverberated out from an unlikely village known as Bethlehem.  We never heard from the shepherds again in scripture, but they sowed the seed that turned into a ripened field for the gospel.  The thoughts that Mary kept and pondered in her heart never left her.  They churned in her so deeply that she must have finally realized the answers.  When she spoke so confidently to the servants at the marriage of Cana, she knew Jesus was a man of destiny.  

The day of the event calls for celebration; the day after calls for decision and action. When Jesus Christ is born in your life, when you have an encounter with the King of Kings, do not think that the experience is all there is to it.  Do you think that the enormity of redemption’s story—that God became man, that he died on the cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and resurrection the third day with victory over death—had as its overarching purpose to give man a temporary thrill? If all God wanted to say with Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary, the Empty Tomb and His ascension at Bethany was “I love you,” why didn’t He just come down and say, “I love you?” No. 

Something big happened on the first Christmas Day.  Something bigger than Jingle Bells and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” happened.  Something bigger than your new watch, iPad or designer jeans happened. If you have had an encounter with Christ, something bigger than a religious moment of inspiration happened. Something happened that now brings you face to face with a sobering thought:  Now what? 

• You’ve been healed.  Now what?
• You got your miracle.  Now what?
• You got your answer to prayer.  Now what? 

Yes, God does great things for us. But the significant truth to observe is this: When God does great things for us, He places on us an awesome responsibility! In effect, He says to us, “Now that you have had an encounter with My power and presence, what difference will this make in your life?  What difference is this going to make in your relationship to me?” 

Answered prayer asks us for reciprocating sacrifice. Look at the example of Hannah. “For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD.” I Samuel 1:26-28. Hannah wanted a son, but God wanted a prophet. Samuel’s tremendous influence on the history of Israel hinged on two things: God answered prayer and Hannah responded. 

A miracle from God demands that we do the will of God. When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, God sent fire to consume the animal, the altar and the water. But the miracle was not for a show. It demanded a response. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” I Kings 18:39 -40. Difficult though it may have been, Elijah made the Israelites slay the prophets of Baal after the fire fell on the sacrifice. 

An encounter with God calls for greater trust in God. Gideon’s fleece was not a set-up for God, but for Gideon. The first time Gideon prayed, the fleece was wet with dew, but the ground was dry. Nervous about the answer, Gideon prayed again. “And Gideon said unto God, ‘Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.” Judges 6:38-40. The next verse finds Gideon rising up early to fight against the Midianites.  He knew that when the answer came through, it was time to move. 

Have you been granted salvation, a reunited marriage, a restored family, a miraculous healing, financial blessing, a new or saved job, an anointed ministry, impossible situations worked out, revival and the fruit of your labors?  Whatever God has done for you, mark it down—He has done it for a reason. 

It’s the day after.  The anticipation is over.  The celebration is over. The boxes are open; the wrappings are scattered; the surprise is over. Now, it is time for commitment. 

The Time of Christmas

Most of us love Christmas time.  Never are the children happier, the smiles wider, the decorations more vibrant, or the atmosphere more joyous than during this blessed season.  Christmas creates excitement in an otherwise humdrum existence.  But, it can have a downside as well.  The hectic pace of Christmas can be hazardous to your spiritual health.  It is ironic that the celebration of Christ can also jeopardize a believer’s relationship with Christ.   Keep an eye out for some red flags that threaten your time with God.  Your time can be sharply degraded by allowing these influences to prevail.  You must define them, oppose them, and overcome them. 

Busyness.  Your spiritual capacity gets depleted daily, and as holidays approach, the schedule can become delirious.   If you wouldn’t drive past a gas station if your fuel gauge says empty—no matter how high the price per gallon may be, or no matter how busy you are—why would you bypass a few moments to talk with God?  If you find yourself running past your times of refreshing, God is furiously waving a red flag of warning in front of you.  Slow down and worship.

Negativity.  Refuse to allow Christmas to turn peace into tension.  A nagging doubt, a flash of cynicism or a feeling that the holiday is a time waster may be symptoms of encroaching unbelief.  These may be common human weaknesses, but don’t dismiss them as harmless.  If you find yourself struggling with negativity, you need to counter it with ingesting the Word of God and stepping up the intensity of your prayer time. 

False constructs.  Give yourself a gift.  Buy a book or DVD that will enhance your time with God.  Make your prayer time interesting.  Don’t get locked into a rigid viewpoint on the act of praying.  Mindless repetition, insistence on a certain kind of prayer, or any prayer that seems mechanical or sterile will eventually cause you to lose vibrancy in your relationship with God.  Spontaneity and sensitivity to God’s Spirit breathes life into your time with God. 

False prisms.  Just as a prism redirects light, so also can books, magazine articles, telecasts, blogs, and the people in your life redirect your thinking about God, prayer, and all things spiritual.  Not everyone shares your good feelings about Christmas.  If your close associates have an evil heart, or are motivated by carnality, or if they have a wrong view of God, their opinions can interfere with the purity of your relationship with God.  God doesn’t want to hear someone else’s thoughts.  He wants a direct line into your heart.  Ultimately, discipleship comes down to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Fear.  Receiving good tidings of great joy may first call for confrontation with yourself.  Deep, introspective prayer may dredge up sludge you’ve tried hard to forget.  Fear of self-examination, fear of the pangs of conscience, fear of a negative effect on present relationships, fear of divine orders to rectify a problem, and much more, all serve as roadblocks to efficacy with God.  Remember, your relationship with God can only be as strong as your willingness to be transparent.  Whatever your fear may be, God’s grace is sufficient to cover it.

Jesus showed us how to pray productively.  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. Matthew 14:23. The most important prayer that was ever prayed was a deliberate, separated place.  Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:36-39. 

The time you spend with God—in seclusion, in transparency, in introspection—will become your greatest source of spiritual strength.  The only reason you feel overwhelmed at Christmas time is if you neglect your time with God.  Make your devotions privileged times.  Everything else can wait. 

Have a truly blessed Christmas! 

Make it Personal

“Accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.” We’ve heard it all our lives.  It rolls glibly off the tongue of the nominal Christian.  Of course, there is more to the new birth than a verbal assent to accept Christ.  Jesus told Nicodemus to be born of the water and the Spirit.  Peter preached the first sermon at the inauguration of the church in which he called for repentance, baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 2:38).  But, let’s go back to the personal part.  This is the pill that gets stuck in the throat.  We can talk all day about the idea of sin, the love of God for the sinner, the pain of Calvary and the efficacy of the blood of Jesus.  We can argue over soteriology, redemption, atonement, propitiation and the like, ad nauseam, yet, never feel the impact of opining on these very subjects.  But, anything that is not personal is not real.  

Take the Kate Steinle case.   Juan Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant who’d been deported five times, was accused of shooting Steinle, a 32-year-old woman as she walked on a San Francisco pier. The shooting set off a heated, national debate over sanctuary cities, immigration policies, legislative proposals, illegal alien statistics, gun control laws, and endless rancorous arguments over ideas and concepts.  On and on it went.  Eventually, the jury found Lopez-Sanchez not guilty.  But the verdict and all the back-and-forth conversation did nothing to assuage the pain of Kate’s family.  For them, it was personal. It was not a matter of statistics, social policy or immigration laws.  Disengaged people can banter these topics about as much as they want, but at the end of the day, they can go home and forget about it.  It’s just talk.  There is no impact on their personal lives.  Things like this don’t become real until your personal life is blown to smithereens by a senseless act that causes everybody else to yawn and order their mocha latte with triple sugar.  They dismiss the matter as a routine entry in the daily log. 

So it is with sin and salvation.  As long as sin is generic, as long as evil is theoretical, as long as guilt is hypothetical, then it’s not real.  If Jesus is not personal, however, He is just a story.  If sin and salvation don’t have real-time meaning, they will never be fully appreciated.  If we can relegate salvation to a long-ago, far-away tragedy, it will never be real.  If we can confine the cross to the stale words of a memorized prayer, or the rhyming lyrics of a song, or the text of a clever sermon, or the seed thought of an interesting article, then it will never be real. 

Make the cross personal to you.  Understand that it was your sin that hammered the spikes into the hands and feet of Jesus.  Recognize that your transgressions drove the spear into His side.  Fully admit that it was your lying, cheating, stealing, fornication, abusive actions, pride, rebellion, greed, violence, slander, and so much more that crushed the life out of the Savior.  That’s when it becomes personal.  When it becomes personal, you will experience an epiphany, a revelatory moment, a soul awakening that will propel you into a dimension you never thought existed.  Isn’t it strange?  We want healing to be personal.  We want deliverance, our daily interaction with Jesus, what’s going on in our marriage, our children, our job, our finances, our church, our ministry, our friendships, our situations in life to be personal.  

If He is your Savior, make Him personal.  It was your sin, on the cross.  Own it.  Claim it.  Confess it.  Spell it out.  See His blood covering your sin.  Hear your Savior speak your name.  See His eyes fully engage your gaze.  He’s more than a generic Savior.  He’s more than a theologian’s lesson on soteriology.  He’s your Savior.  “Alas, and did my Savior bleed?  And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Was it for sins that I had done, He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! grace unknown! And love beyond degree!

Great Expectations

“…Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child.” Luke 2:5 

According to tradition, Jesus was born December 25, 0000AD.  That means, from the perspective of Mary and Joseph, on…

• December 24, no one knew what would happen December 25.
• December 24, Mary was still expecting.
• December 24, Mary was miserable.
• December 24, Joseph was frantic.
• December 24, nothing seemed to be working out.
• December 24, the world of Caesars was oppressive.
• December 24, sharing a barn with animals was all they could do.
• December 24, the promises of God were still just promises.
• December 24, Mary was trying to recall he angel’s words.
• December 24, the world was experiencing a pregnant moment.

Although men will never know first hand, we hear that the last trimester of pregnancy is an excruciating ordeal for mothers-to-be.  Their backs ache and cramp, their patience runs thin (and not much else feels thin!), their entire bodies scream out for relief. 

Panicked thoughts swirled in the prospective mother’s mind.  Will anybody help me?  Is the baby turned the right way?  Is it going to be a normal birth?  Will it be healthy?  Will I have a hard time?  Can I stand the pain?  Will we be able to take care of the baby?  Will Joseph be a good father?  Why couldn’t I just be home for this?

But none of these questions tormented the real father of the baby in Mary’s womb.  The Almighty God, the Heavenly Father, the Author and Finisher of our Faith knew some things that Mary and Joseph only hoped for.  From God’s perspective, He knew on…

• December 24, what would happen December 25.
• December 24, that Mary was delivered by faith.
• December 24, that Mary would soon be ecstatic.
• December 24, that Joseph would be calm and collected.
• December 24, that everything would work out.
• December 24, that the world of Caesars was irrelevant.
• December 24, that a barn esd better than the best neo-natal unit.
• December 24, that the promises of God were absolute truths.
• December 24, that Mary should have believed the angel’s words.
• December 24, that the world was about to receive her savior.

It is amazing how quickly, in one moment, nine months of morning sickness and misery vanished.  Afterwards, Mary must have reflected on these incredible events…

The promises of God are tried by adversity.  Sometimes they seem more like a burden to bear than a joy to possess.  But, the troubling circumstances of the pregnancy, the taxation and census, the long road to travel to Bethlehem, and the treatment at the hand of the innkeeper were not enough to abort the promised Messiah.

The promises of God are touched by angels.  God sees to it that his call on our lives comes with a brush, a glimpse, a touch of a supernatural quality.  He does not give us everything, but enough for us to know that He is present and is calling to us.

The promises of God are truths for all time.  Yesterday’s faith becomes today’s facts.  The “Incarnation Celebration” stands as the ultimate proof of the promises of God.  His promises are always great expectations.  May you and you loved ones experience great joy throughout this Christmas season.