Category Archives: Living Well

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Joy Mixed With Sorrow

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Picture of ornaments and cones

“They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.  Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.”  Ezra 3:11-13

New Year’s Eve is the time when we tend to evaluate the past year and look to the new one with a hope of great things to come.  Our best New Year’s Eve was December 31, 1981.  That night our younger daughter was born and there was literally a party atmosphere in the delivery room.  In addition to my wife and me, there were two doctors, three interns, a couple of nurses and an anesthesiologist.  Rather than waiting for a ball to drop in New York City, we were awaiting the arrival of a child.  While it was mostly a joyful event, there was also pain as my wife would have to recover from the surgery.  While we like to label each year as good or bad, the reality of this life is that most years are a mixture of joy and sorrow.  That was the mood as the exiles from Babylon viewed the foundation of the new temple.  Those that remembered the former glory of Jerusalem wept at over the loss of what once was.  However, there was also the joy of Jerusalem being rebuilt.  It’s a good lesson in life…how to gracefully accept the joys and sorrows of life understanding that God has orchestrated our lives with purpose so that in the end we may be blessed with a joyful eternity. 

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The Background

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“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”  Isaiah 53:2-3

Backstories can add significant depth to the words of a song.  Similarly, factual biographies can help us understand historical figures.  In order to facilitate some introspection as we approach Christmas, the last two posts have discussed The Encounter with God as well as The Invitation that Christ offers.  To fully appreciate what it means to encounter God and invitation that Christ presents to us, we need to also consider the background of Christ’s incarnation and all that it entails.  To get a complete grasp, one must read the entire Bible.  However, one of the most concise summaries of Christ’s life was written before He was born.  God gave this particular account through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53.  This depiction gives us insight into the Lord and Savior that: asks us to forfeit our entitlements to all that we hold dear in this life for the Glory of God; offers the promise of a reconciled and blessed eternity; and asks us to come to Him no matter how sordid our background so that we may enter into His rest. The goal is not to put a damper on the celebration, but rather to afford  a focused understanding of Christ’s sacrifice,we can draw near and worship Him more fully during the Christmas season.

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God’s grace is not given to make us feel better, but to glorify Him… Good feelings may come, or they may not, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not we honor God by the way we respond to our circumstances.

 

Jerry Bridges
www.christianquotes
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The Encounter

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Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”  Hebrews 11:1-2

Over the course of my life, I’ve encountered a wide variety of individuals.  Most of these events are buried in the recesses of my mind as they had little noticeable impact.  The encounters that I do remember are the ones that were: repetitive, damaging, unexpected, uplifting, or loving as they left a significant mark on my life.  At the top of the list of memorable encounters are my encounters with God.  Encounters with the Lord come in a wide variety and are perfectly tailored to the people involved as well as the need.  They may be direct encounters as Noah, Abraham or Moses experienced; through His messengers as was the case with Mary and Joseph; through a grand event as Paul’s conversion or the more subtle work of the Holy Spirit.  No matter what form our encounter takes, we can be certain of one thing: we will never be the same afterward for we will either trust the character of God and draw closer to Him or we will reject Him in disbelief and pull away.

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Prelude to Thanksgiving-Blessings and Lessons

Gratitude for Everyone in our Lives

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Picture of lake in Brown County

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  Colossians 3:12-14

 

Within the past couple of weeks there have been quite a few conversations to make plans for Thanksgiving.  While the menu hasn’t varied too much from year to year, the people with whom we share the meal have varied greatly.  Naturally, the core group has always been our immediate family. However, many years have regularly included extended family, friends and acquaintances.  As I consider those with whom I have celebrated this holiday, I am reminded that I am most thankful for the people that God has chosen to weave in and out of my life.  Their roles, the length of time in my life and the affection for them has varied greatly, but they have all had a purpose.  As the saying reminds us, some people are a blessing while others are a lesson. 

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Trust or Fear?

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Magnolia blossom with Max Lucado quote superimposed

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Matthew 16:26

Trust is a fairly basic concept as it rests solely on confidence.  That confidence relies on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of some entity or object.  In contrast, what we consider valuable in our lives and how much we fear losing those things varies from person to person due to maturity, faith, relationships, life experiences, etc.  Another contrast between the two is the impact on our well-being.  Trust provides calm, healing and peace while fear brings distraction, stress and destruction.  Fear comes in varying degrees and for various reasons but consider the following factors of fear: the object, the measurement, the security and the trustee.

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Postscript for Hope

Godly perspectives

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Foggy morning in Indiana

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”  Ephesians 1:18-19

We have a pair of binoculars stored in our closet that belonged to my parents.  I remember looking at them as a child and learning how to use them.  Employed correctly, they provide clarity; however, used improperly they distort making matters worse than if they had not been used at all.  The same principal applies in our lives when we fail to look at things from God’s perspective.  This is true with respect to both our circumstances and our interactions with others.  It is a matter of hope and faith.

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Images of Hope

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Without Christ there is no hope

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  Hebrews 10:23

For several years after I became seriously ill, I didn’t plan any events in my life.  I had no confidence that I would be around for the long haul, therefore, planning was out of the question.  The problem was a lack of hope.  While I still had the hope of eternity, I had no hope that God would sustain my body or that I could endure.  Eventually, that lack of hope made my soul sick.  Thankfully, God sustained me and slowly began to educate me on the finer points of living well before Him.  One of those lessons was that there seem to be two kinds of hope: jubilant hope and steadfast hope.  While I had witnessed plenty of examples of jubilant hope e.g. the hope that comes with: salvation, marriage, or a healthy newborn child, and the like, I had no living images of steadfast hope to lean on.  The culture in which I was raised didn’t deal kindly with people who openly discussed their problems and therefore, was devoid of discussions regarding God’s use of trials to mold, shape and equip them.  In that light, let’s consider a few images of steadfast hope, specifically hope that is: teachable, observant, patient, resilient, faithful trusting that God is enough.

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Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.

R. C. Sproul
Crosswalk.com