Free to work for God

“Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.” Rom 12:1 (MSG)

In 2011 we lost a giant in the world of technology - Steve Jobs. One of Jobs’ best-known traits was his attention to detail. He was renowned for being engaged in every single aspect of the design of a product, from the shape of a computer’s casing to its color. His obsession with details extended to areas a customer would never see. For example, Jobs was insistent that the circuit boards inside Apple computers have wires that were straight and beautiful-looking. When engineers would complain that this was unnecessary for the computers’ performance, he refused to back down, asserting that every aspect of a product must be created to the highest standards. 

What Steve Job’s knew innately has a spiritual truth about seeking to do all things well even where no-one will see the finished product. Expressing one's freedom in society is the decision to push forward to the moral high-ground and do it in a God honoring way. This means completing our work beautifully and with great care because we have God as an audience who appreciates every detail.

This is the thought at the core of a Christian work ethic: all work should be done with attention to detail and offered up to God where the process and product becomes a prayer; a loving dialogue with God. May the work of our hands in 2012 be offered up as loving prayer to our Lord.

Light but not Lightweight

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.” Psalm 89:15

Was Jesus born in December? There was a period of time when celebrating Christmas on December 25^th was illegal in England and America. Hard to believe, but it came from the Puritan conviction that the Bible did not dictate a specific day and neither should we. We seem to be passed that difficulty but still the question remains – why December?  One “far out” reason for the late December date is linked to astronomy. We, in the Northern Hemisphere, can appreciate this fact as the winter solstice arrives close to Christmas and marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. The light of our everyday world wanes up to this point and darkness seems to dominate.

This fact is significant because of its spiritual implications. Christmas comes just on the other side of the solstice – things are beginning to brighten. Darkness does not triumph. Christ, the Light of the World, is with us and has broken the hold of increasing darkness of sin, the devil, and death.

God’s agenda is to affect all of life by animating it with the light of truth, beauty and goodness. In our time, this is counter-cultural and works against our culture’s program of “secularism”. Secularism wants to convince us that thoughts about God and His light are entirely a private affair and socially irrelevant. Yet history has proven that democracy unfettered from a morality that references absolutes only leads to demoralization and despair. Let’s seek to live in a spirit of giving praise and testimony to Christ as the Light of the World and look for opportunities to radiate His light.

Gently Broken

“He (Jesus) will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Luke 1:32

It is claimed to be the most widely sold rose in North America and one which thrives here in Kearney, Nebraska. Every summer the “Knock Out” rose can be spotted adorning more and more of our gardens in masses of blooms of pinks and reds. In planting a rose bush, it is necessary to remove it from the container and gently loosen the roots by breaking down the rigid edge molded by the plant’s life in the container. Once the rigid edge is gently broken and loosened, the transition to the new soil environment can take place most effectively.

Travelling through these weeks in preparation for Christmas is the opportunity to be “gently broken” and put out deeper roots into the soil of faith and experience a deeper union with God. Our Scripture reading today alludes to the majesty of Christ. To this we could easily find many Scriptures that also proclaim the sovereignty and power of God. For example, “No one is like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power”(Jeremiah 10.6).

Our prayer life will be refreshed and nourished by reflecting on the greatness of God. Do you want to know Him this season like never before? To do so we must say goodbye to status quo, good bye to the "vanilla version" of Christianity. Let’s pray that we will see the Son of the Most High, the splendid and spectacular Rose of Sharon, this Advent.

Look into the Manger

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

We have entered into the season of Advent with the expectation and celebration of the coming of our Savior. The signs that Christmas is approaching are popping up everywhere - strings of lights, crèches, Christmas trees, Black Friday sales, etc. Our consumer driven society beats the drum of hurried and extravagant shopping but the still small voice of God beckons us to slow down and reflect. Instead of loading up, drop everything and come; kneel and look into the manger.

Advent is God’s invitation to love and be loved more deeply. It is a time to clean house so that Christ may take up residence more fully in our lives. It is an invitation to ‘stock up’ on relationship.

I don’t want to be the same in this coming year yet transformation into Christlikeness cannot be fully realized without deep and continual change. Grace is God acting in our lives to do things and to bring change that we cannot do on our own. Dallas Willard states, “Grace is not opposed to effort; it’s opposed to earning”. None of us will keep a life of prayer unless we are committed to change. We will either give it up or turn it into a little mechanical ritual. “Father, this Advent, help me adore Jesus and be changed”.