Barney Wiget's Blog, page 19

War in Ukraine––”Noble and Necessary”?

I heard two prominent people the other day make equally asinine comments about the war in Ukraine. One came from the mouth of Russia’s infamous president and the other from the microphone of an American TV political commentator who shall remain unnamed.

Vladimir Putin call the war “noble and necessary.”  

Let’s talk about “noble” from a biblical standpoint, which speaks of those who have a “noble heart,” people with a “noble character,” the advisability of thinking on “whatever is noble,” the “noble task” of the spiritual leader, and finally the “noble name of him to whom we belong.”

Does any of that square with the sociopathic leader of Russia and his reprehensible genocide in Ukraine? Is it even remotely possible that what he’s doing could be considered “noble”? I think not.

As for this same Russian power-monger’s description of his murder of thousands of innocent civilians as “necessary,” necessary for whom? Certainly not for the citizens of his neighboring country! Similarly, Hitler framed his “final solution” as necessary for the betterment of Germany, not to mention for his own ego.

Now for the American populist and popular pundit (so-called). “We are the victims here,” he had the audacity to assert on cable news. (Doesn’t really qualify as “news,” but let us not get sidetracked.) Gas and groceries cost Americans more than they did a year ago, quite a bit more. So, Ukrainians aren’t the victims, we are! What kind of dim-witted thinking is that!

(By the way, I’m not divulging his name because I don’t want to garner any more attention to him than he already gets from his fans and flatterers. I’m tempted to hint that his name rhymes with a bad word that I haven’t called anyone in a long long time. That is, I hope it’s a long time, but my memory is waning more and more these days, so it might not be as long as all that.)

There are tens of millions of true victims in this war and it’s not a multimillionaire TV personality who can afford the gas and groceries into the next millennium! Those that have lost their health, their lives, their loved ones, their homes. They’re the victims! It’s shameful to say otherwise.

Let’s talk biblical references to actual victims.

We’re told that a person “kidnapped” and eventually murdered is a “victim.” Sounds about right. Someone hit in the head with a rock, an ambushed person, starving people during a “famine,” those “crushed and devoured” by a stronger evil superpower, and those overtaken by “the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims.” Sound familiar?

No, Americans aren’t the victims in this war. So, we have to drive a little less often and shop the deals at Safeway. Poor us! While over 10 million Ukrainians had to leave their homes, the majority of which are women and children and he had the audacity to call us victims in this war!

I am profoundly offended by both of these impudent declarations. To me, both the Russian and the American spewed equally appalling assertions. As though tens of thousands of civilian deaths weren’t enough, now we’re hearing about rapes by the Russian military. “Noble and necessary” this is not! Calling Americans “victims” is disgraceful! Both of which, to my mind sound like sociopathic fantasies of true nobility and legitimate victimhood.

God help us all!

You might have read an earlier post of mine about how I pray for people like these two. It goes like this: Lord, SAVE him. If he won’t be saved, STOP him. And if he won’t be stopped, SEND him away. (And just to put a point on it, sometimes I add, “send him as far away as possible!”) Putin and our anonymous blowhard are in my prayers. You might consider joining me in prayer. Couldn’t hurt!

In addition to prayer, you might think about donating to ministries and NGOs that are assisting in the massive refugee crisis in Europe. Here are some of my favorite orgs that are doing phenomenal work in that area:

World VisionLutheran Immigration and Refugee ServicesGood SamaritanWe WelcomeDoctors Without BordersSave the Children

How To Keep Hope Alive

I confess to an off and on mood of hopelessness lately. If it’s not Covid, it’s the ridiculous misinformation about it and the needless, senseless deaths that result. If not an evil Russian autocrat, the murder of innocent women and children in hospitals, churches, and apartment buildings in Ukraine. If not… Well, I could go on, but let’s put our attention not on hope’s absence but its presence.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Our hope comes from… wait for it… “The God of hope!”

He’s hope’s Source. Want hope? Go to him. Want shoes? Go to a store where they sell shoes, not 7-11. They have those hot dogs that roll around all day on that warmer. (Can’t be healthy!) Want hope? Go to God.

Along with hope comes an ample supply of joy and peace.

Peace and joy are hope’s siblings. You might even call them triplets, as they are similar experiences and usually travel together. Hope is the most stable of the three. Without it, peace and joy are more fleeting than enduring, and can be nothing more than mental gymnastics. But when the three are together, well, that’s a good day!

Trust is the combination to the “Hope Chest”

Trust is something more than what we usually think of as “faith.” Faith, at least how we typically speak of it, is more static, like a general conviction, a belief in something/someone. Trust seems more personal, more dependent. Faith, for some is simply cerebral, whereas trust is cardiac (settled in the heart). Demons “believe.” Christians trust.

When you have too much hope to contain!

Seems unlikely, doesn’t it, but we can have so much hope that it “overflows” onto others, especially onto the otherwise hopeless. This should be our goal in all God’s good gifts, to have so much of it (hope included) that it spills over the top and gets all over our neighbors! Hoarders of hope, we’re not!

Holy Spirit: Our Initiator and Sustainer of hope.

Having a tough time acquiring or sustaining a posture of hope? Lean into the Spirit. Ask him for an attitude adjustment, a mental correction, a spiritual connection with the eternal (those things which are “not seen” as opposed to those which are).

Keep hope alive, sisters and brothers!

How To Pray About A Demon-Driven Dictator (Part 1 of 2)

In the way I’ve always prayed for demon-driven dictators and all manner of other dangerous people, I’ve been praying about Vladimir Putin.

It usually goes something like this:

Lord, SAVE him.

If he won’t be saved, STOP him.

And if he won’t be stopped, SEND him away!

Obviously, our first priority is that Putin would come to a saving relationship with Jesus. No one, including an evil tyrant such as the Russian president, is beyond the reach of God’s generous grace, and we want him to experience that grace and be transformed into the person he was created to be! So, SAVE HIM, Lord!

Yet we know that heaven’s redemptive work is not forced on anyone. The miracle must be received, forgiveness and transformation must be embraced. Vladimir Putin and everyone else in the world has to choose to reach out God who is reaching out to them in order to be saved from their evil ways.

This why I say, “If he won’t be saved,” then stop him! Despite the Spirit’s relentless overtures, if Mr. Putin turns his back to the truth, then we must pray that that same Spirit would stop him from slaughtering Ukrainians, and anyone else for that matter.

Who knows what form that might take. The Maker has a multitude of tools in his belt to somehow wall off genocidal maniacs. He might replace him with someone with a conscience or silence him by public censure. If Putin rejects the offer of grace, I’m praying that he will be stopped in his tracks from perpetrating any more atrocities in Ukraine or anywhere else! STOP HIM, Lord!

Yet if he won’t be saved and he won’t be stopped, my prayer is that he would be sent away!

Whatever “sent away” looks like, whatever form it might take, I want him to go away! How God would decide to make that happen is above my pay grade. I suppose the mildest arrangement would be for him to be deposed and exiled someplace he can’t hurt anyone anymore. Beyond that, and the most drastic expression that I can imagine of sending him away is for divine justice to take him out by somehow being rendered incapable of waging war against his neighbors, or, yes, by having him assassinated!

FYI, when I pray this way, I always find myself balking a little and offering the caveat that such a course is not my responsibility, but God’s. I’m convinced and comforted that many, if not most of our prayers go up to him in the revised version. We offer our requests and he responds in the way he deems wisest and best for the greater good. At times like this I lean into the proviso: “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done!”

I’ll say it again, though it’s above my pay grade to pronounce judgment on anyone, including demon-driven dictators, it’s not unprecedented. The Bible includes prayers of judgment on those who murder and maim their fellow humans. The experts call them “Imprecatory Psalms.” Here are some of them for your reading pleasure: Psalm 5, 10, 17, 35, 52, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, and 140. I’ll unpack one or two of these in Part 2.

So, if Vladimir Putin refuses to be saved and won’t be stopped, I pray that he will be SENT AWAY one way or another!

Let’s review how one might pray about Putin and others of his ilk:  

Lord, SAVE him.

If he won’t be saved, STOP him.

And if he won’t be stopped, SEND him away!

How To Pray About the War Against Ukraine

“Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!” Psalm 52:7

I’ve heard two different disturbing responses to Russia’s war on Ukraine one from right-wing “news” outlets and another from some Christians. In this post I’ll address the latter.

One evangelical church leader called for prayer for peace between the nations. Can’t argue with that. As far as it goes. But the way he worded it sounded a lot like, “There are good people on both sides, so pray that they’ll all just get along. We’re peacemaker’s after all.”

Of course, we must pray for both countries and their citizens in this conflict. And of course, there are good Ukrainians and good Russians. So let’s do pray for the innocent citizens on both sides for protection and salvation. But let’s be clear, this war was clearly instigated by Russian President Putin and unprovoked by Ukraine’s leadership (or citizenry for that matter).   

Scripture clearly teaches that God is always on the side of the oppressed and against the oppressor, for the weaker and more vulnerable and against the powerful taking advantage of the weak. Ukraine didn’t start this war. Russia is the aggressor. So, my prayers, though they have to include the care and safety of both peoples, also have to intercede for God to stop Russia from murdering their neighbors. 

He went on to say, “Let’s stay focused on the main thing: The Gospel.” Amen to that! I agree that it’s the God of the Good News we serve. But remember that, in his first public sermon Jesus, quoted Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free...”

I’m aware that there’s a flimsy version of this to spiritualize all those conditions and turn blindness and oppression into spiritual darkness exclusively. The solution then would be to simply get people saved so they’re not poor or prisoners or oppressed anymore. Surely, there are spiritual implications included in the good news, but to overlook the actual conditions of poverty and oppression as part of what the Gospel addresses is a very thin interpretation of the mission of Jesus.

What Jesus did and preached is the Gospel which obviously involves leading people to Christ and get them reading their bibles. But this doesn’t exhaust what he’s after in this world of poverty, violence, and pain. Micah asks and answers his own question: “What does the Lord require of you? To do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).

Of course, there are poor and oppressed in Russia today, but if we’re responding to the immediate need of the hour, that would be the need of the Ukrainians with bombs exploding in their cities and killing their children for no other reason than for Putin to establish his version of a good legacy by conquering more and more territory. 

Furthermore, the leader said: “We ask that you stand with us in prayer that God will grant us the blessings of peace, prosperity, and a great harvest of souls in the Gospel in Russia and Ukraine.” I can get behind that, but can’t help but remember that peacemaking is not just about getting us all to get along, which is the message I often hear in the Church’s response to injustice and inhumanity to man.

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe the greatest need of humans is to come to Christ and be transformed by his grace. But when humanitarian crises occur such as this one, and the only prayers I hear are: “Help Russians and Ukrainians get along and bring revival to both nations!” I wonder if that’s how Christian Americans prayed after Pearl Harbor. “Lord, help us get along with Japan and bring revival to both our countries!” Did they then go on to sing their happy songs, preach their prosperity sermons, and go home feeling better about themselves unconcerned about the thousands of dead? I think not.

I know I sound harsh, but what some are saying sounds a lot like, “Let’s not offend anybody who might be pro-Russian.” As someone famously said after the callous murder of an innocent young woman in Charlottesville, “There are good people on both sides of this.”

The International Justice Mission defines injustice as “what happens when someone uses their power to take from someone else the good things God intended them to have: their life, their liberty, their dignity, or the fruit of their love or their labor.” I think it’s time to quit riding the fence about injustice and call it out. The prophets did. Jesus did. So, what are we waiting for?

By way of contrast, I read of one pastor in Ukraine who is asking Americans to pray that “Russia would tire of their tyrant’s rantings at home and abroad and that they would remove him from office.” Amen! Putin is an unhinged tyrant. Another Ukrainian leader requested prayer for the truth to be told in contrast to the ridiculous lies spread in some of the Western media. Igor Bandura, vice president of the Baptist Union prayed, “First, to stop the aggressor and then for peace of mind, to respond with Christian character and not from human hate.” I can get behind that.

“We did not invite the war,” wrote one seminary professor. “The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin brought it to Ukraine. … There needs be a moral evaluation of acts of aggression like this, which have biblical definition and biblical evaluation.” Another leader asked the West to pray about Russian Christians that they would raise their prayers and voice toward Russian government to stop the aggression; [that they] would not keep silent and for the governments of the US and European Union to do the same.

Lastly, I urge you to read the rest of King David’s response in Psalm 52 to the ruthless murder of 85 innocent priests on his watch. It happens that it is the passage I preached on the Sunday after 9/11 entitled: “How David Dealt With A Demented Demon-Driven Dictator.”

The main difference between the circumstances then (9/11) and now aren’t that great. Agreed?

So, let’s pray.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+52&version=NIV

Learning the Language

“Go and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Think of disciple making in terms of learning a language.

As brilliant as they both are, my two four-year-old granddaughters don’t need English grammar lessons quite yet. The definitions and proper use of indirect objects and predicate nominatives don’t seem to stick. The best way to teach them how to use the best grammatical forms and speak with good diction is for us to speak well to them. They’re like sponges, these little pixies. They imitate quite well, which is a good reminder not to swear in front of them! (I’m doing my best.) The rules of grammar come later, if at all, for them to nourish and sustain the art of speaking and writing well.

This applies also to passing on to others a mature Christian morality. We often make the mistake of leaning too much on teaching the rules and not enough on just showing people how it’s done by living in front of them.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but we already have too many people who identify themselves as Christians that don’t actually have Christlike characters, people who know the “rules” but don’t seem to care much about following in Jesus’ footsteps. They can quote the Nicene Creed and know how to parse New Testament Greek verbs, but don’t seem to care about the poor or treating people who are not like them with love and dignity.

The old maxim, “Do as I say, not as I do,” meaning, “Don’t imitate my behavior but obey my instructions,” doesn’t actually work in the disciple-making business. Surely you’ve noticed that children (and adults) are much more likely to do as we do than do as we say.

It’s not like we can wait till they’ve logged years into their faith before we start teaching them stuff. Disciple making is like the elementary school activity called “Show and Tell.” Maybe we should put a little less emphasis on the telling and a little more on the showing. (That is if we actually have something to show.)

Plus, we have to give the Spirit more credit to do what he alone can do to detoxify our disciples (and us)––otherwise known as the process of “sanctification.” After all, he’s the One who engraves “the rules” on our hearts and sets up circumstances whereby we remember them when dogged by temptation and harassed by dark powers.

If you want to make disciples who live and speak “Kingdom” then live and speak it in front of them. And if you’re lucky it will inspire them to follow suit and maybe even want to learn some grammar along the way.

No Lone Runners

“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” Jeremiah 32:38-41

God demands a lot of his followers, but what he demands of us he promises to do in us. This Christian life is more of a partnership with God than any kind of solo effort. He invites us to a race and then runs it with us. He won’t make us finish or win the race for us, but he will do all he can to give us the strength we need to continue. It’s not all grit and self-discipline. All the glory for any success we have goes to him. He’s running alongside of us encouraging and empowering us to stay on the track.

He’s the ―God who gives endurance, (Romans 15:5). We can’t take any credit for continuing to follow him. We never could. He beckoned us in the first place and continues to beckon. I know that in my case, he loved me first and showed himself to me long before I had any clue about him. And now he keeps after me, coaching me on how to persevere along the way.

Raking Rocks, Pulling Weeds, and Bearing Fruit

“The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:13-20

It seems most people don’t go deep enough or last long enough in their relationship with Jesus to become fruitful followers. Three of the four scenarios where people heard the good news, some even receiving it, started and didn’t finish. Seventy-five percent. That’s a lot! Only one in four continued all the way to a fruitful life. Those are some pretty crummy odds when you think of it that way.

I guess this is why I’m such a curmudgeon and a 75% empty glass kinda guy.

Evidently there is a large majority of short-sighted people when it comes to their spirituality. Some have hard hearts, others with internal impenetrable obstacles, still others containing competing influences, none of which persevere to fruitfulness. The only path to fruit-bearing entails recognizing their internal resistance and removing the obstacles.

Those who only let Jesus touch the surface of their lives quickly fall away. Others fail to endure to the end because worries, wealth, other unworthy ambitions devour their attention. Friends of mine who’ve endured to fruitfulness over the years are ones who have been particularly ruthless with the rocks and weeds in their heart gardens.

I’ve never believed that a person is born with either a receptive or unreceptive heart. It’s the choices we make that determine outcomes. That is not to say that everyone begins with the same opportunities, privileges, if you will. But there’s no doubt the Make takes all such factors into consideration.

But here in this parable Jesus gives us the heads up about our responsibility to do due diligence about keeping our hearts plowed and receptive to kingdom seed. If we fail to do this, the consequences will be dire. We won’t grow up to be verdant trees from which others may pick life-giving fruit. But if we will rake out the rocks and pull those pesky weeds (so to speak), we will endure, mature, and become healthy fruit-bearing contributors in God’s great orchard.

I Don’t Trust Anyone Who Never Changes Their Mind

People who never change their minds about anything must be right about everything, arrogant enough to think they are, or on crack!

Changing your mind is a human thing, not to mention a Christian thing. Even God changes his mind! Well, that’s debatable I suppose. There are verses on either side of it, but that’s not what we’re working on here.  

You probably know that repent actually means to change your mind. You can’t really be a Christian to begin with unless you change your mind about God, yourself, and how one relates to him. Of course, repentance has to do with more than your mind, it reaches beyond how you think and into how you act. Better thinking leads to better behavior. Anyway, back to the thinking part…

There are many things I used to believe but no longer do, not mention things I didn’t used to believe but do now. I’ve changed my mind about a boat load of stuff over the years. Here is a very teensy sample size of such things.

When and how Jesus will return:

I can’t get into it now, but suffice to say if I told you what I now believe I’d have to kill you. (Not really.)

Stuff I’m more willing to take the time to think about:

In some cases, the things I’ve changed my mind about have to do with the fact that I’m actually thinking about them. While raising a family and pastoring 24/7, I simply didn’t give myself enough time to think outside that box. I didn’t have the bandwidth to explore ideas foreign to me as much as I have since “retiring.” This bleeds into the next point about…

Voices I’m willing to listen to:

Especially while pastoring and parenting, I was too careful about the voices I gave myself permission to listen to. Part of it a simple matter of time, plus I was probably too cautious about getting sucked into unbiblical and toxic ideas as though the Spirit was unable to keeping my on track. I confess to listening to voices primarily inside my box. Whether it was about a different theological perspective than my own or a source from a different demographic that was familiar to me, I tended to stay pretty close to familiar ideas and sources.

Accordions:

I once subscribed to the bumper sticker that says: “Friends don’t let friends play the accordian!”  I saw another one, “Play the accordion / go to jail!” That seems a little harsh. Anyway, I changed my mind about the instrument when I heard an amazing accordionist on the street in San Francisco! The music he produced with that squeezable squeaky box was enough to change my mind about accordions.

The intersection of faith and politics:

There. I said it… the dreaded word: politics. And even more scandalously, I’ve come to believe that Jesus was political! Now, I know you’re on the edge of your seat. But you’ll have wait till the Spring or Summer of 2022 to read the book I’ve just finished on the Sermon on the Mount for a clarification. I will say this, it’s not really politics that I’ve changed my mind about, it’s the intersection faith and politics. (If you don’t are to wait for my book to come out, take a look at my blog at: barneywiget.com.)

The parameters of how to please God:

The list of attitudes and behaviors that I that I think God cares about has shrunk in some cases and expanded in others. It’s shrunk as I think through what matters most to him. You know, the old saying, “Don’t smoke or chew or kiss girls who do!” Well, I’m still not doing those, but am pretty sure some of things we’ve typically considered “sinful” may not be as important to God as we once thought.  On the other hand, the list of what actually pleases him has expanded for me, mostly on justice issues, love of neighbor, and his bias toward the least, last, and lonely.

Pugs: You know, those miniature dogs with a scrunched-up face. I used to think they were gross, but came around to thinking they are kinda cute after all. (On the other hand, I haven’t changed my mind about putting clothes on dogs––sweaters, hats, coats… God already gave ‘em a coat. I’m not on board with addition layers on our pets.)

My idea of Church has both shrunk and expanded:

I wonder about those things we’ve come to expect in the American church experience, the “gotta haves” in a legitimate worship gathering. You know, stuff like musical worship with an amazing band and cool new songs every week. There’s the 30-to-45-minute sermons for the already overfed while sitted in comfy seats in extravagantly decorated buildings, an overdependence on professional ministers, and a tech experience that rivals Apple. None of that is wrong per se, but I wonder what kind of disciples we’re actually making with our reliance on it. As I observe, not that great.

What evangelism looks like:

In addition to what we tell people about Jesus, I’m more convinced than ever that what we actually do, how we live, evangelizes. Jesus said, “They will see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.” I think much of the Evangelical Church has either forgotten this or doesn’t care enough to change their minds. Our witness in word and in deed nudges people toward him. I also think that our evangelism should an invitation to follow us as we follow Christ and work together in changing the world! For more on my ideas on evangelism you might check out my book: Reaching Rahab: Joining God in His Quest for Friends.

Green leafy vegetables:

I grew up on a very limited selection of veggies: peas, carrots, and an occasional artichoke. I’ve discovered the health benefits of a number of other vegetables, Rainbow Chard in particular. It’s good for you and better tasting (to me) than most other leafy greens.

I could go on to mention many other things I’ve changed my mind about: Social justice, women as spiritual leaders, and many things eschatological. I’m more Arminian than ever and less committed to theological certainty as the Christian’s gold standard.

What have you changed your mind about in the last few years…?

Christmas Caroling and Jesus Calling

I love Christmas caroling. You know, where you and some friends go door to door singing the Christmas classics in the cold. Someone knocks on the door, the carolers decide what song to begin with, the neighbor opens the door, you sing, wish them merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (that’s the song you always conclude with), and you go on to the next house. Always fun bringing cheer to others!

One year, after moving to a new town, I gathered a few brave souls to go with me to regale the neighborhood with said cheer. We went to our first house, knocked, stepped back and began singing. No one came to the door. Their lights were on and we could see moving shadows through the closed curtains, but no smiling audience opened up to our cheer giving. Undeterred we moved on, reasoning that they were indisposed in some way.

The next house––the same. And the next and pretty much every other door we knocked on produced similar disappointing results. Strangest caroling I’ve ever done, but I convinced my new friends to go to the nearby strip mall and sing in front of the drug store where there’s no door for them to hide behind. Though we ended up having a good time there with a number of willing victims of our unpolished entertainment, it wasn’t quite the same.

Reminds me of the verse that has Jesus saying to us: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Whether we apply this to him at the door of the church where people inside have inured themselves to his voice and carried on with their religious lives apart from their Leader or to pre-christians who are so distracted by their busy lives, it’s the same thing. He’s calling out, and few open the door to hear his song.

They’re home, the lights are on, and you can see activity inside, but for whatever reason they drown out the song of the Lord who loves them enough to brave this cold world and come to their door. No matter how beautifully he sings, no matter how loudly, they either don’t hear him or they do but turn up their own music or TVs.

I wonder if our neighbors suspected that we wanted something from them. Maybe they confused holidays and thought it was like Halloween, and they didn’t have any candy to put into the trick-or-treaters’ plastic jack-o’-lanterns, when in fact, we just wanted to share some hope and happiness.

Is that why so many people (and churches) refuse to open their hearts to Jesus? Are they afraid of what he might demand of them? Maybe his song is just a ruse to get them to open up so he can plunder their house? I suspect that’s the case for some.

Others genuinely don’t hear him calling at all. Their lives are already so full of noise, their own music at such a high decibel, they wouldn’t notice if a bomb detonated in their front yard. No matter how much Jesus turns up the volume, they can’t hear it, so he stations himself in front of Walgreens and sings to the masses who can’t help but notice. Still, most won’t look him in the eye, and pretending he’s not there, run past him and his songster friends into the store to get what seemed so important at the time.

Christmas is great! But Christ himself is greater by far. Enjoy his birthday again and again each year. It’s family, it’s fun (even more so when you go caroling). But it only comes once a year, whereas Jesus and his hope-filled song is interminable. He loves us too much to pass us by even when we have repeatedly failed to open the door to him. Open up to him today. You won’t be disappointed.

DON’T GIVE UP!

*One of many key passages I clung to when fighting for my life a dozen years ago or so.

[image error] barney wiget

[This is the first of fourteen passages that sustained me in the while in the dark.] James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 5:10-11 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion…

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