Rick Warren's Blog, page 639

Don’t Drown Out Jesus This Christmas

You and I love to overcrowd our lives. We overbook, overspend, overestimate, and we often walk around tired all the time. As a result, God’s truth often doesn’t get the chance to blossom in our lives.

Too often God teaches you a kernel of truth — maybe through your morning Bible study or a Sunday sermon — and you think you need to do something about it, but almost immediately it’s crowded out of your life and forgotten.

Don’t Miss Jesus at Work

Right now there are TV and radio waves all around you. If you had a tuner, you could see what’s on those waves. But just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t real. You’re just not tuned in.

That’s what it was like in Bethlehem on the night of the first Christmas. Despite the fact that Bethlehem had an inn with the sole purpose of taking care of travelers, there was no room in that inn for undoubtedly the most significant family of travelers in Bethlehem that night.

Too Busy for Jesus?

One year when our children were young, my wife decided that I would get to choose where the family went on vacation. I decided I wanted to do a totally spontaneous vacation with no planning whatsoever. As a pastor and leader, every day of my life is planned out. Planning a vacation doesn’t sound like fun!

Jesus’ Christmas List

For more than 50 years my family has kept a tradition of holding a birthday party for Jesus. It started when I was 3 years old and asked my mom, “What is Christmas?” My mom told me it was Jesus’ birthday. With terrific 3-year-old logic, I said, “We should have a birthday party!” And we did, complete with a birthday cake, Kool-Aid, songs, cake, and candles.

Jesus Is Worth the Journey

Searching for truth isn’t a part-time job. It takes everything you have. The Wise Men teach us this in the Christmas story.

The Wise Men were willing to go to any length to find truth. Matthew 2:1 says, “When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem” (NCV). We can assume that the Wise Men traveled many miles from the Far East to the Middle East at great expense to find Jesus.

Word to the Wise

Look at any nativity scene, and you’ll likely see one set of characters that doesn’t seem to fit in the barn: the Wise Men. We’ve become used to them, but if you look at the scene closely, they appear out of place with their fancy clothes and special gifts.

But to me, they’re the most fascinating people in the Christmas story. We don’t know much about them. We don’t know who they are or where they are from. The Bible calls them “magi.” Magi were a combination of philosophers, scientists, and astronomers. They were quite wealthy and well educated. But that’s really all we know about them.

Share the Joy of Your Salvation

If you want to get your joy back, you 1) admit it’s gone, then you 2) analyze the cause. Then, 3) correct what’s wrong, and 4) get an attitude of gratitude.

There are three more steps to recovering your joy that we’ll talk about today.

Obedience Is the Secret to Joy

Joy is an easy thing to lose, but it’s also an easy thing to get back. After you admit that you’ve lost your joy, you need to analyze the cause. You have to look at your life and ask yourself, “How did I lose my joy? What is robbing my joy?”

Finding Your Lost Joy

What’s the easiest thing for you to lose? Your glasses? Your keys? Your mind?

The easiest thing of all to lose is your joy. You can lose it with one phone call or email, a letter or conversation. You can watch a commercial on TV and lose your joy. It’s the easiest thing in the world to lose. And a lot of people in a lot of circumstances are conspiring to rob it from you.

Joy No Matter What

You have a fundamental need for joy in your life. Life without joy is overwhelming, overburdened, and oppressive. Studies have actually shown that the more joy we have in our lives, the more productive we are. I read an article in "US News and World Report" that said that corporations hire "joy consultants" to build up the joy in peoples’ lives so that employees can be more productive. It is true that you have more energy, more creativity, and more productivity when you have joy in your life.