17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls--
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Jesus taught in John 16 that we can have good cheer even in the midst of tribulation. This is not an invitation to denial or developing a flippant, party-hardy attitude toward our struggles. But, God does desire that we view our adversity in light of His abundance, to endure our trials in light of His goodness. Even though we may encounter challenges in our lives, we know God walks with us, and He is there to sustain and teach us through our difficult times. The message of Christmas is that a glorious Savior has come!
There is a passage in 2nd Corinthians 4 that can challenge us to keep our focus on what is truly important:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Christmas has come and gone for another year. How was it for you?
There is certainly a elevated amount of anticipation leading up to that special day, but I have a hunch for many, the greatest of expectations may have not been met...
Like those that wanted a hoverboard for Christmas - certainly a "hot" new gift, but with a meaning that some could not have foreseen. Earlier this month, the TODAY Show website reported this:
Then, there were those who faced weather catastrophes on Christmas Day. Take, for instance, the pastor of Birmingham's church, who feared the worst, and indeed, his church building was damaged by what was believed to be a tornado on Friday night. Pastor Edward Rodgers, Sr. of Hopewell Baptist Church in west Jefferson county, is quoted on the Birmingham Business Journal website as saying that the roof on one side of the sanctuary caved in, the roof of the fellowship hall caved in and windows in the sanctuary were blown out. Additionally, he said a good portion of the vinyl siding part of the building was pulled off.
Rodgers said members of the church have been trying to get generators out to people's homes, and the Red Cross also showed up with disaster relief, bringing food and other supplies. He said, "This was the place to go for a tragedy to take place," adding, "It's Christmas and it's hard to get a spot right now. It was a miracle no lives were lost and things can be replaced – that is the miracle."
Other residents throughout the South faced tornadoes, severe storms, and flooding. I, like some in the River Region, was part of a candlelight service in a location that had some natural light, in the form of lightning, that had passed through the area around the time of the event.
And, I would imagine there are some that find that Christmas Day is the most anticlimactic of days - after weeks of buildup, the packages were suddenly unwrapped, then the food consumed, the family and friends come and gone, and perhaps Friday night at 8:00, you might have been left to wonder whatever became of Christmas...
Jill Carattini writes on the A Slice of Infinity blog at the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries website:
Carattini continues:
A Savior has come - he has come to meet the need of the human heart.
Where there is longing that we cannot describe, He can penetrate our consciousness and give us the peace we so desperately seek. Even though we crave the imagined solace of temporary things and imperfect relationships, He comes to bring the lasting realization that someone loves us unconditionally and calls us into a relationship that transcends the earthly and transports us into the heavenly.
So today, we can believe that Christ calls us to look beyond - to enjoy the temporary but to truly rejoice in the eternal. In Him, we can have hope of better days ahead and to know that when things don't necessarily get better or even get worse, we have someone who walks with us and enables us to experience His power and presence. Christmas may have been tragic or tumultous for many, but in adversity, people can continue to behold Christ.
+++++
There is a passage in 2nd Corinthians 4 that can challenge us to keep our focus on what is truly important:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Christmas has come and gone for another year. How was it for you?
There is certainly a elevated amount of anticipation leading up to that special day, but I have a hunch for many, the greatest of expectations may have not been met...
Like those that wanted a hoverboard for Christmas - certainly a "hot" new gift, but with a meaning that some could not have foreseen. Earlier this month, the TODAY Show website reported this:
Concerns over hoverboards catching fire have made one of this year's most popular Christmas gifts too hot for Amazon.
As first noted by Best Reviews, the company has pulled nearly all of the brands of hoverboards from its site as federal regulators investigate reports of them exploding into flames.
There have been 11 reports in 10 states of the self-balancing electric scooters bursting into flames received by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, spokesman Scott Wolfson told TODAY on Monday. The CPSC is currently conducting an investigation.Or those who ordered gifts to be delivered by a speedy service that didn't quite get those presents to the desired locations by Christmas Eve, hearkening back to a similar situation 2 years ago which apparently primarily involved another carrier. FoxNews.com reported that FedEx said Thursday it was operating with only slight delays and making operational changes due to the bad weather. A spokesperson said Friday that Express employees had volunteered to work extra shifts Christmas Day to help satisfy customers’ needs. Fox reported that many angry customers vented their frustration over the late deliveries on Twitter, using the hashtag #FedExFail.
Then, there were those who faced weather catastrophes on Christmas Day. Take, for instance, the pastor of Birmingham's church, who feared the worst, and indeed, his church building was damaged by what was believed to be a tornado on Friday night. Pastor Edward Rodgers, Sr. of Hopewell Baptist Church in west Jefferson county, is quoted on the Birmingham Business Journal website as saying that the roof on one side of the sanctuary caved in, the roof of the fellowship hall caved in and windows in the sanctuary were blown out. Additionally, he said a good portion of the vinyl siding part of the building was pulled off.
Rodgers said members of the church have been trying to get generators out to people's homes, and the Red Cross also showed up with disaster relief, bringing food and other supplies. He said, "This was the place to go for a tragedy to take place," adding, "It's Christmas and it's hard to get a spot right now. It was a miracle no lives were lost and things can be replaced – that is the miracle."
Other residents throughout the South faced tornadoes, severe storms, and flooding. I, like some in the River Region, was part of a candlelight service in a location that had some natural light, in the form of lightning, that had passed through the area around the time of the event.
And, I would imagine there are some that find that Christmas Day is the most anticlimactic of days - after weeks of buildup, the packages were suddenly unwrapped, then the food consumed, the family and friends come and gone, and perhaps Friday night at 8:00, you might have been left to wonder whatever became of Christmas...
Jill Carattini writes on the A Slice of Infinity blog at the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries website:
Each year the commencement of the Christmas shopping season overshadows the commencement of a far quieter season. The season of Advent signals the coming of Christmas for Christians, though not in the way that Black Friday signals the coming of the same. “Advent is about the spirituality of emptiness,” writes Joan Chittister, “of enough-ness, of stripped-down fullness of soul.” It is a far cry from the hustle of the holidays that is a race for storing things up. Speed-hoarding through the days of Christmas preparation, Christmas itself even becomes somewhat anticlimactic. “Long before December 25th everyone is worn out,” said C.S. Lewis more than fifty years ago, “physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making… They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.”That is a quote from "God in the Dock" by Lewis.
Carattini continues:
Quite the opposite, Advent is a season meant to slow us down, to open windows of awareness and health, to trigger consciousness. It is about finding the kind of quiet mystery and the sort of expectant emptiness that can offer a place for the fullness of God as an infant among us.The temporary trappings of Christmas are disappearing, and perhaps you've experienced the unmet expectations - but the temporary unfulfillment can be exceeded by the eternal satisfaction of knowing the true message of Christmas. Christmas Day is a once-a-year event, or even an anti-climax, but Advent is a rich and powerful statement of the coming of a Savior, who always exceeds our expectations.
A Savior has come - he has come to meet the need of the human heart.
Where there is longing that we cannot describe, He can penetrate our consciousness and give us the peace we so desperately seek. Even though we crave the imagined solace of temporary things and imperfect relationships, He comes to bring the lasting realization that someone loves us unconditionally and calls us into a relationship that transcends the earthly and transports us into the heavenly.
So today, we can believe that Christ calls us to look beyond - to enjoy the temporary but to truly rejoice in the eternal. In Him, we can have hope of better days ahead and to know that when things don't necessarily get better or even get worse, we have someone who walks with us and enables us to experience His power and presence. Christmas may have been tragic or tumultous for many, but in adversity, people can continue to behold Christ.
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