What Would Nicodemus Say?

When Nicodemus comes to Jesus, he was trying to figure Jesus out. Jesus had just cleaned up the temple. He had done some impressive things during Passover. Yet, He was an unknown.

Jesus hadn't studied under a popular rabbi. He wasn't the son of the high priest or a teacher. But even though there was no prized pedigree, He came with power and authority.

Nicodemus told Jesus, “We know you are from God because of what you do.” That is a powerful statement. Have you met people like that? People whose actions and attitudes were so God-like, you knew?

Sometimes we think if we aren't doing anything on the “No No” list, we are okay. But in Jesus day there were many who held to the letter of the law. In fact, Nicodemus was one of them.

It wasn't because Jesus followed all the rules that Nicodemus took notice. It was because He followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He walked in the power of the Spirit. He spent his time loving others, actually meeting their needs, not just talking about it.

If Nicodemus crept into your house this evening, what would he say? Would your actions let him know you are a child of God? Your actions can let people see you are from God. When you let the Holy Spirit guide your life, you can walk in power. People will begin to say, “We know you are from God because of what you do.”

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Would You Sacrifice the White Towel?

The thought came to me one day back when my sons were young. We were playing hop on pop in the living room.  My wife had been washing clothes while we were playing, and I being the wonderful dad that I am gave my children Kool-Aid® - red Kool-Aid®. 

The mothers reading this are already shaking their heads, and with good reason.  My younger son decided to climb up on the sofa to get better hang time as he jumped on me.  Just as he was beginning to jump his little, pudgy feet slipped and his knee hit the large glass he had been drinking out of.

I was able to catch him before any of his bodily parts banged into the wooden table, but I watched in horror as the red drink tumbled almost in slow motion over on its side.  I panicked.  I knew there would be no way to get the red stains out of the carpet.

And then I saw my salvation, a warm, snow white towel that my wife had folded neatly on the sofa.  It was one of our best towels, and it would be ruined.  I hesitated, but only for a moment.  I grabbed the towel and absorbed the red stain before it tumbled over the side of the table.

It made me think of another stain, the stain of sin that was going to ruin humanity, a mess of lives running along a broad path, about to tumble into an eternity of darkness.  And then God took his precious, snow white son, who willingly took the stain upon himself – the sacrifice of love. 

What if instead of a white towel I would have had to sacrifice my own son.  Could I?  Not for a red stain, but for mankind, could I willingly give my son to save the world? 

This is the gift of love that Christmas time is all about.

Jesus or Joshua

I've always loved children, especially young ones. But of all of the wonderful, beautiful children I have known, there was a time when none was as special as my firstborn son, Joshua.  I don’t mean to imply that he is more wonderful than other children, but on the day he was born, for me there were no other children.  That little toothless, chinless, hairless, wrinkled baby boy did something to my heart that no child before him had ever done.

I was captivated by him.  Of course, that fade a little during the sleepless nights that followed, but even today I am still captivated.  Since the day of his birth, other people’s children have taken a different role in my mind.  They just aren't as dear to me as children once were.

When my second son, Andrew, came along, I felt the same thing.  I don’t think these feelings are something I alone feel.  I believe that most parents feel that way about their own children, and so I wonder how Elizabeth felt on the day Mary visited her.

  That night in her own bed did she struggle with the fact that the child in her own womb – a special child, promised by God, pronounced by the angel Gabriel himself – this very special child was not as special as the child that Mary carried.  Could it be that Elizabeth realized someone else’s baby was more important than her own.  I wonder, what would I have done?  How would I have responded? 

Jesus or Joshua, which one would I have chosen? 

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Silent Night...NOT!

Mary was a mother giving birth to her first child,

And Jesus as a newborn, I don’t see him meek and mild.

There were angels in the pasture singing with all their might,

No matter what the song says, it was not a silent night.

It was peace on Earth and goodwill towards men,

But the fact remains there’s no room in the inn.

Everyone and his brother had come back into town,

And I can’t figure how they got them all to settle down.

Angels came to shepherds while there flocks they tried to keep.

The Bible says the men were scared, but what about the sheep?

Hundreds of bleating animals, running streaks of white,

I wonder why they ever thought it was a silent night.

Too many in our world today choose to believe the song,

But God, I’m sure thinks we have been silent for too long.

God came to Earth to save all man on that holy night,

And that’s the song we need to sing, and sing with all our might.

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Wise Men, Shepherd, the Lamb and the King

Wise men and shepherds, they were some of the first to see God’s gift of hope; the shepherds seeing the Lamb of God who would be slain for an undeserving world, and the wise men seeing the King of Kings who has the power over death and hell.  Shepherds and wise men, blessed by God to see hope in the flesh, yet both these groups left the manger and went back to their old lives.  I wonder if it is a coincidence that Jesus chose no shepherd or wise men to be his apostles.

He chose instead, fishermen – Peter, James, John, and Andrew.  He chose those who were willing to leave behind their fathers, boats, and nets to begin a new life.  He chose a tax collector who immediately left his booth to follow Jesus. 

He chose those who wouldn't go back to their old life, but would begin a new one instead.  He’s still looking for followers who will leave behind the old, follow him, and find hope in the unknown path he leads them down.  Jesus is still looking for fishers of men.  He’s still looking for people like Matthew who will leave everything to become men collectors. 

When you bow before the manger, do you leave trusting your wisdom to figure out life’s confounding issues?  Do you leave praising God, but hurrying out to the hillside to take care of the details of life? 

Or, do you bow down and worship the Lamb of God, the King of Kings, swearing allegiance to Him, forsaking the past, and holding to the hope of the future?  And, when you finally get up to leave is it because you need to go out and bring someone else to the Savior?

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The Wise Men

What about the wise men?  I wonder if those wise men were confounded on that day so long ago, that day when they came to worship the newborn King.  Did they wonder why they found this King in such a humble setting?

Were they perplexed over the years when they never heard the news of this baby becoming King?  I wonder if these wise men were confused on the day when news of a man who had been crucified traveled east.  It was said that above his head when he died, hung a simple sign that read, “King of the Jews.”

When I think about the wise men, it’s hard not to have the phrase, “Wise men still seek Him” run through my head.  It seems that every year I hear or see the phrase somewhere, but is it true?  Recently there’s been a push in ministries across the country to develop “seeker ministries.”  These ministries design services to speak to the needs of and answer the questions of the seeker. 

“What is a seeker,” you may ask?  From my vast studies on the subject, I’ve found that a seeker is someone who is seeking.  Pretty deep, huh, but that about sums it up.  They are seeking – happiness, fulfillment, comfort, answers, and yes, ultimately God. 

But, do they really know they are seeking Him?  No. That is what the ministries are designed to help them realize.  Do wise men really seek him?  I think Jesus said it best in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”

What I think is interesting is that not only do wise men not seek God, but wise men have to become unwise to even understand God’s call.  Wise men seek to find answers on their own wisdom.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is death.”  God confounds the wise men of this earth and they go on their way. 

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The Shepherds

I find it interesting, that two of the most well known shepherds in all of history come from the same area of the world, Bethlehem, the City of David. David was for sure one of the most popular shepherds – the shepherd boy who grew to become a giant killer, king of a nation, and friend of God.  And then, two thousand years later, God would send his angels down to those same hills that David roamed to sing the good news to shepherds there.

I’m sure the life of a shepherd could be quite boring at times.  Just sitting on a hard rock or leaning with our back up against the rough bark of a tree watching a herd of sheep munch grass.  It had its occasional bouts of excitement when a wolf or lion tried to steal a sheep, or when there was a search and rescue mission for a lost little lamb, but I don’t think it could have ever been very exciting – until that night, the night when God’s angels burst through the darkened sky to declare the good news. 

I’ll bet they talked about it until the day they died.  I’m sure their children and grandchildren who sat out on those same rocks dreamed about something like that happening to them.  It must have been exciting.  They knew they were really part of something big, but could they comprehend just how big?

The Bible says they went and saw Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, and then went back to their sheep praising God and thanking him for letting them see all of it – for it had been just as the angels had told them.  They were excited.  They had seen the baby Jesus, the Lamb of the world, but did they see the eternal Savior?  Did they see in that manger God’s plan for man’s redemption?  

Or, was it years later when they stood among a crowd of people trying to hear what the man was saying; the man some were calling the Messiah, that their minds went back in time.  “Could it be the baby from so long ago?”  Did his eyes meet theirs when he said, “I am the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep”?  I wonder if maybe on that particular day the shepherds heard, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.  I am your Shepherd, your Savior.”  Did they hear the angels singing again that day, the day they bowed down to the little Lamb who had become their Shepherd?

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