Honestly, what do we really need? What can’t we do without? I want to engage your imagination and I hope doing that will illustrate the point I’m trying to make…

Imagine you’re in a burning building…what would you save? Let me add an element to this. Imagine you are in a burning building and you had to make a choice between someone’s life and Rembrandt’s “Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo” worth $32 million, what would you save? No question, we’d choose the person’s life every time.

The reason? I believe we ultimately value people above possessions. The problem? We have a tendency to value lesser things in everyday life when the choices we make are not life and death. We don’t think we’re sacrificing our family over stuff when we choose to overspend. It just doesn’t register in our minds that we’re doing anybody any harm when we bow to the altar of “more.” But the truth is we are doing great harm to our relationships every time we do this.

I love what Joseph did when he was warned that his new baby was in danger. At this point in the Christmas story Jesus is a toddler, and King Herod is looking for this revolutionary with a pacifier, hard on the heels of the would-be king of the Jews in a diaper. An angel comes to Joseph and tells him to get out of town. The Bible records this young father’s response:

            And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt. (Matthew 2:14)

He got out of Dodge. Why? Joseph did this because he knew that little baby meant a whole lot more than his security in Bethlehem. And remember, Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown. He was comfortable with his familiar surroundings, but his family was more important than his comfort. He made a decision to get them out of danger.

Are we not putting our lives in danger when we give into the Empire of Greed? Are we not teaching our children and friends that their soul can only find satisfaction with things when we dive into the pool of hyper consumption? This is something with which we all must wrestle. I just want to encourage each of us to shift our focus at least a little. When it comes time to spend and give, and there is great joy in giving and receiving, think along the lines of how that gift is going to build your relationship. With some creative thinking I believe we will begin to walk away from the danger of overspending this Christmas.

Grace & Peace,

Got a question for you: “Have you been doing Advent?” By that I simply mean have you been able to focus time and energy on the true meaning of the coming of Jesus? Before the stores and parties and concerts and gathers highjack our time I think it’s necessary for us to reflect on what the Advent of Jesus means.

Celebrating the coming of Jesus cannot become just another opportunity to spend money, go to parties, and have a Christmas musical. Let me be clear: I’m not against any of the festivities and traditions of Christmas, but I don’t want the true meaning of Christmas to be completely ignored either.

Jesus came into this world on purpose; God gave us the gift of His Son for a reason. Throughout Scripture we find that purpose laid out. This week I’d like to draw our attention to one of those Scriptures and unwrap at least part of the reason Jesus came.

            You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (1 John 3:5)

            …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

And there you have it – in part at least. Jesus came (“appeared”) to deal with sin.

Sin is what destroyed the beautiful relationship God intended for us to have with Him. Sin is debilitating relationally. God has always known that we would be powerless to change our human condition no matter how hard we try. Amazingly He was not satisfied to leave us in that sinful condition.

God in His wisdom and mercy acted by giving His Son to remove (“take away”) sin. It is through believing and trusting that Jesus came, lived a sinless life, was publicly executed on a cross, rose from the dead, and is coming back that we will receive forgiveness and relational rightness with God.

Jesus effectively dealt with the problem of sin by destroying it. The only way sin could be removed from our lives and the works of Satan destroyed was by Jesus facing them head on at the cross. The cross makes a difference in our lives that will last for eternity.

Jesus was born for this battle. His purpose was to go to war against sin and the devil. Ultimately that cosmic fight took place at Calvary. The good news is that Jesus won!

And so, part of our reflection during Advent season is to remember that it is about a child who came to save us in a battle we couldn’t win, but He could. In a sense, those first cries 2000 years ago from the Village of Bethlehem were battle cries declared against sin and the devil.

Grace & Peace,