I just wanted to thank everyone who has made this a great year for blogging. Thank you for all of the encouraging comments and input. I am also thankful for many of you who have come up to me at church or in the store and commented on how helpful the blog has been for you. It means a lot. Here is a link on some of the statistical highlights for the year: http://cdyeagerwrites.wordpress.com/2011/annual-report/ . Thanks again for supporting this blog.
Blessings,
Chris Yeager
This is a post from my other blog, Dadvotionals.com, but thought it was good to share on this site as well. Hope you all had a wonderful and memorable Christmas.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. I love the music, the food, the family gatherings, but most of all I love the reason. Christ come in the flesh, a baby born in a quiet town with shepherds in attendance. A young couple following the advice of angels to make a good start to their new family. The humble manger holding the greatest treasure in all of creation.
Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season, but our love for Jesus should not be seasonal. We cannot afford to be fair weather friends to the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the reason in every season of life. He is the reason we can make it through the harsh seasons and the reason we can celebrate the bountiful ones. His faithfulness never fails and we should make every effort to live likewise.
Christmas is a time to celebrate love and family and giving. Let’s remember to keep giving the gift of our love, faith and obedience to God even after the decorations are stowed away and the tree is gone.
Have a blessed Christmas and face the New Year with hope and peace.
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. – James 1:19-20 (NIV)
There is a lot of anger being thrown around today. We see it on our TV screens, we hear it on our radios, we read it in magazines and papers and it seeps into our hearts and minds. In Christian circles we have made excuses that our anger is “righteous,” but it is just that; an excuse. Anger makes us feel powerful; it makes us feel like we are in the right. When we look at the world and others through the lens of wrath, we see too much of what proves our point and are blind to most everything else.
Righteousness is rooted in not getting angry. While James may not have had this in mind, it is clear that the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) are remedies to the angry heart and mind. If we are day by day allowing the Spirit to do His work in our lives, the fruit will be righteous. James tells us three things that helps put us in the Spirit’s hands: listen, be quiet and get a longer fuse. Good advice, but hard to follow in our angry world.
If we want to avoid the anger James is warning us about, we need a quiet place, a quiet heart & mind and a humble attitude. Our days are full of noise and busyness, which can shorten our fuse. If we can find that quiet place, even if it is a closet in our room, it can provide the opportunity to listen for God’s voice. However, the quiet place has to be matched with a quiet heart and mind. It does no good if we spend all of our time in a quiet place making noise about our life and our wants. There is a real need of being still before God. Each day we need to let the quietness of that place sink into our hearts and minds to drive out the angry noise of the world. But that is still just a beginning.
Anger is too easily motivated by pride. To be slow to anger is to be humble. When we consider the needs of others, the hurts and pains that may be at the center of their life, we will have a different attitude toward them. Instead of anger, we may find compassion, love, mercy and grace. Humility is the last place that anger tries to find a home. Humility is the open door for the Spirit to bear fruit in our lives.
Where is your quiet place? When was the last time you felt silence and calm in your heart and mind? How long have you held anger toward someone who may need your love and kindness? Let’s work together to come against the anger of our world with the fruit of the Spirit and the humility of Christ.
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:3-7 (NIV)
I have done and said things in my life that I am not proud of; at all. These acts are proof of my unrighteousness, but they no longer define me. The love of Christ has changed me from sinner to saint, from lost to found, from blind to seeing. The lost blind sinner rears his ugly inclinations from time to time, but his power wanes as the found seeing saint gains strength and wisdom. This is the path of righteousness.
My problem lies in perspective and memory. Instead of being informed by my past through the eyes of grace, I allow it to rule the way I view myself and others. Grace redeems even the errant movements of my past and leads me toward righteousness. When I begin to let my past sins peck away at that grace, my faith flounders and guilt sets in. The righteousness from God overcomes our past and paints our future with hope and promise.
Righteousness does not come from us, but through us from God. A daily understanding of this reality helps keep us humble and dependent before God. This is a good place to be.
Lord, help me to look at my life through the eyes of grace. May a right perspective of my life in You, lead me further into righteousness. Let Your righteousness rule my heart, mind and eyes. Amen.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17 (NIV)
Our culture has slowly moved toward a scientific approach to solve most of our problems. If you can’t observe it, measure it and repeat it then it must not be true. Faith for this culture is more seeing first and then believing, which really isn’t faith at all. On the other hand, there are many sciences that are based in postulations and theories without any observable evidence, and yet unquestioned belief is the accepted norm. Sounds like faith to me.
The Good News is evidence of what we have not seen. I have never seen God face to face. I have never seen the glory of heaven with my naked eyes. I have never watched the forces of good wage war against evil in the spiritual realms like Elisha and his servant. But I believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen to life. I believe this because I have seen and heard the truth in so many ways, they cannot be recounted here. I believe because of the witness that speaks to my heart in ways that science never will. A voice that overcomes my fears, my weaknesses and my doubts to keep me rooted in the truth of God’s will and word.
It is easy to get mixed up about this. We can try to apply science to the Bible or our understanding of the Bible. We can seek more help from psychology than the Wonderful Counselor. We can get fixated on having a system of do’s and don’ts that we can control and twist, creating a customized religion that makes us right all the time. But righteousness comes to us through faith. It is not something we can control or cajole. It is given to us as we give ourselves to Him. Religion is a burden while faith allows us to cast our burdens down and trust God with them.
I used to be concerned about making a “scientific” argument for the validity of scripture. I will leave that to the theologians and experts. I am more concerned with my life being evidence of God’s existence than having arguments about the age of the earth. If that is your calling, pursue it passionately and with integrity, but for me it is a distraction. I want to live a life that reflects the truth I believe. I want the Good News of the Gospel to transform my unrighteousness into righteousness. Every day.
Lord, help me to be faithful. May Your truth define me and transform me. Let Your righteousness rule my heart and mind and be evidence to the world around me that You are God. Amen
