40 Days of Lint, Day Six: Sprouting from Dry Ground

As a gardener, it always amazes me when I see weeds, even trees, growing from cracks in the sidewalk or breaking through solid rock. Why is it that what I plant on purpose has to be coaxed into existence, while these rebel plants thrive in the least likely spots? They are tenacious for life, willing to fight impossible odds, flourishing in the most inhospitable environment. They don’t care if anybody wants them there, or if anyone makes bouquets from their flowers. They laugh at our efforts to kill them. No matter how many times we pull or spray these plants, they keep coming back.

Just last weekend, my husband, stepdaughter, and I spent over an hour trying to uproot a stump growing next to our fence. It was growing in the exact spot we needed to put a new post. The old post came loose as well as several large chunks of cement. And we managed to hack the trunk into three pieces, but it still wouldn’t pry from the ground. It wasn’t until my husband attached a chain to his truck that he was able to pull the roots from the ground. Kourtnie and I watched in amazement as each piece emerged from the ground followed by a 10-12 foot root!

These renegades have two things in common – an original seed and deep roots. Somewhere back in time, a seed was dropped and it grew. It developed a strong base. Every effort to cut it down or dig it up failed, because far below the surface the root drank from hidden sources of water.

Many people view Jesus, as an ugly, unwelcome weed. Yet when they tried to destroy Him on the cross, He made a comeback. No matter how people try to erase Him from our society today - our government, our schools, our literature - He just keeps coming back. He is the original seed of God and He is rooted in eternity:

"Just watch my servant blossom!
Exalted, tall, head and shoulders above the crowd!
But he didn't begin that way.
At first everyone was appalled.
He didn't even look human—
a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.
Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback,
kings shocked into silence when they see him.
For what was unheard of they'll see with their own eyes,
what was unthinkable they'll have right before them.”
Who believes what we've heard and seen?
Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
Isaiah 52:13-53:2, Message

Jesus grew up in a world parched for salvation, and they chopped Him down. He rose to prove His victory over sin and death. Many believed in Him then and now. However, our world continues to see Him as an intruder; they attempt to dispose of Christ and His seed everywhere. They cultivate other plants that do not have the audacity to point out their sin and need for a Savior.

Soon, so soon I can feel it in the air I breathe, Jesus will return for those who love Him. He will not appear as an ugly weed or a scraggly plant struggling to rise from the desert floor. This time He will show himself for who He really is – the Rose, The Vine, The Branch. King Jesus. This tenacious seed of God, was cut down by our sin, but He rose from the dead and will come again in victory.

Lint Removed: Viewing Christ as a Weed
Cleaning Process: Seeing Jesus as the True Vine

40 Days of Lint, Day Five: When the Brook Dries Up

Have you ever felt like God’s favorite child? Others around you experience broken hearts, financial difficulties, health problems, trials of faith, and job loss. Yet, you seem to be doing great. Maybe you wonder why everything’s going so well; even feel guilty about your comfort in the midst of other’s pain. Perhaps you assume God is blessing you for your faithfulness to Him. Then suddenly, the brook dries up and you move into a season of famine and questioning. That’s what happened to Elijah.

“The word of the LORD came to Elijah: ‘Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.’
"So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
"Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.’ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’
"She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:2-9, 15-16).

It would have been easy for God to keep sending raven care packages to Elijah. He could have kept the stream flowing, even though there was drought everywhere else. But if He had done that, both Elijah and the widow would have missed out on God’s better plan. By sending him to the widow, God revealed himself as the one true God to a hopeless and dying woman. He also provided a dear and lifelong friend for Elijah. None of that would have happened if he had stayed by the brook.

 For the last two years, Kelly and I have enjoyed wonderful blessings and peace by God’s brook, but now we’re experiencing a time of drought like never before. Our tendency is to ask, “What have we done wrong? Don’t you love us anymore?” But I cling to the knowledge that God sees what we cannot see from our perspective. He knows our need for growth and whose lives we need to touch.

 If your brook has dried up and you’re mourning the easy life you once enjoyed, God may be changing your situation for reasons you haven’t yet realized. Maybe there’s someone out there dying of starvation that needs to hear about God. Sharing Him in your own time of need is a miracle that can’t be done by the brook. Or, perhaps you need more than just physical comfort right now; it could be that God knows you need someone besides ravens to talk to - a friend beyond the brook. Whatever His reasons, let us trust our kind and loving Father to bring about His perfect good in all situations.

Lint Removed: Comfort
Cleaning Process: Sharing With Others

40 Days of Lint, Day Four: Walking on Dry Ground

We all face situations where it seems like no matter what you choose, it’s not going to turn out well. We refer to them as:

·         impossible odds

·         between a rock and a hard place

·         up against the wall

I’ve been there, haven’t you? Parenting is riddled with decisions like that. If you train and discipline your children they don’t always appreciate it, and can make life miserable. But if you take the easy road and let them have what they want, they grow up spoiled and nasty, and they make your life miserable. See what I mean?

When God rescued the Israelites from their Egyptian slave masters, He took them into the desert toward the Promised Land. They immediately encountered an impossible situation. The Egyptians realized that without their Israelite slaves, they would have to do all their own work. So they jumped on their chariots to bring them back by force. Directly in front of the Israelites loomed the Red Sea. Let’s see…angry army on one side, uncross-able sea on the other. Hmm, not a good situation. But God opened an escape route:

“Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:21-22).

An estimated 3.5 million Israelites and all their herds calmly walked (well, maybe hurried) across a dry sea bed. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, the waters closed in on them. For the next forty years God did miracle after miracle to demonstrate His love and teach His people. But when they reached the Promised Land they panicked. “How will we ever get across the Jordan River? It’s too big!” Once again, God made a path.

“Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away... while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground” (Joshua 3:15-17).

Notice that both times, someone had to make a move of faith before God opened the way. The first time, Moses held his staff over the water. That took guts. How stupid would you feel holding a stick over the water in front of everyone if nothing happened? The second time God told the priests to lead the way. They actually had to pick up the heavy ark and walk into the water before it stopped flowing.

It seems like an oxymoron to fear drowning in a desert, but in reality it happens to us all the time. When we choose to follow God we will encounter impossible barriers. We will face the temptation to go back to the slavery of our old way of life, or to stay just this side of the Promised Land. We’re in the desert; we’re parched and aching to rest, and yet we consider staying there because it’s familiar. It’s only when we overcome our fear of drowning in the unknown, and step out in obedience, that miracles happen. That’s when God makes a way through the sea.

Lint Removed: Fear of Drowning

Cleaning Process: Make the Move of Faith

40 Days of Lint, Day Three: A Dry Fleece

Have you ever been given a job for which you felt unqualified? There have been several times throughout my life when I’ve been surprised by an offer I couldn’t refuse. The first came right out of college, when an editor/friend asked me to write a book of plays. Several years later, when I was in my twenties, our pastor asked if I would consider starting a Women’s Ministries program at church. The summer after my oldest daughter finished first grade, she began begging me to homeschool. Years later, after volunteering some with missionaries in the Philippines, I received an invitation to teach an international writer’s conference there.

Just this last year, God has led my husband and I to open a halfway house for men in our city. Neither one of us have ever had any aspirations to do such a thing! But time after time He has confirmed His plan and opened doors.

To each of these requests, my initial response was, “Who me? You’ve got to be kidding! I don’t know how to do that. I’m not smart enough or experienced enough.” Every time, I’ve prayed, asked a lot of questions, and lay my ‘fleeces’ out before the Lord to see if it was really me He wanted. Each time, God confirmed the call and enabled me to carry out His plan. I really relate to Gideon’s story.

Secretly threshing wheat in a winepress so the Midianite raiders couldn’t steal the grain, he was just minding his own business when an angel showed up. “You’re God’s man of the hour,” he said. “He’s going to use you to defeat the Midians.” Gideon thought he must have heard wrong.

“Who me?” I’m a nobody - the runt of my family from the smallest clan in Israel. You’ve got to be kidding!” But God wasn’t. Gideon needed a little encouragement though before he was ready to charge into battle.

“‘If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.’ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.’ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew” (Judges 6:36-40).

Why would God choose someone with such obvious insecurities? Even though the odds were already against them, God told Gideon to downsize his army from 32,000 to 300 men and go to war with only jars, torches, and trumpets. There was no way 300 men could defeat thousands of well trained, well armed soldiers. His reasoning? So Israel couldn’t boast they had saved themselves through their own strength (Judges 7:2).

It’s the same today. The strongest, most capable person without God is nothing, but the smallest, clumsiest, least educated person with God, is sure to win. So even when we’re feeling dried up and unprepared to do the job, God has a plan. He can use us if we’re willing to let go of our insecurities and let Him do the work through us.

Lint Removed: Insecurity

Cleaning Process: Answer God’s Call to Action

40 Days of Lint, Day Two: In the Desert

In grade school I learned the difference between the word ‘desert’ and ‘dessert.’ “The way you can tell which one has two S’s,” my teacher said, “is that you always want more dessert, but you never want more time in a hot, dry desert.” Trials and suffering are desert times; we wish there was less pain, and more water, more palm trees and dates, and more time to chill at the oasis. Trouble comes to us all though, regardless of whether we’re believers or not. The difference is God’s people know where to go for relief.

King David knew how to do that. I’ve had my heartaches, but I can’t say anyone’s hurled a spear at me lately when I tried to soothe them with praise songs. No one’s brought their army into the wilderness to hunt me down and kill me. No one’s thrown rocks at me and cursed me to my face. My friends at church don’t openly ridicule me or celebrate when I get sick. And none of my children have taken possession of the house and kicked me out. But all of this, and more, happened to David. How did he survive? He talked to God about everything.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

Life is hard sometimes. The desert can be a miserable and lonely place to be. You head for a green oasis for some cool, refreshing water and end up getting a mouth full of dryer lint instead. Because what you saw was a mirage, there was really nothing there to quench your thirst. But if you express your thirst to God, He will satisfy your longing and get you to the other side of whatever desert you’re in.

Throughout Psalm 63, David provides the map to the Oasis: earnestly seek God; keep going to church and see God for who He is; praise Him in the desert; sing songs to God at night; and hold on tight to the Source of living water.

Lint Removed: Desert Thirst

Cleaning Process: Seek, Worship, Praise, Sing, Cling

40 Days of Lint, Day One, Part One: In the Dryer (Spiritual Dryness)

Day One: Dry Bones Brought to Life
Death comes in many forms. Relationships die for lack of commitment, dreams fall by the wayside, opportunities pass, and ministries breathe their last without sufficient workers or enthusiasm. Some things die naturally when they have served their purpose. Forcing them to continue only prolongs the agony, like pumping oxygen through a corpse. But many deaths are needless, painful, agonizing, and full of foreboding. How can anybody come back to life after experiencing a loss like that? Only God knows.

I’ve experienced both kinds of death. I’ve been active in programs which served their purpose and died a natural death. I’ve had dreams that God allowed to die gradually so He could bring His perfect plan instead. However, I’ve also experienced other deaths that paralyzed my spirit. Only God can breathe new life into a soul devoid of life.

Ezekiel was a prophet to Israel whose people were spiritually dead; there seemed to be no hope for a comeback. But God showed him there would be a future resurrection. He took Ezekiel to look over a valley full of bones to demonstrate His power over death:

“…he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’
I said, ‘Sovereign LORD, you alone know.’
Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, “Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD’” (Ezekiel 37:1-6).

Are you feeling soul-dead because of sin, addiction, or neglect? You may believe there’s no way you’re ever going to live again. Only the Sovereign Lord knows what is possible, and He says, “Yes!” He has the power to put us back together, cover us with skin, and breathe life into our dead spirits. He tells us to speak the words of faith to what is now dead – “Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!” What a perfect way to begin the Easter season: with a personal resurrection, an infilling with the breath of God! You can come back to life and walk with Him, even in the valley of death. Speak the Word in faith and watch your soul rise up.

Lint Removed: Spiritual Death
Cleaning Process: Hear the Word of the Lord

40 Days of Lint: A Unique Twist on Preparing Your Heart for Easter

The season of Lent begins 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays). It’s a time to fast, repent, and focus our hearts on Jesus’ life and sacrifice in anticipation of The Big Day. The resurrection is all-important in the life of a Christian. Without it our faith would mean nothing. Even though our church doesn’t officially practice Lent, Kelly and I have decided to fast from dessert for the forty days. We want to respond in some way to Jesus’ lavish gift of love. Others fast from television, texting, coffee, and even the comfort of sleeping on their bed at night (opting for the floor) during Lent.
It begins this year on Wednesday, March 9th (Ash Wednesday) and ends on Saturday, April 23rd (the day before Easter). Sundays are considered mini-Easters when we are free to break from our commitment in celebration of the coming victory.

Just for fun, I want to offer daily readings on my blog during the 40 days with a little house cleaning in mind. It's not a typo; I really mean Lint. Annoying, ever-present lint may seem like a stretch from repentance and self-denial. And yet, being a dyed in the wool punster (blame it on my crazy family) I couldn’t resist the idea of exploring the parallels between physical and spiritual lint.

Lint is that collection of dust and material fibers that seem to get everywhere. Even though we diligently clean it from our dryers, pockets, and bellybuttons, it always seems to be back again the next time we turn around. Many people fast during Lent to clear their minds and hearts of selfishness and distraction. We ask God to sweep sin from our hearts to make way for worship and praise to our risen Savior Jesus Christ. So there are many similarities.

We get rid of lint for several reasons. It looks untidy; we de-lint to look presentable to others. Lint can also clog things up, so we regularly clean it from our dryers, vacuums, and equipment so they will run properly. Last of all, lint is a form of dirt, so we vacuum and scrub to keep sickness at bay and vermin from making themselves at home. We clear away spiritual lint for the same reasons: an attractive testimony, to remove anything that hinders our walk, and personal purity before God.

So I hope you’ll join me here for the next 40 days of Lent season for a new twist on an old tradition. I want to be clean and ready for the best Easter ever! Won’t you prepare your heart with me through a search and destroy mission for these five kinds of lint?

• Lint In the Dryer (Spiritual Dryness)
• Bellybutton Lint (At the Center of Things)
• Pocket Lint (What is Hidden)
• Clothing Lint (Appearances) and where would Easter be without
• Dust Bunnies (Deep Cleaning)

I’ll see you here tomorrow for day one of The 40 Days of Lint!

Beth Vice, (c) 2011

Fighting Discouragement

Every year about this time I fight an after-Christmas slump. The days are dark and chilly. There’s usually a cold or flu epidemic going around, and I get the incredible urge to curl up on the couch in a thick blanket and hibernate until spring. This year it’s been even worse.
We’ve had an onslaught from every corner, it seems. Finances have been precarious, I’ve suffered through pain and surgery, we’re braving kid and computer issues, plus glorious menopause. To top it off, my husband’s work trailer was robbed a couple of weeks ago. Tools he has collected for over thirty years in construction vanished into the night. More than anything, though, what has dragged me down is the haunting suspicion that I’m not really doing any good, that I’m flawed and insignificant.

Do you ever feel that way? So many reasons to rejoice, yet wrestling against despair that threatens to suck you down? If you do, don’t beat yourself up. You’ll be glad to know you’re not alone. Suffering occasional blues or even depression is nothing new – even for God-followers. And God knows exactly how to encourage people like us.

Elijah was a powerful prophet, miracle worker, preacher, and prayer warrior, but he had his moments too. His greatest downer immediately followed his greatest win. He triumphed in a “my God’s bigger than your God” demonstration against 450 prophets of Baal, then prayed the prayer that ended a three-and-a-half year drought. However, Elijah sank into despair. One threat from the queen sent him running into the desert with a death wish. Elijah “went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors’ ” (1 Kings 19:4).

I love the triumph and excitement of what God did through just one man in first Kings eighteen. But I think I like chapter nineteen even more, because I occasionally find myself under the broom bush. God has cared for me there, just as He did Elijah, and He’ll do the same for you.

Physical Refreshment

God didn’t chew Elijah out for being down on himself. No, the first thing He did was let him take a nap and sent an angel with food and water (1 Kings 19:5-8). Actually, it must have been angel cake, because empowered by this meal, Elijah traveled forty days and forty nights. That’s some energy food!

I’ve heard it said that sometimes the holiest thing we can do is take a nap. Why am I so reluctant to rest when I’m feeling down? Another helpful tip I’ve heard is the acronym H.A.L.T. Stop and ask yourself if you’re feeling out of sorts because you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. Then take care of that need, before you try to do anything else. Our bodies and emotions are intricately connected, so when our emotions get out of whack, the first place to check is diet, exercise, and rest.

A Chance to Vent

The second thing God did for His despairing child is let him vent his frustrations. He already knew exactly what the problem and solution were, but Elijah needed to get it out of his system. So God gave him an opening, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10).

That’s prayer - laying it out before God. Yes, I know worship and praise and thanksgiving are necessary parts of the mix. But you have to admit, when you’re really upset about something, a lot more venting goes on before you make it to praise and worship. God understands that. Once we’ve talked it out, we’re in a better place to listen.

An Awesome Display and a Gentle Whisper

Next, God reminded Elijah who He is. He told Elijah to stand in a safe spot. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:11-12).

There’s nothing like an earthquake, hurricane, and raging fire to make you feel small and attentive. That’s just exactly where God wants us; that’s when we’re ready to listen. When we’re in a place of quiet humility, He doesn’t have to yell to be heard. All He has to do is whisper.

Direction and Help

Finally, when Elijah is focused on God’s magnificent power and sovereignty instead of his own frailty, God asks him to explain his problem again. Elijah says he’s discouraged because he’s the only God-follower left and now they’re after him too. God encourages him with the names of three specific men He has prepared to join Elijah in the work: Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. Then He tosses out a tidbit of information that must have both elated and embarrassed Elijah, “Actually, I still have seven thousand faithful followers in Israel” (paraphrase and emphasis mine). After these assurances that he’s not alone, God tells him to go to it.

I’ve been there, when I thought I was the only one doing the work, and nobody wanted me around. Along the way God has revealed others with a heart for Him, who are ready for active duty. He has also, I think with a bit of a smirk, let me know there are plenty of others who still love Him and refuse to give in to the enemy.

I hope Elijah’s story encourages you like it does me. Whenever dark clouds close in again, I re-read these chapters from First Kings. Elijah was a real life hero who sometimes stumbled just like us, but God didn’t give up on him. He won’t give up on us either. The key is to take our discouragement to God like Elijah did, so He can build us up again. When we’re ready, He’ll send us back into the fray with renewed vigor.

Beth Vice (c) 2011

New Year, New Skin

Have you ever stopped to think how amazing snakes and crabs and other such creatures are? God has given them the incredible ability to shed their old skin or shell and grow new ones. It gives them room to move and function as they should. It’s not something they have any control over; it just happens.

Like them, our physical skin sheds constantly and grows to accommodate our increasing size without any effort on our part. Spiritually, however, we can choose to keep our old shell; live in our old skin. But it tends to cause problems, especially when it comes to being a vessel God can fill and use.

Jesus wants to give us new skin to hold the blessings He pours out. Three of the four gospels present Jesus’ parable of the wineskins. That alone shows this is an important teaching. Jesus said: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:16-17). In other words, old and new don’t mix because the old loses elasticity. Mark records the same thing in chapter two, verses twenty and twenty-one. Luke contains this additional sentence, “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5:39).

Even then people said, “We like our old stuff just fine, thank you very much. We’ve always done it this way and we’re comfortable.” Oh yes, there are times when we realize we have some gaping holes in our life that need patching and moments when we thirst for the wine of truth. But when we try to try to combine the new with the old it doesn’t work. So we go back to our old ways. We like the flavor of the old because we’ve developed a taste for rotten fruit. We continually go back, even when we know it’s the cause of our guilt and pain.

Since it’s a new year, I’ve been thinking a lot about the person I want to be in 2011. I’ve noticed that even though I daily drink in the pure wine of His Word, I still have trouble holding what God gives me. For example, why is it that after all these years of walking with Jesus that my words still do so much damage? It’s my old skin. It taints the purity of His wine, or worse, won’t expand to hold God’s message and blows up in my face. The old skin of humanity affects my perception, interpretation, and application of God’s truth.

I obviously need Jesus to give me some skin. I need the new skin of Perception. I want to see things from His perspective instead of my own limited vision. I need the new skin of Interpretation. His ways are not like our ways. I need to interpret what I see, hear, and experience according to His will, rather than my desire for momentary comfort. And finally, I need the new skin of Application. Understanding doesn’t mean anything unless I put it into practice. The new wine Jesus gives is not for me alone, but to pour through me to a thirsty world.

I’ve heard that snakes and crabs are anxious to shed their old skin or shell when it gets too small. I’ve also heard that they’re vulnerable while the new skin is growing. There’s a risk involved. What about you? Are you willing to risk being vulnerable in order to grow, in order to contain what God has for you? Do you want new skin this New Year?

Beth Vice, (c) 2011

Don't Forget Jesus!

I imagine your home is decorated for Christmas by now. Twinkling lights, candles, a tree, and nativity sets of all shapes and sizes. Imagine if you forgot to put the figure of Jesus in the manger. What a ridiculous picture - Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and wise men – gazing adoringly, worshipfully… at an empty space in the crèche. I was recently awakened to how easily this can happen.

Our Christmas cantata was last week and I had a short solo in one of the songs. The line I was supposed to sing was, “Born to be Messiah; God’s only begotten Son.” Somehow, however, at dress rehearsal I belted out, “Born to be Messiah; God’s only forgotten Son.” Even though no one seemed to notice, I turned three shades of red. And I realized how easy it is to forget Jesus at Christmas.

This has been our tendency since sin entered the world. We get so wrapped up in ourselves we forget the giver of all good gifts. God’s anguish comes through when He said, “Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number” (Jeremiah 2:32). A seasonal translation might say, “Do my people forget to exchange presents or buy Christmas trees to decorate their homes? Yet my people have forgotten me, the reason for Christmas, years without number.”

I examined six areas of my own life where I tend to struggle. I pray God will use my thoughts to help you remember the Messiah at Christmas this year.

Entertainment:
Kelly and I love to snuggle on the couch and watch movies. But we’ve been disgusted at many of the “Holiday” presentations this year. They have nothing to do with the reason for the season! They're either humanistic sentiment or blatantly anti-Christian. We rejoice in movies that lift up changed lives, sacrificial giving, and hope. It's easy it is to forget Jesus if we spend our leisure time on stories that muddy and distort God’s message.

Schedule:
Christmas is such a busy time. We have parties to attend, shopping to do, family to see. Meaningful time with the Savior gets squeezed out of the equation. I am exhausted at the end of every day! Yet without Jesus, the season is meaningless. The time I spend reading the Bible every morning and responding to what God is saying to me is the best part of every day. I couldn’t live without it. If God hasn't been a vital part of your Christmas schedule, start now!

Decorating:
I love to decorate our house for Christmas. We were late getting started this year and I pushed hard to transform the house while Kelly was at work. Just before he arrived, I lit candles and put on Christmas music. He stopped just inside the door. “It’s beautiful! he said. “It’s like entering another world. Outside it’s hustle and bustle, but it feels peaceful in here.” Then he started counting: “One, two, three…four nativities in the living room! Hmm, are you trying to make a point?” he laughed.

I guess it’s true. There are stockings and a few Santa ornaments on the tree, but they’re way outnumbered by the manger scenes and Jesus stuff. Yet, it’s still a challenge to remember Jesus and not get carried away trying to create a magazine perfect showcase.

Shopping:
Then there’s shopping. Buying gifts for each other, five kids, two sons-in-law, a boyfriend, two sets of parents, three sisters, three nieces and a nephew (not to mention an adorable first grand-daughter), can easily take over. It’s tempting to spend more than last year, making it better and more impressive, and give in to the shopping frenzy. I have forgotten Jesus at times as I make my lists and check them twice. It helps me to ask myself two questions: what’s my motivation? what's my limit?

Circumstances:
Many of you are experiencing financial disaster, lingering illness or injury, the heartbreak of divorce or rejection, or an addiction that’s sucking you dry. The year my husband of twenty years moved out just before the holidays, and for several years after our divorce, Christmas cheer stuck in my throat. But even in immobilizing pain, I realized the message of Jesus is not obliterated by our suffering, it's enhanced by it. He is God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16). He came to give us forgiveness and hope in the midst of our pain. No matter how painful your circumstances may be right now, they’re temporary. Jesus is eternal.

Heart:
I encourage us all to remember Jesus this season. It begins personally in our hearts and minds, and soon shows up in what we say and do, and how we say and do them. Jesus came to seek and save those who were lost. That’s us! And to give us a reason to celebrate and share the joy of His coming with the world. By the way, I did get the words right for my solo in the performance. I’m so glad I remembered Jesus!
Beth Vice, 2010