As I write this post five days before Christmas Day, I am reminded that we fall into two broad categories as we draw close to the holiday.

In the first are those who are excited and looking forward to celebrations with family and friends. Gifts will be given, good food will be enjoyed. Laughter, smiles, and hugs will be in abundance.

The second group comprises those for whom this season serves as a reminder of loss, a time for wishing that things are other than they are. For these, Christmas becomes a season to endure rather than a season of celebration.

The need to endure could be through the loss of a loved one through death. It could be through the breakup of a relationship. It could be through a forced separation due to distance or illness. It could be simply that a new phase of life has been entered and Christmas will be different and uncomfortable this year.

For those in the first group, I wish for you that the Christmas season is all that you hope and expect it to be. May your days indeed be merry and bright.

For those in the second group, I offer the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Matthew 5:4, CSB

Our mourning points us to our need for God. That baby in the manger grew up to become the means of putting us in right relationship with God who offers ultimate comfort.

At Christmas, we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us, believing that Jesus came as both God and Man to reconcile us to God. The physical healing he offered while he walked this planet is intended to point us to the spiritual and emotional healing that he brings to us now.

Yet, we struggle with the brokenness inside us and around us, and this struggle feels stronger and more difficult during a holiday season when it seems that everyone else is having a great time.

As I read this morning in Matthew, Jesus also said:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28–30, CSB

There is no magic here; there is no simple prayer that takes away the pain of loss, separation, or disappointment. But Jesus offers himself to us as the source of rest for our souls. The author of Hebrews reminds us:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”

Hebrews 4:15–16

Jesus understands loss. He was abandoned by family and friends.

Jesus understands mistreatment. He was punished for a crime he did not commit.

Jesus understands separation. From the cross he experienced separation from his father as he bore our sin.

So, for those who are struggling, let us look in the manger to the one, the only one, who can give us true rest for our souls.

This Christmas, may we look beyond the normal holiday stuff to see how the baby in a manger has caused the light of eternity to break into the darkness to give us hope in the midst of our current struggle.

Merry Christmas!

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“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”

Romans 14:13, ESV

In a previous post, I discussed the fact that visitors to our churches might be offended by the message of the gospel. They might be offended by what Scripture says on a given topic. Offenses may be inevitable and we need to acknowledge that fact as church leaders.

But the text above gives us encouragement to make sure that we are doing everything we can to remove “stumbling blocks or hindrances” as much as we are able.

I have visited churches that were very welcoming and friendly. I have also visited churches where I was greeted by no one and they seemed ambivalent to my presence. I was not at all encouraged to return for a second time.

I have observed churches that have an us-versus-them mentality and one gets the impression that the attendees feel superior to those outside the church. A quick search on YouTube would provide multiple examples of this “us-versus-them” mentality.

So, when I talk about the fact that some might be offended on a Sunday morning, my intent is not to make it acceptable for believers to be offensive in their behavior. Being unwelcoming and acting superior to those who visit are certainly offensive behaviors.

We should remove everything that could be a hindrance, outside of holding back on the truth of Scripture.

Let Scripture be the offense, not the way we present it. Let Jesus as The Way, The Truth, and The Life, be the offense, not how we follow Him.

Wisdom is required to figure out how we can accurately present the truth of Scripture in a way that it can best be understood by those who listen.

It is tempting to pull back from teaching truth when it is unpopular. But we don’t really have that option if we are going to be true to our calling as disciples.

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This morning I read Numbers 13-14 which records the story of the spies that were sent into Canaan charged with reporting back to Moses the state of things in that land.

The spies came back and the majority reported two conclusions:

1. The land is a good land which “flows with milk and honey”
2. The cities are fortified and we’ll never succeed in conquering them

I should point out that two of the 12 spies did not agree with the second conclusion but the other ten persuaded the majority of the people against attempting to take the land.

Then the Israelite people did something that seems very odd. They decided to choose another leader and head back to Egypt.

Think about it, they wanted to go back to Egypt, the very place where they cried out to God because of how difficult life was there. They begin romanticizing the memory of Egypt to make it seem like a relative place of safety compared to the unknown that they were facing in Canaan.

But don’t we do the same thing at times?

When we are faced with difficulty or uncertainty in our current situation, we can wish that we could go back to some other time and place that seemed like Paradise compared to what we currently face. Like the Israelites, we can forget about the discontent, stress and other annoyances that caused to move on.

The problem is that we can’t go back. And even if we could, we would find that it was not as great as we remember it. Can we agree that the good old days were not as good as we might wish them to be?

This is the pragmatic reason for not going back.

For Christians, there is a more important reason for not attempting to go back.

To attempt to go back ignores the fact that God has been using the events that got us where we are, even the really difficult ones. God is using the circumstances to complete what he has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). Paul later tells us that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Paul hints at this, later in the letter, when he writes, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead . . .” in Philippians 3:13.

The hard bits of living are often the ones that are most effective in teaching us what is important and what is not. C. S. Lewis makes this point in his book, The Problem of Pain:

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Goodreads

I feel called to point out, as I conclude, that sometimes God uses difficulties in our lives to show us where we need to change either our thinking or our behavior (or both).

We cannot go back, we can only go forward trusting that God has us where he wants us and will see us through until the end.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. If you are reading this in an email and would like to comment, you can reply to the email or click on the “Read in browser” link below to go to the web page where you can enter a comment. I enjoy hearing from you.