Category Archives: Spiritual

Biblical, theological, devotional, etc.

Keeping Christ in Christmas

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“Let’s Keep Christ in Christmas”

That has become a very popular slogan. We hear it and see it everywhere. I’m writing this pre-Thanksgiving Day, yet I’ve already seen the slogan on Facebook today more than once. I expect to see it and hear it a lot more over the next few weeks. When most people proclaim it, they are fighting a battle on two particular fronts:

  1. They want to make sure people say, “Merry Christmas,” rather than, “Happy Holidays.
  2. They want to make sure people spell out, “C h r i s t m a s,” rather than abbreviate with, “X m a s.”

While I really like the idea of keeping Christ in Christmas, I’m afraid that even if we win on those two particular fronts, that won’t mean we’ve accomplished our objective. If we really want to keep Christ in Christmas the place to start is in our hearts, not in our oral greetings or on our cards and signs. Therefore, I suggest that we turn our attention to two different areas if we really want to keep Christ in Christmas.

  1. To keep Christ in Christmas, let’s make Christmas Christ-centered.
  2. To keep Christ in Christmas, let’s strive to be Christlike throughout the season.

I fear we are victims of a subtle evolution. Over a long period of time we have developed many customs and traditions for the express purpose of helping us celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We have time off from work, we visit family and friends, we have celebratory parties and dinners, we enhance our surroundings with festive decorations and lights, we exchange gifts, and we even schedule special events and programs at church. The problem is, that we’ve let Christmas become ABOUT those things rather than using those things to help us celebrate what Christmas is really about.

On top of that, it is both ironic and sad that all those traditions and means of celebrating often create so much stress and pressure that the very act of participating in them can make it difficult to be like Christ! We often end up like little time bombs just waiting to explode. Then there’s the whole gift aspect; I’m afraid that for many, the gift tradition has shifted to being about getting instead of giving. Think about it: When was the last time you heard someone ask, “What did you give this year?”)

It would be nice if I could list seven simple steps to make Christmas Christ-centered and for helping you to be Christlike. As it happens, I don’t believe there is a universal list. What I need to do isn’t necessarily the same thing you need to do. What you need to do isn’t the same thing your neighbor needs to do. What your neighbor needs to do… You get the idea.

However, I do believe I can suggest a universal starting point. It’s simple: Pray and ask God to show you what you need to do to help keep Christ in Christmas and to remain Christlike.

I’d be surprised if he were to tell you to just make sure you say, “Christmas,” instead of, “holiday,” and to spell it out instead of abbreviating it. Keeping Christ in Christmas; it’s certainly something to cerebrate.

Why I Want a Christian President

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I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state.  That is, I believe the government should neither promote nor prohibit any particular religion or religious practice.  But I still want a Christian president.  So much so, that to the extent that I have the choice, it will impact my vote.  I want to briefly share some of my reasons…

Here in the United States we enjoy the privilege of choosing our president via free elections.  We have, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently stated, a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”  Unlike some other forms of government, this means that we are not simply “ruled” by the President. Rather we are in a partnership with the President.   He leads, we follow; this arrangement is our collective choice.  Back in the nineties, the Republican Party talked about a, “Contract with America.”  The language of, “contract,” is another expression of what I’m talking about.  In essence, when we elect our President every four years, we are entering a contract or partnership–which brings me to the Bible.

In 2 Corinthians 6:14, it says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers…”    We most often hear this principle taught in the context of marriage.  However, I believe the principle applies in the context of our “government by the people, for the people.”  It is no stretch of the meaning to suggest that voluntarily electing a person to be our president for the next four years is “yoking” us to that person.  As a Christian, I cannot fathom voluntarily yoking myself in that manner to an unbeliever.  I believe doing so would be to ignore an important Biblical principle.

Perhaps you picked up from the previous paragraph that I don’t see the Bible the way I see any other book.  I believe that as a Christian, I ought to follow its teachings.  Its principles should shape my values, priorities, attitudes, and actions.  I believe that living according to Biblical principles is the best and right way to live.  It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why I would want a President who also believes this!  I want a Christian president because I want a president whose values, priorities, attitudes and actions are shaped by the same Biblical principles that shape mine.

I want to return again to some words of Abraham Lincoln.  During the trying days of his presidency he once said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”  That is more than just a sweet sentimentality.  The guidance and strength that God gives through the Holy Spirit to his followers in response to prayer cannot be underestimated.  As a Christian, I want a President that can and does rely on God for guidance and strength.

Now I have Christian friends who don’t see this the way I do.  They don’t think a person’s faith is relevant to their choice for a President.  Perhaps you are one of them.  Perhaps you won’t find the reasons I’ve shared to be persuasive.  I hope you at least find them to be something to cerebrate.

 

Force Fields & Compliance Chips

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God put Adam and Eve in the garden and made one rule:   They must not eat the fruit of that one tree.  There were no, “Keep Off the Grass,” signs.  He didn’t tell them, “no running,” or, “keep to the right.”  There wasn’t even the urgent command, “Put some clothes on!”  Nope, there was just one rule:  Don’t eat that fruit.  So what did they do?  They ate the fruit.   Hold that thought…

From time to time, I ride my bike to the mall for lunch.  It’s about 90% on a paved bike trail, and there’s a place just inside the mall that serves a good chicken sandwich.  Since I need my bike to get back home, before heading inside, I post a sign on my bike that reads, “DO NOT STEAL!”   Now I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking I’m not very smart.   Honestly, I am actually smarter than that.  The truth is, I protect my ride home with a cable and lock.  Which makes me think:  If God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat that fruit, why didn’t he take measures beyond simply telling them not to?

I can even imagine a couple of cool scenarios.  For example, wouldn’t this have been a cool application for a science fiction style force field.  Eve is standing there conversing with the serpent who keeps suggesting she try the fruit.  After a while, she succumbs to temptation.  Having chosen to ignore God’s command, she nonchalantly strolls closer and closer to the tree.  Probably, she intentionally averted her gaze away from the tree.  She may have even whistled that familiar little tune that gets whistled when people try to seem nonchalant.  Finally, she’s within arm’s reach of the delectable fruit.  She quickly thrusts out her arm only to jam her fingers hard against an invisible barrier.  As they say, “That’s gotta hurt!”   Why didn’t God protect his fruit with a force field?

Or how about another great tool from science fiction:  A compliance chip?  Picture the same scenario, except this time as Eve begins to reach for the fruit something activates inside her.  Some kind of electronic chip embedded within her overriding her original will and effectively replacing it with a new choice; a choice to not pluck the fruit.  She gives up the effort.  The compliance chip immediately deactivates and she finds herself again wanting that fruit.  But as she begins to move her hand, the chip reactivates and once again changes her mind for her.    Why didn’t God protect his fruit with a compliance chip?

If not a force field or a compliance chip, why not something else?   Surely, the Creator of the Universe could have created an adequate security system.  I believe there can only be one answer:  Simply put, God chose to not protect that fruit.  Pushed further, I think that tells us a little something about one of God’s priorities.  Think about it.  Adam and Eve were given the ability to choose, and once they chose they were given the ability to act on their choice.  No compliance chips.   No force fields.  God certainly wanted their obedience.  He also wanted them to be free.  He prioritized the latter.  That’s something to cerebrate…

Discipleship and Religious Practices

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“What is the relationship between discipleship and religious practices?  The latter sustain the former…  The error is to think these things are the Christian life… Insofar as prayer, reading, sacraments, and spiritual direction support genuine Christian living, that is, Christian attitudes, relationships, choices, and actions, they are useful.  When they become an escape from the more difficult demands of Christian living, they are the corruption of discipleship.”

–Brennan Manning

Petitioning God?

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Have you been asked to sign a petition?  If not, you must live in a cave!  I still remember my very first involvement with a petition.  (Of course that statement is based on the assumption that I wasn’t involved with an earlier petition that I’ve forgotten about.)  I was a high school student, and under the influence of an environmentally-oriented teacher.  I circulated petitions for what was known as Michigan’s Bottle Bill.  It was the bill that put a mandatory deposit on plastic bottles and cans and eliminated the pull off tabs from the drink cans.  We young activists knew that if we gathered enough names, our legislators would act.  We understood that if we gathered but a few names, they wouldn’t.  In short, we knew that when it came to getting what we wanted, there was strength in numbers.

This is a principle that generally applies to all petitions.  Whether it is TV viewers petitioning a network, citizens petitioning the mayor or the school board, or activists petitioning a corporate board of directors, the principle is the same.  The longer the petition, the greater the chance the petitionee will grant the petition.

Look again at that last sentence.  I used the word petition in two different ways.  In the first instance, I used it to refer to the list of signers.  In the second instance, I used it to refer to the actual request.  I suspect that this dual usage of the word may have contributed to some confusion in our spiritual lives.

Note these two Scripture passages:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—“ (1 Tim. 2:1)

These passages encourage us to petition God.  In this instance, the word is being used in the sense of the latter usage I mentioned above.  I believe that we know this.   However, I fear that we functionally misappropriate the meaning of this word.  We sometimes behave as if the former usage is meant.   This is evidenced by the many mutations of the statement, “We need to get as many people as possible to pray about this.”

Jesus talked about mustard-seed-sized faith.  James talked about the prayer of, “a righteous person,” being, “powerful and effective.”   Yet some of our prayer-requesting habits suggest we seek something different.  We seek strength in numbers.  We behave as if God is like all the other powers that be who we petition.  We behave as if it is the quantity of petitioners that matters most to God.   We behave as if God is more likely to grant our requests if they are bolstered by a large number of other requesters.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not suggesting that we never ask others to join us in prayer.  I’m suggesting that we not get carried away.  I’m suggesting that we not insult God by attributing to him the characteristic of all those other petitionees in our lives.   It’s something to cerebrate…