i got another coat

James' true religion has nestled just under my skin recently. And especially today, Christmas day.

I promise I'm grateful. Really, I am. In the same way that the Incarnation and the Atonement were gifts far above and beyond what I could ever deserve, we thrill to give gifts to others, my parents especially do. And I am grateful.

I am grateful. I have never experienced the lack that I have earned. I have never missed a meal because I could not find or afford food. I have never slept among the elements of cold or wind, rain or snow. I have never been ill and not received treatment. I am grateful to have been spared all these experiences.

But I have been blessed so abundantly beyond survival. I have always had several warm outfits to choose from. I have always had food in the fridge and the pantry, food I neither asked nor paid for. I have always had clean, running water at whatever temperature I desire. I have always had a car with air conditioning to take me to clean, productive schools. I have always had more than one copy of the Bible and access to answers for my spiritual questions. I have always known the love and support of two godly parents. I am grateful.

But today I cannot believe that gratitude is enough. When I really stop to think about the meaning of this day and the billions of other people on the planet, I cannot accept that a grateful heart is all God requires. Honestly, I cannot imagine that just a grateful heart is even honoring to Him at all.

I mean, really? Is He pleased to see me sitting in my house, enjoying extras, and simply offering thanks at meal time? I know He is the giver of all good things, but does He truly delight in my acceptance of another coat or new scarves? Does He smile down on the world on this day we proclaim is His celebration when He sees me, one He has blessed, content to receive more and more for my own enjoyment? I cannot believe this was His intent.

Not when so many are going without. I think of all the children who are sick, cold, exploited, hungry, unloved today. They have no idea that today should be celebrated. What reason do they have to celebrate? Many have never heard the wonderful news of the God of creation entering their world, becoming one of them make a way to have a relationship with them, that He is working through people to restore His image in Creation, that He is making all things new. And even if they heard, would they understand how life-changing His gift is? Would they believe God's story at all by watching my life?

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit widows and orphans in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27

He is stirring in my heart for something big, bigger than this, bigger than self-indulgent gratitude. His Story is too good. He is worth any cost. The children He loves are my responsibility and my joy. If I suffer from the cold in this life, I will rejoice all the more in His radiant light in the next. If I forfeit a day on the beaches of earth, I will splash with greater exultation in the River of Life. If my stomach rumbles for nourishment here, I will all the more savor the sweetness of the Tree of Life.

I just don't want to arrive clean, neat and comfortable. I want to be exhausted. I want to be spent. I want to be wounded. I want this body to be despicable and worn out and in need of a replacement.

Lord, do not let me be stirred but not changed. Refine me in waiting for as long as it takes, but lead me into service that will require all of me for all of my life. Not for my satisfaction. Not for my imaginings of spiritual greatness. But for Your glory. For Your Story. For the coming of Your Kingdom. For Your image perfected in me. Thank You for making that possible. Thank You for initiating in flesh in Bethlehem.

Houstonisms

off limits = off lemons

shin guards = shin gardens

Piper tweet

God never does only one thing. In everything he does he is doing thousands of things. Of these we know perhaps half a dozen.

timely? always.

i love this post on John Piper's blog, especially this summary at the end (emphasis mine):

The Holy Family's first few years were not tranquil. They were filled with grueling travel during the hardest part of pregnancy, a birth in worse than a barn, no steady income, an assassination attempt, two desert crossings on foot with an infant, living in a foreign country, waiting on God for guidance and provisions just in the nick of time. It was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, career-delaying and full of uncertainty.

And it was God's will.

The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don't make sense in the moment. But God's ways are not our ways because our lives are about him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay.

So when you find yourself suddenly moving in a direction you had not planned, take heart, hold tight, and trust God's navigation.

Advent

Confession: Christmas was never my favorite holiday. The commercialization fueled my celebratory paralysis. The wonder of Jesus' birth was almost completely lost on my self-righteous refusal to get too excited about a holiday that most people associated with a bearded man in a red suit. Praise the Lord because He did not leave me there!

Now I'm the one who leaves Christmas music on my playlists all year long and chooses to listen as soon as Halloween ends. If my budget would allow I would buy every advent book and calendar I see.

I try to wrap my mind around it almost every day, but it just never fully happens. God became a man. A baby.

He left the comfort of His throne to lay in hay. I'm allergic to hay. I can imagine how miserable that would have been. He left the blessed intimacy of the Father and the Holy Spirit to be kissed by sinners; kisses of adoration, kisses of betrayal.

He was born to die. He came to suffer and to die. He did many other things in His 33 human years, but if not for death, all else was emptiness.

He was born to rise. All the power of God resided in Bethlehem's neglected treasure. If not for His resurrection, all else was deception.

He was born to fulfill. The Law. The Promise. The people of Israel had waited expectantly for thousands of years, hoping in the coming Messiah. He was righteous, perfection.

He was born to return. One of my favorite Christmas songs, and so fitting for Advent, says,

"Hear the angels as they're singing on the morning of His birth,

But how much greater will our song be when He comes again to earth!"

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

He was born to be our hope. There is no one greater. No experience more fulfilling than His presence.

He was born to be personal. God had identified Himself to Moses thousands of years earlier: Yahweh, the Lord, I AM. His personal, intimate name. The name that communicates His constant nearness, His intervention in history on behalf of His people. But the name of Jesus is even more personal, our necessity: "Yahweh is salvation." Jesus is the pinnacle of God's deliverance, freedom, promise and power. The very most intimate, intentional expression of love that could ever be communicated.

He was born to send the Holy Spirit. He promised to send the Helper. And now we know intimacy with God; dwelling with Him forever starts at salvation.

So how can I keep from celebrating? There is far too much to celebrate in one short day named "Christmas." Why do I only sing in exultation over Immanuel for one month of the year? I want the joy that the angels announced to characterize my every waking moment. Oh that my heart would prepare room for Him in every day of the year!

And can we talk about Christmas songs for just a minute:

"Come Thou long expected Jesus...

Born Thy people to deliver...

Born to reign in us forever...

By Thine own eternal Spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone

By Thine own sufficient merit (my merit is otherwise hopelessly lacking)

Raise us to Thy glorious throne."

"Long lay the world

In sin and error pining,

Til He appeared

And the soul felt its worth. (God declared that my soul was worth the discomfort of His incarnation)

A thrill of hope,

The weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks

A new and glorious morn'. (mercies new every morning)

Fall on your knees...."

"No more let sins and sorrows grow

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found." (His healing will go forth as far as man's depravity may be found, and that is such a desperate distance)

Joy, unspeakable joy!