When I Finally Get to be "Unpaused," or, I See a Chance...

NEW! Now you can listen to the author read this article here: The Scrawling Shepherd reads "I See a Chance"


Friday, March 27, 2020

Yesterday I posted an article which you may have seen. If not, you can find it here: Why I am On Pause, and Why I am Okay with It.

Today I want to write the article I thought I was going to write yesterday when I sat down to write. I've been thinking about the current circumstance we're sharing: a dramatic response to a critical threat to our health. We've been put "On Pause," as we're calling it in New York. You may have a different name for it: self-quarantine, shelter-in-place, lock-in, or any number of other words or phrases.

I'm a teacher, and this circumstance has dramatically affected my work, and my way of working. We're figuring out how to continue teaching and learning over distance, using technology in most cases. Early into this experience, I began thinking about how this dramatic change will outlast the current crisis. Even when we come crawling out of our metaphorical bunkers, blinking in the bright light of day and looking around to see who else is still standing, we may never again go back to whatever was "normal" just three weeks ago.

And that got me thinking wider still. Churches, like schools, are figuring out what HAS to be included in "church" experience, and what we can do without, even if only temporarily. Our home groups have been reading and discussing Francis Chan's Letters to the Church and his observations about how we've come to expect certain things in our experience of church that aren't really lining up well with what Jesus and His apostles described, designed, and established. It has been challenging, convicting, sometimes embarrassing. But how to fix it? It's almost like we need to start over.

Start over. Huh.

I see a chance here. I see an opportunity to restart. To get a "do over." A Mulligan.

I see a chance to finally, finally, put some distance between the church and that ugly label, that ugly sweater we keep wearing even though nobody likes it, called "hypocrisy." "The church is full of hyprocrites." I've heard it all my life, or at least it seems like I have. And as soon as I try to deny it, to say that "well, it might be true of them, but it's definitely not true of me," I get that all-too-familiar poke of the Holy Spirit's conviction and I have to withdraw my objection, my deflection, and put that ugly, smelly, scratchy sweater back on again.

But I see a chance. I see a chance to take that old mildewy, moldy, scratchy, smelly sweater out to the firepit in my back yard and burn it on a funeral pyre. And once I get it burning in a big, roaring, purifying, consuming fire, let's rummage around and see what other ugly things have been clinging to me that I can also use to feed the Refiner's fire.

I see a chance for a fresh start. A new beginning. A clean slate.

I want to be a different kind of Christian, a different kind of follower. I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus that doesn't attract labels like hypocrite, or judgmental, or exclusive, or prejudiced, or bigoted, or any of the other negative labels that have been attached to Christians in our culture. If I am going to be criticized, let it be because I have been trying to follow the example and the teaching of Christ as shown in God's Word, the Bible. Not legalistically, like the Pharisees of Jesus' day that were the first to carry the label of hypocrite. But lovingly. Let that be my legacy.

I'm Just a Nobody. (This is a live link to a music video by Casting Crowns, with Matthew West.)

It shouldn't have taken a global pandemic to get my attention. There's been a pandemic going already, from the early days of human history. It's transmitted by birth. It's the original STD. It infects EVERYONE. It has a 100% mortality rate. Nobody is immune. No one escapes or avoids it. It reaches everything, everywhere. It's responsible for every other illness. It's the root cause of every war, every act of cruelty. It gives birth to fear, hatred, mistrust, untruth, lust, rebellion, violence, addiction, abuse, poverty, hunger, thirst, and every other awful thing that is a part of the history of our world. It goes by many names, but I call it sin.

We've been dealing it with for so long, we have stopped talking about it, stopped fighting against it. We've found ways to become comfortable with it, to anesthetize ourselves against its worst symptoms, and otherwise ignore it, pretending it isn't lurking there, waiting to kill us. Because it does kill us. All of us.

That's the first truth of the Good News, the Gospel. We are all sinners.

Doesn't really sound like very good news. And by itself, it isn't. The good part starts with point #2: God loves us. Even while we were still sinners, God loved us, and gave His Only Begotten Son do die for us.

Jesus Christ is the Cure for this fatal disease! Look unto Him, all you to the ends of the earth, and be saved! Isaiah 45:22.

I see a Chance. Do you see what I see? Come stand next to me. Let's see if we can take this chance together. Maybe we can do it better, together, this time.

Why I am "On Pause..." and Why I'm Okay With It.

NEW! Now you can listen to the writer read this essay HERE: Click Here to listen to the Scrawling Shepherd read this essay


It's Thursday, March 26, 2020.

Like most of America, and quite possibly, most of the world, I am at home. "Sheltering in place", some are saying. Here in New York, we are not officially sheltering in place. Instead, we are "On Pause."

I'm a teacher. I teach Bible classes at Harmony Christian School, grades 7-12. The 7th and 8th graders are still kids, and they know that they are kids, and are content to behave like kids. The high schoolers, of course, believe themselves to be "adults", or at least, want to be treated like adults, so except in their most unguarded moments, they don't let themselves be seen behaving like kids.

The kids, though, occasionally play this "game." One of them points an imaginary remote controller, or "air controller" (my words, not theirs) at another one or other ones of them, pretends to push a button with his or her thumb, and declares "pause." At which, the target kid(s) actually pause. Until the "god kid" (the kid with the air controller) depresses the imaginary button again and declares "unpause." (Is "unpause" an actual word? My spell checker tells me that it is not. Or, was it an actual word before remote controllers?)

Consequently, when New York was declared to be "On Pause" a day or two ago, this image of children playing resurfaced in my admittedly strange (damaged?) mind. The magic of the game is in the willing cooperation of the players. There is no actual remote control. No "pause" button. No control, whether digital, infrared, Bluetooth, or other communication link, exists. The "god" player declares it, and the "subject" players comply. These labels, "god" and "subject", are my labels, not theirs. I suspect that they don't even think about this in any kind of analytical way. That's my construct.

But in a very real sense, that is what is happening here around us. The "god" player--in this case, the Governor of the State of New York--has figuratively pressed a button on a very, very large remote control. Whether or not it works will depend to a very great degree on the willing cooperation of we the "subject" players, i.e., the citizens, residents, of the state. Will we actually pause?

When you pause an image on your television/video screen, the image is frozen. If there is a person in the image, that person is not blinking. He/she is "frozen" in place. When you "unpause" that image, the person thus frozen instantly resumes his/her action exactly as if nothing had happened, NO MATTER HOW LONG THE PAUSE WAS IN EFFECT.

And that is the point of divergence between TV pause and RL pause. (Oops. I'd better explain the acronyms. TV is shorthand for Television. Everyone knows that. But only people in the texting generation will know that RL is shorthand for Real Life.) The TV pause is artificial. It's done for convenience, so that I can get up from the comfortable chair, go get a free refill of my beverage from the kitchen, refresh my empty bowl of popcorn, and attend to other matters of personal comfort. And, I can do all of this without missing any of the content of the program I am viewing.

This RL pause is done for similar, but vastly different reasons. Similar in the sense that it gives me a chance to attend to my personal comfort needs and wishes. But that's where the similarity ends. It's not simply a matter of personal comfort and convenience. And I will most definitely be missing out on some things that would otherwise have been happening while I/we have been patiently waiting out the "Pause."

Here's why I'm pausing, as I understand it. Feel free to add to my list or challenge some of my thoughts in a comment below.

1. To keep myself as safe as possible, I'm avoiding contact with others, who may, inadvertently or advertently (evidently also not a word, though it should be), try to kill me. Or at least make me very sick.
2. Similar to #1, only possibly even more important) to keep other people as safe FROM ME as possible, so that I don't inadvertently or advertently to hurt or kill them.
3. To minimize my demand on the limited resources and infrastructure that needs to be refocused on helping those already sick, and finding an effective way or ways to KILL COVID-19. (Incidentally, I HATE YOU, COVID-19. But God tells me that Vengeance is His, so I'm asking God to annihilate you, COVID-19, using any and all of the not insignificant resources at His control. Which, by the way, is EVERYTHING. So, if I were you, COVID-19, I would take whatever time left you have on this Earth and run. Run as far as you can, as fast as you can. Run away. But it won't matter. Because there is no place where you can run and/or hide where My God cannot, will not, find you.) There. That felt pretty good.
4. To show my support of... well, of all of you, by doing my part as a citizen to respect and obey authority, to exercise good judgment on behalf of myself, my family, friends, neighbors, and strangers who share our world. 
5. To set an example for others. Not that anyone is watching me, in particular, but if I do have any influence on anyone, let my example be one that helps others, not the opposite.

When I started writing this blog article/entry today, I had a different title and another article altogether in mind. But as I wrote the first few lines, and then a few more, I realized that I wasn't writing what I thought I wanted to write at all. But I kept writing anyway, and as it turns out, I actually WAS writing what I wanted to write after all. I just didn't know it yet.

Perhaps I'll still write the other article. I still want to. Keep an eye out for it. The title is, or was going to be, "I See a Chance." Don't steal my idea or my article, though! Or maybe, do steal it. Perhaps you'll say it better.

[Update: I DID write that article! If you're curious, you can find it HERE.

I love you!

(In the words of the not very articulate but sometimes funny comedian Larry the Cable Guy, "I don't care who you are, that's funny!" I'm saying to you, I don't care who you are. Even if I don't know you. Or even if I do know you and we're not friends. From one human being to another. "I love you!" Believe it or don't. Take it or leave it. But I mean it.)

Great Pillars of a Vibrant Christian Life, Part 5: We Have a Great Confession

Sunday, February 24, 2019
Series: "Pillars of a Vibrant Christian Life"
Part 5: "We Have a Great Confession" [to Make]
Key Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Delivered at: Community Baptist Church, Wappingers Falls, New York.






Listen to this message HERE

This morning we will continue in the series of messages I began last month, called:

9 Pillars of a Vibrant Christian Life

Definitions:

 Pillar: any upright, supporting part; post

 Vibrant: pulsating with vigor and energy; vigorous; energetic; vital; exciting; stimulating; lively

 Last time we put the first pillar in place:

“A Great Commandment”

Today we are installing the second pillar, and you’ll begin to see the pattern of this series of messages taking shape.

The Second Great Pillar of a Vibrant Christian Life is: A Great Confession

The word “confess” is used in two different ways in the Bible.

It is used of confessing, or admitting, your sin:

1 John 1:9

 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

James 5:16:

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

But the word “confess” is also used in another way: to state your belief or firm conviction, as in:

Romans 10:9-10

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 

Here the word “Confess” means “to make a clear and firm statement of what you believe to be true.” Or “to publicly declare where your allegiance lies.”

Joshua did this famously in Joshua 24:15: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

In Matthew 16:13-18, Jesus asks His disciples to make a statement in which they would declare their belief in Him:

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Here are a few other statements, or “confessions,” that appear in the New Testament:

1 John 4:1-3

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

1 Timothy 1:15 

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Ephesians 4:4-6  

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

¹ Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Timothy 3:16 

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

Sometimes, our “confession of faith” is called a “creed.”

A Creed is: an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief articles of Christian belief.

The Apostles’ Creed 

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:

5. The third day he rose again from the dead:

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:

7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:

8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:

9. I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints:

10. The forgiveness of sins:

11. The resurrection of the body:

12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

“These Are the Facts”           Michael Seward 1971

These are the facts as we have received them,

These are the truths that the Christian believes,

This is the basis of all of our preaching:

Christ died for sinners and rose from the tomb.

These are the facts as we have received them,

Christ has fulfilled what the scriptures foretold,

Adam’s whole family in death had been sleeping,

Christ through his rising restores us to life.

These are the facts as we have received them, 

We with our Savior have died on the cross,

Now having risen, our Jesus lives in us,

Gives us his Spirit and makes us his home.

These are the facts as we have received them,

We shall be changed in the blink of an eye,

Trumpets shall sound as we face life immortal,

This is the victory through Jesus, our Lord.

These are the facts as we have received them,

These are the truths that the Christian believes,

This is the basis of all of our preaching:

Christ died for sinners and rose from the tomb.

We are called to make this confession of Christ INDIVIDUALLY and PUBLICLY.

When we DO make this confession individually and publicly, we are identified with all those who have made this confession before us, and all who will make this decision after us.

So we can say then, that WE believe…

Have YOU confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believed in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead?

Without this Great Confession, not only can you not live a VIBRANT Christian life,

But you have not begun to live ANY kind of Christian life at all.

It’s time to confess.

Jesus said to Martha BEFORE He raised her brother Lazarus back to life, after he had been dead for 4 days and buried:

John 11:25

… “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Well, DO YOU believe this?

What DO YOU believe?

We Believe, as recorded by Steve Green

 "We Believe" by Steve Green

We believe in the Father,

who created all that is

And we believe the universe

and all therein is His

As a loving heavenly Father,

He yearned to save us all

To lift us from the fall . . .

We believe

We believe in Jesus

the Father’s only Son

Existing uncreated

before time had begun

A sacrifice for sin,

He died then rose again

To ransom sinful men,

We believe

We believe in the spirit

who makes believers one

Our hearts are filled with His presence

The Comforter has come

The kingdom unfolds in His plan

Unhindered by quarrels of man

His church upheld by His hand . . .

We believe

Though the earth be removed

And time be no more

These truths are secure

God’s word shall endure

Whatever may change,

these things are sure . . .

We believe

So if the mountains are cast down into the plains 

When kingdoms all crumble, this one remains

Our faith is not subject to seasons of man

With our fathers we proclaim

We believe our Lord will come as he said

The land and the sea will give up their dead

His children will reign with Him as their head

We believe

We believe

We Believe as recorded by the Newsboys

"We Believe" by The Newsboys

In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He’s comin’ back again, we believe

So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe!

We believe in God the Father!
We believe in Jesus Christ!
We believe in the Holy Spirit!
And He’s given us new life!
We believe in the crucifixion!
We believe that He conquered death!
We believe in the resurrection!
And He’s comin’ back again!

Let the lost be found and the dead be raised!
In the here and now, let love invade!
Let the church live loud our God we’ll say
We believe, we believe!
And the gates of hell will not prevail!
For the power of God, has torn the veil!
Now we know Your love will never fail!
We believe, we believe!

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life!
We believe in the crucifixion!
We believe that He conquered death!
We believe in the resurrection!
And He’s comin’ back,
He’s comin’ back again!
He’s comin’ back again!
We believe!
We believe

"This I Believe (The Creed)" by Hillsong Worship

Back to Bethlehem

“Back to Bethlehem”

Christmas Day is now 5 days behind us, and another 360 days in front of us.

We’ve worshiped, we’ve partied, we’ve eaten, we’ve laughed, we’ve traveled, and we’ve given gifts to and received gifts from those we love.

How many of you are wearing or carrying some article of clothing, jewelry, or accessory you received as a Christmas gift this week?

The pageants are over. The Christmas specials on TV are finished. The Christmas music has stopped playing, or soon will stop, and we’re back to our “regular” entertainment.

Not long now and the decorations will be taken down and put away until sometime late next year. The boxes will soon be ready to put up in the attic (at least, that’s the way it works in our house.)

Perhaps you’ve already started thinking about how you might do things differently next Christmas. The Ashley family discussed buying up Christmas wrapping paper at the deeply discounted prices we are expecting to see in the next several days, and putting the Christmas gift wrap tote back in the attic fully reloaded for next year. We have submitted the suggestion to the family rules committee for review and are awaiting their decision.

Kelly’s already begun planning how she will decorate the house for Christmas next year.

But first, there’s another year’s calendar between now and then.

This first Sunday after Christmas for me is always difficult. Turns out that maybe I’m a “Twelve Days of Christmas” kind of a guy after all. I’m not quite ready to let go of Christmas, and not quite ready to begin the New Year.

But that’s what I have to do, and that’s what you have to do. I have to put Christmas behind me and walk forward, a day at a time, until I find that Christmas is directly in front of me again.

I have to go on from here and carry the lessons of Christmas with me across the days, the weeks, the months ahead.

The Christmas story that we’ve read offers us four different stories of how people encountered the newborn baby of Bethlehem, and then put their Backs to Bethlehem and went forward from there.

So today’s message is called “Back to Bethlehem.” Not so that we would return to Bethlehem again—not yet. If God delays his return another calendar year, and chooses to leave us here on Earth long enough, then we will return to Bethlehem again in another 11 months.

But for now, we must turn and put our backs to Bethlehem, and go forward.

Consider these examples:

Luke 2:15-20—The Shepherds

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

1.          The shepherds came and saw, then they left and they told abroad what they had seen. They have given us a great example—that’s what we are all supposed to do. Come and see, stay awhile and worship, and then go and tell—all the while glorifying God for all that we have seen and heard, which has been told to us about the Son of God.

Luke 2:25-35—Simeon

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” ³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

2.          Simeon had waited long to see the Promised Messiah. God had told him that he would live to see the Messiah. Once he met the baby Jesus, he declared that he was ready to depart from this world, having been satisfied. Now, I’m not saying that the experience of Christmas ought to create a death wish in us. Rather, the lesson here is, now that I have met the Christ, the Savior of all humankind, I am at peace with God and ready to meet Him, at whatever time and in whatever manner He may choose.

Matthew 2:11-12—The Magi

¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

3.                      The Magi came, found Him who they sought, worshiped, gave gifts, and then they left “by another route.” I’ve preached on that text in the past, and it’s a favorite thought of mine. Now that I have met Jesus, everything in my life is different. Every route is different, because Jesus Christ has made all things new. I am a New Creation in Christ. The old things have passed away; and behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live; yet, not I, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Matthew 2:13-23—Joseph and Mary

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” ¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

4.          Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus fled Bethlehem, and fled their homeland altogether, escaping to Egypt ahead of Herod’s butcher squad. They certainly put their Backs to Bethlehem in one big hurry. Their story reminds us of a very important, and often painful, lesson. Now that I have met the Lord Jesus Christ, and now that I have declared my allegiance to Him, most of the world is NOT going to love me and celebrate my newfound faith.

In fact, Jesus said that the world is going to hate me, but I shouldn’t take it personally, because the world hated, and hates, Him. The world, or more particularly, the evil, godless, demonic world system, called in Scripture by the name “Kosmos”, represents all that is opposed to God. It is subject to the prince of this present age—the Devil, and his minions, the demons. They are called “rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

So the apostle John warns us NOT to love the world, nor the things in, or of, the world. 1 John 2:15.

For Joseph and Mary, Bethlehem was no longer safe. So they put their backs to Bethlehem and fled. As far as we know, they never went back to Bethlehem, because when it was safe for them to return from Egypt, they returned, not to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth in Galilee.

All of these people shared a moment in history that changed them for eternity. But they all went on from that day, and lived another day, as well.

Everyone in the Christmas story who came and saw Jesus lying in a manger left. None of them stayed in that place for very long.

We often spend too much time looking back at moments in our lives that define us. We’re reluctant to leave and move on. Maybe we’re not sure where to go, or what to do next.

But this is certain: we cannot stay where we are indefinitely. We need to turn away from yesterday and face what God has for us today, and look ahead to where God wants us to go tomorrow.

I do not know where the year ahead will lead us. There are many questions ahead; questions for which I do not yet have answers.

“Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, but I know Who holds tomorrow, and I know He holds my hand.”

“Fear not tomorrow. God is already there.”

"Fear Not Tomorrow" as performed by The Collingsworth Family

I don’t know how it will end. Perhaps I won’t see another New Year’s Eve. Maybe our Lord will return before the year 2019 is complete.

But I do know that I cannot stay here where I am right now on the brink of New Year’s Eve 2018. It’s cold out, but it’s not cold enough to freeze time.

I have to put my Back to Bethlehem and go forward another step. I hope that you will do the same.