Christmas Facts and Fiction #2

Was Jesus born on December 25th?

Neither the Bible nor history place Jesus' birthday on a specific day. Many scholars believe that Spring is the most likely time of year for His birth. The primary reason is because shepherds were watching their flocks at night and Spring is when ewes bore their young. In fact, around 200 AD, some of the church fathers declared that Jesus was born on May 20th. Others argued for dates in April or March. The actual date of His birth was not a major issue for early Christians. The fact of God's Incarnation was the primary concern.

In 385 AD Pope Julius I declared December 25th as the day for celebrating Christ's birthday. That date was chosen in part to challenge the pagan celebration of the Roman god - Saturnalia - which was celebrated with social disorder and immorality.

The world has continued to use the December 25th date to celebrate the birth of Christ and to maintain it's holiness instead of worshiping the gods of materialism and revalry. Will your celebration be that of honor and worship of God's Incarnation or will it be focused on bowing before the god of things?

Anticipating the celebration ~ Bob

Christmas Facts and Fiction

Many skeptics have attempted to discount the coming of Christ (the Messiah) by stating that the town of Nazareth never existed in historical reality. Atheist Frank Zindler has noted that Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, by the Apostle Paul, by the Talmud, or by the first-century historian Josephus. In fact, no ancient historians or geographers mention Nazareth before the beginning of the fourth century.

However, Dr. James Strange of the university of South Florida is an expert on the area where Nazareth is said to have existed. He describes Nazareth as being a very small place - about 60 acres - with a maximum population of about 480 at the beginning of the first century.

When Jerusalem fell in AD 70, priests were no longer needed in the temple because it had been destroyed so they were relocated to other areas (including Galilee). Archaelogists have found a list in Aramaic describing the twenty-four families of priests who were relocated and one of them was registered as having been moved to Nazareth.

In addition, archaelogical digs have uncovered first-century tombs in the vicinity of Nazareth which would establish the village's limits, because Jewish law determines that burials take place outside the town proper. In fact, among archaelogists, there has never really been a big doubt about the location of Nazareth. The burden of proof is on those who dispute its existence.

Other skeptics have said that "such findings suggest that Nazareth may have existed in Jesus' time, but there is no doubt that it must have been a very small, insignificant place."

So small that Nathanael's musings in John's gospel make more sense: "Nazareth!" he said, "Can anything good come from there?"

Fact - Jesus grew up in an insignificant village named Nazareth.

Keep tuned for more facts and fiction about Christmas ~

Believing the truth of the Bible ~ Bob

Pockets of Delight

Some snippets from recent journaling ...

Underneath all the busyness and craziness, a deep sense of peace and gratitude is present for the blessings that have come my way in recent months. My growing family, my marriage, my work, my health (with its glitches), my friends, my home, my past, my future. I hold all these gifts with reverence and joy, thankfulness and peace. I choose to reflect on them when tired or discouraged, apprehensive or fearful. As the old hymn instructs, I count them, I name them one by one, and I thank God for all He has done.

The gratitude runs deep and wide. Miracles, pockets of delight, joys that were so unexpected, answers to prayer ... intermingled with deep disappointments, ongoing frustrations, and moments of searing heartache. Writing it all down allows me to sort through things, to learn lessons I need to learn. I am learning to contemplate what is true about me and about You, oh God. To explore the impact of these truths. To acknowledge and accept and embrace what You are teaching me. And from all these learnings, freedom and joy and peace spring forth.

You bring truth to my life. You seal it in my heart. You allow me to reflect on all the gifts, great and small, that You have lavished on me. Some make me smile. Others cause me to shed some tears. But they are all deeply-valued gifts, given to me by the One who loves me.

You fill my heart and my hands, my hours and my days. And I offer all back up to You. All that You have blessed me with. It is all Yours to own, to control.

And I like it that way. You have taught me to loosen my grip on all that I consider valuable. And so I choose to present these priceless treasures back to You.

They're all Yours anyway, aren't they, Lord ...
Linda

"MapQuest" Jesus

"Discernment both eludes us and surprises us because it's more about relationship than outcomes. God is not a dispatcher of answers from a faraway office, but an up-close-and-personal being who wants to converse back and forth with us. God is relentlessly relational, inviting us into an interactive life so that discernment and decision making are fleshed out within ongoing nudges within our everyday life with God.

So while people mostly want a 'MapQuest Jesus' from whom they can request directions and find that a map pops up with five 'to-do' items, Jesus will have none of this mechanical approach. We hang out with One who will not be charted or check-boxed."
- Johnson -

Cherishing that ongoing, interactive conversation ~
Linda

"He who walks with the wise grows wise..."

- Proverbs 13:20.

Bitter Roots

How would people describe you? Would they say that you're aggressive? Controlling? Self-righteous?

Do critical, unkind, and sarcastic remarks define your responses to life? Does unbidden resentment ooze out of your tone of voice? Do a string of conflicted relationships lie in your wake?

Bitterness. The Bible says that "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:24). It's not about our words and how we react to what comes our way. It's about unfinished business deep in our souls.

And the sad truth is "a bitter root yields bitter fruit." And untended, those bitter roots grow relentlessly and "defile many" (Hebrews 12:15). And if we were to be really honest and allow the Holy Spirit to shine His light deep into our souls, we'd have to admit that there are roots there that are ugly, twisted, deeply enmeshed. The Bible says that "the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). These roots are what's true about us without the Spirit's active presence. They define who we are without Christ.

But God is not content to leave us where we are! He loves us too much and continues to beckon us to be more like Christ. And He helps us, by His Spirit, to continue to head in that direction.

Perhaps it's time to grapple with some long-neglected pain you've been hauling around. To finally confront some deep anguish of the soul that's preventing you from living a joy-filled, healthy life. To wrestle with some forgiveness issues that must be tended to. To begin to respond to this defect of the heart that many of us attempt, always unsuccessfully, to hide ...

Let's begin to cooperate with God in digging out those roots that are strangling our souls and marring our testimonies ~

Linda

How to Hear God Speak #3

We have discovered from Luke 8:4-15 that Jesus taught us how to hear God's voice. Our attitude or mindset makes a huge difference in listening to God. We learned: #1 from the soil that was hard packed - Cultivate an Open Mind; #2 from the ground that is shallow - Allocate Time to Listen.

The third attitude Jesus explains by describing soil that that allows the plant to grow, but the growth is stunted and choked to death by thorns and weeds. Here, we learn Step #3 from the ground that yielded weeds and briars - Eliminate Distractions. When our minds are too crowded with thoughts, worries, plans, goals, bills, etc the words that God speaks to us are crowded out. Ever experienced that when you went to pray and you could not concentrate because everything else came into your mind?

A pre-occupied mind produces a distracted, unproductive life. God does have plans for your life - don't allow all the other things to push them out. Jesus describes some of the distractions:
1. Worries - the pressures that pull us in different directions.
2. Riches - Busy, busy, busy making money.
3. Pleasures - God does give us our senses to enjoy life and to enjoy pleasure but recreation cannot be focal point of life.
4. Relationships - Fostering relationships that occupy all of our time, making it impossible to develop our relationship with Christ.
5. Responsibility - Always busy with projects and things that crowd out the time we could spend listening to God.

What are the weeds in your life that choke out God's voice? Weeds grow because of neglect. It does not take any effort to grow weeds - they grow overnight by themselves!

Time to weed the garden and make room for joy, peace, and purpose ~

Bob

Hearing the Voice of God, Part #2

Continuing with our series on listening to how we can hear God speak - we discovered on October 28th (see post) that our listening needs to be tuned by #1 Cultivating an Open Mind (Luke 8:5,12)

Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower in Luke 8:6,13 that the second type of soil (attitude) is one that is shallow. The ground in this type of soil of the heart is only about 4" deep and is on top of bed rock. The seeds do take root quickly, but when the sun shines on the tender plants (problems come), they die because there is no depth.

How can I hear God speak? #2 Allocate Time to Listen.

Be quiet! Schedule an appointment with God and give Him your undivided attention. We cannot hear God when we are in a hurry: "Quick, Lord, speak; I have a lot of things to do today!" We don't treat people we love and want to hear in that fashion! God gets only the left overs with this mindset.

Shallow soil has an emotional reaction to what is heard by a speaker, but the truth of the message never sinks into the heart. We are moved, but there is no life change. As verse 13 says, we "received the word with joy, but. . . . . . The problem is that we can be thrilled but not transformed!

To hear God speak it is important to set aside time to be quiet and listen carefully to the words of the Lover of you soul.

Listening ~ Bob

Guidance Counselor

Unsure of the next step on your journey? Simply ask God to open and close doors. And then watch with amazement and gratitude as He answers, directs, and provides.

In Awe ~

Linda

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"
- Ephesians 3:20-21.