Come on – you know you want to. You tell yourself every now and again that you are going to do it more and do it better.  You’ve tried it before, and you do it now – but not as often as you’d really like.  But then, like lots of New Year’s Resolutions, life gets busy, interest wanes, and follow-through suffers. I’m talking about amping up your worship life and ramping up your knowledge of the Bible. Below are six reasons why both are extremely important.  There’s no better time than the New Year to renew your personal resolve to do them.  Give these a read.  Spend a little time thinking about them.  And then ask God to help you do something about them.  You’ll be glad you did!

Six Reasons for Worship and Bible Study Each Week

Jesus is worthy of worship because he died to save me.(Revelation 5:12)  "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

God blesses me regularly, so it’s only appropriate that I worship him regularly.
(Lamentations 3:22-23)  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. {23} They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Jesus invites me to come to him for rest for my soul that is burdened by anxiety, fear, and guilt.
(Matthew 11:28)  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Holding on to all of God’s Word is just what true disciples of Jesus do:
(John 8:31)  "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

My children are watching me to see what is important, so it’s important that I model willing worship and life-long learning in the Word of God.
(Ephesians 6:4)  "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

I need encouragement for my spiritual life, and others need it from me.  Worship and Bible class are two of the best places for this to happen.
(Hebrews 10:25)  "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

When I was a farm kid growing up in Saginaw County, Michigan, Christmas was a wonderful time.  It isn’t that we had a big house festooned with lights.  It was actually a very modest farmhouse, parts of it dating back to the late 1800’s.  We didn’t have a real fireplace, but every year Dad would assemble a cardboard one made to look like bricks.  We could hardly wait until it was up so we could hang our stockings on it.  We always had a real tree, but it couldn’t be very big because our living room was pretty small.  But once it was up and decorated I loved lying on the floor with my head under the tree looking up through the branches at the decorations and lights as I listened to Christmas music.  One of my favorites was an LP by Perry Como.  One side contained a telling of the Christmas story with songs and carols along the way.  There lying on the living floor it was warm and comfortable and the sights and sounds were, well, Christmas.

But we did live on a farm – a working dairy farm. (emphasis on the word working).  And no matter the season and no matter how warm it was in the house and cold outside, the cattle needed to be fed, milked and tended.  It was hard work, but most of the time I didn’t really mind.  In fact, I rather enjoyed it.  Most of the time. 

I guess I was about 10 years old when it happened.  I had to go out and help do the evening chores.  Neither of my sisters had to go out in the cold and into the cowbarn to help, but I did.  I didn’t like it that day.  I wanted to be in the house in my Christmas position near the tree enjoying the pleasant sights and sounds of Christmas.  But here I was out on a cold starry night in a barn warmed only by the body heat of the cows.  They stood there in their stalls contentedly munching their feed, while I could have been inside watching some Christmas special on TV and eating popcorn.  All I could hear in the barn was their jostling in the straw and the occasional bleating of one of the young calves in the other end of the barn; sometimes a cow would let out a low “moo,” but that it was it.  Nothing Christmas-y about that.  No Perry Como, just that annoying “moo.”  And it sure wasn’t Christmas cookies in the oven I was smelling, but rather corn and hay after it’s been run through a cow.  And my sisters were inside and I was stuck out there.  So I just went about my work with a bit of a resentful attitude in the last place I wanted to be that night.

I don’t know when it hit me.  Perhaps I was humming one of those carols of Christmas.  Perhaps the words of Perry that I had memorized came to mind, “There was no room in the inn, so his mother lay baby Jesus in the soft sweet hay of a manger.”  All I recall now is that it suddenly dawned on me:  Were these very sounds that I am hearing the first ones to fall on the ears of baby Jesus?  Before the angels sang or the shepherds came adoring, was it the gentle bleating of a calf or the low reassuring moo of a cow what lulled him to sleep?  Was this warmth produced by the closeness of cattle what warmed him on that night? Is this rich, earthy smell what greeted his first moments in the world?  And then I realized that on that cold night in a warm barn with no colored lights, no carols, no cookies, and no Perry Como I was in the best place I could have been to truly appreciate what Christmas is – what it really is. 

I still remember that night every year when Christmas comes around.  I’m glad for it.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness and the sparkling festive trimmings of this season, that I could almost forget what that first Christmas was.  God himself came into the flesh to serve sinners.  He was born in a barn, a place of work, as if God were saying, “Roll up your sleeves, Son, you’ve got a world to save and it won’t get done without you.”  And that’s what Jesus did.  His whole life every day working away at keeping God’s law so that we could stand before God today righteous in his sight.  And then in the last big labor of love he went to the cross to atone for our sins and redeem us to be God’s own. 

So, merry Christmas!  Celebrate it in the stable in your memory, but celebrate Jesus in your heart!  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:  a Savior has been born to you – he is Christ the Lord!

Nothing particularly spiritual about this blog.  And this one is mostly for guys.  There are only a few shopping days left until Christmas.  This is the time when people start to panic.  When people panic, poor gift choices are made.  When poor gift choices are made, bad things happen in relationships.  This bit of advice is for the guys out there who are in a bit of  a panic about what to get their Sweetheart for Christmas.  Do. Not. Panic.  I’m going to give you a bit of advice to keep you from really messing this up.  (Don’t ask me how I learned these lessons.)  Here are some very simple rules to keep you out of trouble and make her Christmas (and, therefore, yours) merry:

Christmas Shopping Don’ts for Men

1.  If you are going to shop for clothes for her, go through her closet and check the sizes on things she wears.  When you are standing in a store your male visual calibration of what looks like it will fit her is way off.  If you do resort to guessing, do not – I repeat – do not guess big.  That will inevitably trigger the terrifying question, “Do you think I’m this big?”  Anything you say at that point only makes it worse.  So write those sizes down, guys!

2.  Do not buy her exercise equipment.  Even if she has admired the latest exercise gizmo on TV, do not give that as a Christmas gift.  There’s no way that gift does not sound like, “You’re a little out of shape, Sweetie.”  Merry Christmas is pretty much done at that point.

3.  Here’s one my wife clued me in on when we were first married.  Thankfully, she told me this before I made the mistake of doing this.  This one is really simple:  If it has a power cord attached to it, don’t buy it as a Christmas gift.  Vacuum cleaners, mixers, etc. are all related to domestic tasks.  And while those things may make those tasks easier, they are in no way romantic.  They do not say, “Merry Christmas, Darling!”  They say, “Get to work.” 

Christmas Shopping Do’s for Men

1.  Jewelry hardly ever fails.   And before you wrap it, tuck a little note in the box with a short simple statement of why this jewelry would never really look its best until it was on her.  Explain that even jewelry deserves a shot at being close to her. 

2.  Usually gift certificates are not good choices (Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, etc.).  Gift certificates to a nice spa that she can use for whatever treatments she’d like say, “You deserve to be pampered by folks who know how to do this girlie stuff really well.”  And the truth is, she does.

3.  Want to pull out all the stops?  Get those sizes (all sizes from inside out) and buy her an entire outfit – including foundations (women sales people will know what that is even if you don’t).  Extra points of you accessorize with some “bling.”  Then take her on a surprise date to a nice restaurant.   That says, “I really thought about this and the more I thought about it the more I just wanted to be with you on a nice date.”

So there it is, guys.  Some Christmas shopping advice from a guy who’s learned a thing or two over a lot of Christmases and by a lot of mistakes.  I hope it helps.  Have a merry Christmas and make Jesus, the best gift ever given, the center of your celebration!

There’s this poingnant little verse that comes at the end of Psalm 2:  “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  It comes at the end of a Psalm in which God is describing how some conspire against him, who see his saving activity as an intrusion on their independence.  It goes on to point out two big ideas:  one, human efforts to throw off God’s rule of the universe and thwart his plans have failed and will always fail; two, the Savior God has given us will be met either as Savior or as condemning Judge.  I get what that means, do you?  It’s actually a good advent message:  God in his love and mercy has set about to rescue us from the guilt and punishment of our sins.  Those who trust in his finished work in that regard have the blessing of peace with God now and forever.  Those who don’t trust him as Savior will stand before him naked and alone with nothing but their own rebellion hanging on them in tattered rags.  The urgent advent message is clear, isn’t it?  Jesus is coming – prepare to receive him!

And that brings me to a delightful little incident that is a powerful portrayal of that passage from Psalm 2.  It happened this past Saturday morning as church members were busy decorating God’s House for the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany season.  Little Aubrey was drawn to the nativity figures that stand in the chancel right in front of the lectern where I read the Scripture readings each week.  She leaned over and gave Mary a hug because that’s what Mom’s deserve – especially that one.  She reached over and patted Joseph on the hand as if to say, “Steady hand there, foster Daddy of Jesus.  He’s quite a little boy.”  And then she leaned over the manger and gave baby Jesus a little kiss.  And there it was, Psalm 2:12 come to life.  She knew that little baby as her Savior.  She knows the story of what he would grow up to do for her.  She knows to be true what she sang in Sunday School the next morning:  “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white – they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  She kissed him because that’s how he met her at her baptismal font and that’s how her awesome Mom and Dad taught her to approach Jesus.  And that’s why it never occurred to her to fear that little Savior in the stable.  There’s nothing scary about a Savior who loves you so much he’s willing to sacrifice himself for you. 

So from one portly preacher to a pint-sized one:  thanks for the awesome sermon, Aubs.  You nailed it!

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My wife loves Christmas.  She loves to bake for it.  She loves to have people to our home to celebrate it.  She loves to find gifts that will gladden hearts.  And she loves to decorate.  A lot.  We are way past one Christmas tree at our house.  They range from the little two-footer that sits on our entertainment center in the living room to the seven-footer that contains all the Christmas ornaments our children made over their growing up years.  But this year she decided that since we have a high ceiling in the living room she would like a really big tree.  She found one on sale.  She put it on layaway - mostly so Walmart could store it until December 1st. 

Today was the day to bring it home and put it up.  What a beautiful tree!  A striking twelve-footer!  The problem is the ceiling is at eleven feet six inches.  No matter what we tried, there was no way to fit that tree into the room.  It was just too big.  I suppose we could have made it fit if we had cut something off one end or the other, or if we had cut a hole in the ceiling.  But that would be artificially making the room taller or the tree smaller.  So back we went to the store for a slightly smaller one.

As I think about that “too big tree” drama from today, it seems a fitting metaphor for the real miracle of this season.  It is humanly impossible to fit our infinite God into the space of a virgin’s womb.  Medical science could never have made Mary big enough to accommodate Him.  Human reason could only make Him fit into the space available by making Him less than he is.  But God could do it.  He said He was going to.  He sent the angel to Mary with just that announcement:  “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”  (Luke 1:30-32 NIV).  He promised the impossible - and He did the impossible.  The Apostle Paul said it as clearly as it can be said, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”  (Colossians 2:9, NIV) 

All that it is to be God – that’s what Jesus was and is.  Even when He chose to lay aside the full use of His infinite power and knowledge He was not diminished in any way.  It’s good that He wasn’t. He had infinite work to do – to atone for every sin of every sinner and to provide perfect righteousness to clothe every sinner.  He did that, too.  Stand at the manger and as you marvel at how small Jesus was, listen as the prophet Isaiah whispers in awed tones, “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short that it cannot save.”  (Isaiah 59:1 NIV)  Those tiny arms grew and one day were stretched out on a cross and saved us from the guilt and punishment for our sins.  Jesus was and is just the right size to save.  That is the miracle of the season and it is the marvelous heart of the gospel.  Deck the halls!  Ring the bells!  Light the lights!  This is the season we celebrate God doing the impossible!