The Christmas Love Story

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  A time to be merry, to celebrate the Savior’s story. Young and old alike sing the yuletide chorus, giving the Father glory. We recount the tale of shepherds and their flocks on a cold winter night. We celebrate the light that shined so bright in deep darkness. The Angels sang Glory to God in the highest as Love came down from Heaven, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger. Anyhow you look at it, Christmas is one big love story. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

God sent His son to the world through  a virgin betrothed to be married to Joseph the Carpenter. Joseph’s romantic dreams were shattered when Mary announced she was with child. Joseph loved Mary dearly, and he had held the conviction that she was the woman for him. However, Joseph was also a “just” man, a keeper of the law. According to the law “If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death” (Deuteronomy 22: 23 -24). Also “If a man marries a girl who claimed to be a virgin, and then finds out that she is not, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father’s house and there her townsmen shall stone her to death” (Deut. 22:20). He knew the law demanded her public disgrace and even death.

 Many a man would say “if I cannot have her, I will ruin her for any other man” but not so Joseph! This man was far ahead of his generation! At a time when the law taught men to give an eye for an eye and mete out just retribution for sin, he extended grace to Mary from his broken heart. After much soul searching, he determined to put her away privately and spare her the drama of public disgrace. The Lord took notice and spoke to Joseph in a dream. But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” “She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20).

If like Joseph someone has broken your heart, betrayed your trust, or let you down, Christmas is a good time to extend the grace of forgiveness to them. Let us put away the thirst for revenge and let God be the judge. Sometimes we are so concerned that our offenders should get the deserved punishment for their sin that we lose our peace. The question is “How do you even know the just recompense for sin?” Do you know the exact measure of retribution appropriate for the hurt you received?  Joseph had a hard time determining an appropriate course of action because he tried to put Mary’s “sin” on a scale against the backdrop of who he knew her to be.  Alas! Only God knows what is in man! Only God is able to weigh the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  When we sit on the seat of the avenger we take the place of God. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:18 &19).

After much thought, Joseph found a place of temporary relief.  He would put Mary away quietly and protect her from public disgrace but God told him, “No Joseph, not so fast!” His life was deeply intertwined with the greatest Love story ever told. Joseph was instructed to take Mary in, and give her and the child a roof over their heads. God told Joseph he will have the honor of naming the Messiah; “You are to give him the name Jesus” What an honor Joseph had! I thank God that he swallowed his pride and went with God’s plan. Today, every time the story of redemption is told, his name is written in letters of gold. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul admonishes; "If it is at all possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men" (Romans 12:18).

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32)

In Retrospect...

 

 I love the month of November! Not just because it is my birth month, but also for what it brings. It is that time of year when people get to step back from the hustle and bustle of life, spend time with family and friends, and thank God for His many blessings. So often, however, we only get to thank God in retrospect, after we have been through the situations in our lives.  While in that moment, we are too busy seeing what “could have been” or “should have been,” to appreciate God for what is. 

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Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”  “How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil (2 Kings 4: 1-2).  Like the widow in the story, when faced with a situation, our mind quickly goes to what we do not have; “I don’t have a husband, I don’t have money” The man of God was trying to redirect her by asking “What do you HAVE?”A  roof over your head? A jar of oil?  Some friendly neighbors?

I heard a preacher say recently “looking back now, I realize I had good children, but I didn’t know it then!” How sad that we should miss out of the pleasure of enjoying God’s blessings because we are too engrossed with our perceived lack or discontent. The Bible says God brought the first animals to Adam to see what Adam would call them. I picture a loving father sitting back to enjoy the child’s squeals of delight as he unwraps his gifts. At that moment, it’s all worth it! The thoughtfulness that went into selecting the gift, the money and time spent, the sacrifice made, all pale in comparison to the pure delight of a grateful child. We rob God of that same delight when we are ungrateful.

The book of Ruth tells a captivating bible story. There was a famine in Israel. Naomi and her husband Elimelech along with their two sons left Bethlehem, the house of bread, to Moab where they thought to find bread. They ended up dwelling in the land of Moab, and Naomi lost her husband and two sons there. Then she heard that the Lord had blessed Israel and there was food in her home country again. As she returned to the land with Ruth her daughter in-law, Naomi raised a bitter lamentation saying “I went away full, but now I return empty.” In retrospect, Naomi could say that she was “full” because even though she lacked bread or food at the time, she was blessed with a husband and two sons. Isn’t it interesting how we do not quite appreciate what we've got until we lose it? At this point, she would have gladly borne temporary pangs of hunger to have her husband and sons beside her again.

What do we learn from these stories? Be thankful for little things; a roof over your head, the love of family and friends, the oil (or money) in reserve, a neighbor that cares, and a God you can call Abba Father! He is the one who promised that He will never leave you or forsake you. He has assured you, “I have good plans for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope, to bring you to your expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). Even for that alone, you can be thankful! Don’t wait to look back, thank God now!

Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Silent Whispers

Communication is a vital part of building and nurturing any relationship. I love to communicate by talking,  especially with the people I hold close to my heart. For a long time, I wondered why my husband just would not talk, or when he did, why he spoke only a few words. Being the super expressive talker that I am, I often found this very frustrating! Then I found out my second son was just like him! For the other two children, I sometimes have to tell them to stop talking for a minute so I can think. On the other hand, everyone in the house stops to listen with strained ears when my second son finally braces up to say something! It is this son that is the subject of my reflection today.

A while ago, as we had our shared family time,the light bulbs finally went off for me! I must confess that I was at a different place at the time. I had come to the place of quietness in my heart. I was reaching out to God to help me reach my children, and I was listening in my spirit for God’s leading.Then I saw it! My son who I thought rarely spoke a thing, was speaking a lot during the family time, he just was not using audible words.He was speaking with the arching of his eye brows, the snapping of his fingers, the nodding of his head, the shrugging of his shoulders.In that moment, I realized that he had been doing those things all along. Even though he did not say a lot, he spoke volumes! I was the one who did not understand his language! And you know what was funny? His siblings understood him thoroughly! In fact there was a dialogue going on! They would respond verbally to his non-verbal expressions with a laugh, a question, or a remark. At some point I had to ask them what the conversation was, and they graciously explained it all to me. I just sat there and wondered, how could I have missed this all along?

Perhaps like me, you are blessed with a spouse, a child, or someone dear to you heart that does not talk much, and you have come to your wit’s end trying to decipher what they have on their mind. Perhaps you should pray for the Holy Spirit to help you decode their language. God, being gracious, will open your eyes to see things about them you have not seen or understood before. He will help you to be tuned in to the frequency of their communication wavelength. Suddenly, you will see and understand the arching of the brows, you will hear the unspoken whispers, you will feel the desperate yearning of their hearts.  I never thought I would say this, but it is okay to respond to unspoken words. Who cares for words when the heart has spoken so loudly?

The Lord responded to Sarah’s unspoken doubts after He gave Abraham a sure word of promise regarding the birth of their son Isaac;   Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’…(Genesis 18: 11-13). Sarah did not share her doubts with Abraham, “she laughed to herself” But in asking that question, God made Abraham aware of what his wife was really saying . It was Abraham’s duty to take it up from there; For how can two walk together except they be agreed?

If you do not know how to proceed in communication with that person in your life, ask God. "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). God is interested in our relationships and He wants to help us build lasting relationships, so that our human connections will be an avenue to allow His purpose ad His will to be done on the earth, just as it is in Heaven.

The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech;  night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world (Psalm 19: 1- 4).

All Roads Lead Home

We live in a broken world with disintegration all around. According to Chinua Achebe, the great African writer; “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold!” The social construct is falling apart, governments are failing, the Church is threatened on every side, and family units are breaking apart by the day! The magnitude of the attack against the family is concerning, to say the least. Employers give bonuses for longer hours on the job, parents have no idea who their children really are, or what they are up to. Technological gadgets, gaming, internet entertainment, and the lure of the virtual world, pull the young and old alike farther away from the family table!

The Book of Nehemiah tells us how one man saw a need to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem, and took action to execute the burden God placed in his heart. God gave him favor all the way, providing and protecting, until the work was completed. Then God opened Nehemiah’s eyes to see that although the wall was built, something was missing; “Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families” (Nehemiah 7:4-5).

It is striking that God’s plan for rebuilding a nation involved bringing families together, strengthening the very fabric that weave the nation together. It was no coincidence that during Nehemiah’s building project, Benjamin and Hasshub built the section, which was right in front of their houses; and Azariah, the son of Maaseiah and grandson of Ananiah, built the next section, which was in front of his own house (Nehemiah 3:23). God is calling us back to our families and we must start rebuilding from our homes!

In another account, the book of Ezra reports a listing of families that returned from captivity. Some men had trouble providing proof of their genealogy. “These searched for their family records, but they could not find them, and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.” (Ezra 2:62-63). How many of us have been excluded from the holy things of God because of our inability to maintain wholesome family records? The Church can accomplish so much more, if the links within our families are stronger. A man of God put it this way "Before there ever was a church, there was a family"

Some of us have immediate family members that we are not on talking terms with. We harbor feelings of anger and bitterness against our own blood; yet we extend a hand of love to people we meet along the way. As I ponder on these things I am reminded of the Bible verse that says; “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). God’s question to Cain is echoed to us today. Surprisingly, we may have answers very similar to the words of Cain. Yet we want God to draw us in, we want God to bless us, we want to enjoy privileges of belonging to God’s family while we ignore the family of our birth or the family that is ours by marriage. God is not pleased with this!

God spoke through the mouth of His prophet “ You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant (Malachi 2: 13 & 14). On the flip side, many wives grieve the Lord because they rebel against God's divine order in the home. Consider a woman who has no problem submitting to other men, but struggles with issues of submission to her husband, either because the man she married is not tall enough, not smart enough, or not man enough! Yet the bible says “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).

As much as I believe in the unifying power of the blood of Jesus, I also believe that God placed us in our biological families for a purpose. We have to start building from our Jerusalem before spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. Husbands and wives must let God use their relationship to demonstrate Kingdom love on the earth. Parents must take their responsibility of raising Godly seeds seriously, and children must go back to honoring their parents, just as the Lord commanded. "Honor your father and mother, then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). This is an encouragement to rise up to the challenge of rebuilding the broken walls of family relationships. It may seem like a very daunting task, but with God nothing shall be impossible!

Jesus had performed an extraordinary miracle in the land of the Gadarenes, He healed a man tormented by demons who dwelt among the tombs. As Jesus was getting into the boat to leave, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Much to the man's surprise, Jesus turned down his request. Instead, He said to the man “Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how merciful he has been to you (Mark 5:18 &19). Some of us have noble dreams to work for God. Perhaps God would have you start from your home, ministering to your spouse, your children, your loved ones.



“But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve….But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).

Someone's Standing at the Door

Some years ago, it was common for Christians reaching out to others with the good news of salvation to ask, “Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?” Then some people who do not have that kind of a relationship would shift uncomfortably in their seats, and become defensive. So in a bid to lighten up the air, the question was rephrased to “Do you go to church?” or “Where do you go to church?” Now, to be clear on this matter, going to church and having a relationship with the Lord are not the same thing. No, not at all! Empty religion is man’s effort or man’s rules to reach God. Some people engage in church activities without an active relationship with God in a bid to quench the emptiness in our souls. God is calling us into something deeper. He is calling us into a vibrant relationship with Him!

In the book of 1^st Samuel 3:1, we are told that Samuel had been ministering to the Lord in the temple. Yet verse 8 tells us that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.” If you are engaged in service in the house of God, I salute you. There is no higher calling, no greater honor a man can have, than to be enrolled in the service of the Almighty God. However, we must know the God that we serve. His presence must abide with us beyond the church walls, His power pervading our day to day lives. We must receive God’s  love expressed through His Son, and respond with all we have within us. God came seeking Samuel in the dead of the night. He may be knocking at the door of your heart right at this moment. 

Religion without a personal relationship with the Lord is like trying to live without breathing! It is like licking the skin of a mango fruit without ever reaching its juicy pulp! To know the Lord is different from knowing about Him. The Apostle Paul sighed in prayer; “Oh! That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Philippians 3:10). Have you ever felt a jolt of His resurrection power flow through you? Do you desire fellowship with the Lord, even in suffering? Are you willing to give up anything at all for the sake of conforming to Christ? Hard questions? Maybe. However, these questions are necessary as we stop to consider where we are in our walk with God.

Perhaps you are wondering, “How do I even initiate a relationship with a God I cannot see?” Or you say “My life is filled with sin, God would not want anything to do with me!” Well, quit worrying about that, God is the one initiating this relationship! He extended the golden scepter to you when He said, “Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). All you have to do is come to God in repentance, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross, and the burden of sin will no longer be yours to bear. Then you can get started with God on a dynamic and personal relationship that will affect every facet of your life, and make all things brand new.

Above all, entering into a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus, gives you the assurance of spending eternity with God. You then shift your focus from the fleeting things of life to the more enduring things. According to the Apostle Paul, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). When you have this understanding, life takes on a new meaning and you become purposeful in the relationships that you have. Our human affiliations can only reach their highest potential when we are building a lasting relationship with God in the hope of spending eternity with Him.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

Every House is Built by Someone

Some people are fascinated with cars; their intricate designs, their speed, special features, and all. Some others are fascinated by houses!  

Before I ever got to meet my father-in-law (of blessed memory), my husband told me of his fascination with buildings. He described how his father would stand before great architectural edifices, and marvel at the creative imaginations of the designer. Someone had a dream,  a vision, a mental image of a house. With the aid of pencil and paper,  or computer-aided architectural designs, they wrote down what they imagined. Someone else ran with it, got workers together and built the house. Without the builders the house would remain as a figment of the dreamer’s imagination, or at best, a document to be treasured or trashed.


We have been called to build our homes and we all have roles assigned to us by God. For example, if you are a husband, God expects you to love your wife, and the wife must submit to her own husband. Parents should discipline their children and train them up in the way of the Lord, and children must honor and respect their parents; that is God’s commandment! If we lack understanding of our roles, we ought to look into the word of God to find it.  We must pray for grace to fulfil our God-given role. Sometimes we get into the dynamics of who does what. We may even find ourselves playing a dual role, filling in for an absent or lacking spouse or family member.

We must all be careful how we build; what foundation we build upon, and the building materials we choose to work with! For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 3:11).  "Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages who says, 'I will build myself a roomy house with spacious upper rooms, and cut out its windows, paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red” (Jeremiah 22:13-14).

One of the most prominent stories of the old testament is about Queen Esther and the part she played in the deliverance of the Jews. Esther was an orphan who was privileged to have a caring cousin named Mordechai. Perhaps Esther may never have been who she was, and the history of the Jewish nation may be different if Mordechai had not braced up to the responsibility of raising an extremely beautiful  cousin. Some of us are where we are in life today because at different stages of our lives, someone was willing to do a little more and accommodate us. Every house is built by someone!  You may be that “someone” in your family, or to somebody else right now. Do not grow weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap, if you faint not.

Wherever you may find yourself, Whatever responsibilities you have been saddled with, remember;  “Except the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keeps the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1). God is a master-builder, building our lives while calling  us to build with Him. According to 1 Corinthians 3: 9 ‘We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.  The Land owner is God, the fields are His, We are His building, the work of His Hands” It does appear that while we are yet under construction, He calls us to Labor with Him! For years I did not quite grasp that! I thought I had to be finished, complete, in order to build for God. Now I know I can participate with the father in building and be built as I go. 

“Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4)

Lord If You Had Been Here

Have you ever felt let-down by God? Or been in a situation where you had to defend your relationship with God? In the book of John Chapter 11, we read a moving story of the account of Lazarus’s death.

Now a certain man, Lazarus of Bethany was ill. A certain man? No! He was not just any man! He was the brother of Mary. The same Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus, taking in His every word, while her sister Martha cooked in the kitchen to take care of Jesus and the crowd that came with Him. My point is; these were Jesus’ own people! His personal persons!

Their home had been a platform for Jesus’ Ministry. They invested their resources, their time, indeed their very lives in Him. In addition, Jesus personally validated Mary when He said “Only one thing is needed, Mary has chosen the good part, and it shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). 

For one so approved, for a family that close, you would expect that Jesus would drop everything else, and come running when there was a crisis in the family. Lazarus’ sisters took it for granted that Jesus would come quickly too. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God, that God’s son may be glorified by it” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was (John 11:3-5). Really Jesus?! 

Have you prayed long on a certain matter, and expected some quick results, yet it seems like God is taking His time? You may even be tempted to say that He is doing nothing about the situation? 

Well, by the time Jesus eventually showed up at their house, Lazarus had died and had already spent four days in the tomb! When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home (John 11:20). She could not face Him! Jesus was her Hero! “Where were you, Lord, when I needed you most?” she cried within her soul. Now, not only did she have the loss of her brother to deal with, she suddenly became insecure in her relationship with the master. She thought she knew the Lord, almost to the point of being able to predict Him. She knew His itinerary, knew where to get Him. She had seen His compassion when He ministered to the sick. She knew He loved Lazarus! (Or so she thought!) Actually, she didn’t know what she knew anymore! The devil is truly after our relationship with the Lord. He will seize any situation to make us doubt Him.

It would have been okay if she was allowed to grieve privately, but people were everywhere; mourning with her, trying to console her. The problem was: these people associated her with Jesus. They knew Jesus was not just her close friend but a friend to her entire family. They hosted Him in their home. He even ministered to people from her sister’s living room! 

There was no doubt that underneath their feeble attempt at consolation many asked “Where was the miracle worker when this happened?” The weight of her pain,  the pain of her shame kept her back when she heard Jesus was coming. She could not face the Master.

But Jesus understood. Mary’s state was pitiable. Jesus asked for Mary. It was Martha who went to get her. Martha loved the Lord, but she knew Mary lived by His every word. This must be really hard for her. She went and called her sister Mary, saying in private (away from the glare of the sympathizers), “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. (John 11 vs 28 &29). It meant a lot to Mary to know that Jesus still cared. She was thinking; My brother may have died but He asked for me! What the words of many sympathizers could not do, the words of Jesus did for her. She arose quickly!

We may have hit rock bottom in our lives, but there is still a ray of hope left in us. Somehow, we are hoping that the Lord will come fetch us. We long to hear the voice of the One who knows where we are and what we are going through. Someone who understands the magnitude of our pain, the depth of our hurt. Someone who sees us as we really are!

With a pain laden voice Mary said to her Hero who arrived too late, “Lord, if you had been here... my brother would not have died!” What She did not know was that He was there all the time! He followed carefully the proceedings at their house. He told His disciples the same minute Lazarus died. Of course, you know the rest of the story, Jesus raised the dead man back to life, all that is history. Mary and Martha walked away from that experience changed forever! Once more, the Lord pushed the boundaries and limits any man could place on their knowledge of who He is and what He can do.

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.…"(1 Corinthians 13:9-10).