Author: kezha1

It was 700 years between Isaiah’s prophecy of, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) and the actual virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Isaiah used the strictest sense of the word for virgin in his prophecy, as did Mary herself when the angel announced to her this miraculous conception… she asked him, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (or in other words, emphatically stating, ” I have absolutely not known a man sexually)?” The virgin birth is one of the greatest mysteries, and those who do not believe it usually don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus was born of a woman to demonstrate that He was indeed human and one of us…minus one thing though… and that because He was also fully God, He was not born with a sin nature.

John is warning us of the power & alluring pull of Babylon…the siren song of seduction calling us to love the things of the world rather than loving Jesus. This world system opposed to God wants us to follow it…drawing us away from Christ with all its glitz & glamor, money & power, immorality & lust. In II Corinthians 6:17, Paul quotes portions from both Isaiah 52:11 & Ezekiel 20:34 concerning Babylon when he wrote, “Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord.” He had just told the Church not to be yoked with unbelievers…to be in the world but not of it… and instead to separate themselves from anything that would cause them to love the world more than they loved God.

If you profess Jesus as your Lord & Savior, people are watching you. They want to know if your character, natural attitude, and prevailing tendencies are just for use on Sunday mornings only, or if they extend throughout the week. They’re watching you in difficult situations at work, school, and home…keenly observing if the talk you talk matches the walk you walk. That’s because it’s so easy to fall prey to our muddled inner nature…where we’re easily led astray when provoked. They’re watching you, not even realizing that they’re actually seek the Lord through you as you imitate Him.  

Paul is writing this letter from prison. The two groups of people he’s writing about here both preach Christ, but it’s their motives & attitudes that are starkly different. One group preaches Christ in a righteous & noble fashion. Their love for Paul is real, and they understand fully that he is “In chains for Christ.” The other group is envious of Paul’s stature and following, even from prison…and respond negatively to his success. Yes, they do preach Christ in a fashion, but it’s out of self-seeking duplicity…and a vying for power & prestige. To them, preaching Christ has become a competition… and a spreading of dissension among the brethren.

Faith is seeing His light with your heart… when all your eyes see is darkness. The Holiday Season is difficult for many to navigate through. There can be sadness from losing a loved one, contending with our own declining health, or stepping on eggshells around a ongoing family feud. All our eyes see is gloom, anxiety, and pain. But it tells us here to not fix our eyes on the darkness but rather on God’s light. I John 1:5 says that, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” And when we do seek His light with all our heart, it’s like a lamp shining brightly into the darkness around us…dispelling the somber murkiness.  Or as the great Faith Chapter in Hebrews begins, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Taking care of yourself is an important and essential part of taking care of others. Right now you may have a newborn in the house, a gaggle of toddlers, a elderly parent, or a infirmed spouse demanding all your time, energy, and attention. But if you do not attend to your our physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing…they could be potentially going it alone without you. The stats are eye opening…30% of caregivers die before the people they are caring for. Caregiving demands result in increased stress, which results in poor health because of neglect, which ultimately takes it toll. When it comes to caregiving of any type, it makes sense to “Put your own oxygen mask on before you assist others.” as well as looking to God for peace, comfort, strength, and wisdom. ”I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.” (Psalm 40:17)

Think about this for a moment…both fear & faith demand that we believe in something we cannot see. Fear saturates our mind with the “what ifs”…(what if this happens, or that happens)…all the while making it difficult to think clearly as these unseen scenarios swirl around in our head. But it’s almost more difficult to believe by faith that God sovereignly controls all our circumstances, including this one. We are told to live by faith & not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7), which is so easy to say and yet so hard to do. So here we stand at the crossroads of fear & faith, with both demanding we make a choice.

God causes all things to happen in their own time…according to His plan, purpose, and timetable. Psalm 31:15 reminds us that all our “times” are in God’s hand. But what about the times when we impatiently wait, asking Him over & over, “When Lord?” Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Mercy may seem slow, but it is sure. The Lord in unfailing wisdom has appointed a time for the outgoings of His gracious power, and God’s time is the best time.” So remember, most of the time, our timing isn’t God’s timing…and we have to decide to be content with that… knowing that His timing is always proper, appropriate, and fitting.

Jesus gave the common Hebrew word peace a new & deeper meaning when He spoke this to His disciples. When He told them He was giving them “His peace” it meant a true reconciliation with God, purchased by His death on the Cross. But many times as we’re caring for a loved one at home this peace is replaced by worry. It’s as if worry is a intrusive houseguest that refuses to leave…reminding us in detail of every problem, every health concern, and everything we have no control over. But we need to then remember that when our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace…because, “The Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63) And so with this new found peace, we can push worry out the door, look fully into our Lord’s face, and receive His quiet contentment for another day.

The Cross of Christ not only broke the grip of the Law, but it broke the grip of our flesh…the word crucified here used metaphorically to mean our flesh has been crucified along with its affections and lusts…putting it all to death through our faith in Jesus Christ. What this means is a giving up of my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. But our corrupt nature won’t leave quietly & without a fight…for even a child can tell you what’s evil, morally bad, and wrong…but what we do all the time is debate over what’s good…splitting hairs over our definition of what’s “good & good enough” in order to still have our own way. As Romans 6:6 tells us, sin reigned in our “old self” but it was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with…destroying the reign of sin in our bodies.