"God's Gifts: Faith in Bethlehem"

Well, I went and kinda hurt myself again. I was just officially discharged from Physical Therapy on Monday (but warned not to push it and lift anything too heavy), and then I had to help carry a whole human being on Wednesday. As I mentioned to one of our FCCers, you can’t go from “Look, I can curl 10 lbs!” to carrying a paraplegic in two days without there being repercussions. But I’m icing my arm and resting it, and hopefully I didn’t do too much damage. Your prayers would be appreciated.

Actually, I know that this time of year, there are a lot of people going through a lot of things that we can be praying for (for instance, it’s hard to be too bummed out about re-injuring my arm when the reason that I did was that I was carrying someone who was completely paralyzed... so arguably, she’s in a worse spot than I am). The problem is, some people’s issues aren’t as outwardly noticeable as paralysis or an arm in a sling. Sometimes, people are struggling financially, or relationally, or emotionally, or psychologically, and the only way that you or I will ever know it is if we invest ourselves in reaching not only out to those around us, but into their lives and their hearts as well. This isn’t something that we should only do around Christmas time each year -- but this time of year is often when those who are hurting in those less-noticeable ways are often hurting the most. So let’s not let our holiday preparations and festivities so fill our awareness that we forget to actively love one another well.

In our sermon series, we continued to look at how God’s gifts can come from the strangest places. For instance, one of the best examples of faith comes to us from a young engaged couple living in a little town in a backwater region of the country -- a town that even one of Christ’s disciples later joked nothing good could ever come from (see John 1:46).

But a 13-14 year old girl believed what an angel told her, even though she was scared. And her young fiancé believed what an angel told him, even though he had doubted his fiancée’s loyalty and purity. Jesus’ Mom decided that it’s more important that God’s will should be done than her own will -- and it’s nice to know that later, in Gethsemane, Jesus could remember seeing that faith being lived out in His own home as a boy. Jesus’ Dad decided that it was important to be righteous but in a way that still protected a woman seemingly caught in adultery -- and it’s nice to know that later, teaching at the Temple with a woman thrown down in front of Him, Jesus could remember seeing that grace being lived out in His own home as a boy.

Both Mary and Joseph trusted in God’s leading and authority. They didn’t just follow, and they didn’t just hope for the best -- they had faith, and “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (see Hebrews 11:1). If you can’t see the proof right in front of you, but you still have faith, that usually comes from knowing something crucial, and they did. They knew that God is a trustworthy and faithful Master, and knowing that, they had genuine peace, resting in His capable hands.

Let’s lift one another up and encourage one another to that sort of faith today.

And throughout the holiday season.

And every day, really...