Wanting What God Wants

When we want something other than what God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.”[1]

C. S. Lewis

I believe I can say with confidence that there are few, if any, people on the face of the earth who do not want to be happy. A large amount of our energy is spent running after, or trying to obtain happiness. We look for satisfaction in the things we buy, in the people we choose to surround ourselves with, and how we approach our careers and vocations.

Society tells us that the only way to be happy is to be true to your inner self. The only problem with that is that the majority of us have trouble deciding what we want off the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant, much less searching through the deepest parts of our soul to find that part which is authentic, if indeed there is one.

My question in this dialogue is, “Why would we spend so much time searching for what has already been found? Why do we go on the quest that has already been accomplished? If we want to how to operate a piece of technology in the most beneficial manner, it is usually best to consult the manual or to ask someone who knows a great deal about the piece of equipment in which we are interested? God qualifies in every aspect of that issue, but often he is the very last person we want to consult.

We fear that God will make us start something we really don’t want to do or require that we cease an activity that has become a personal favorite.

The truth of the matter is that God has programmed us to find peace, happiness, and satisfaction  in any kind of ultimate sense only as we conform to his standards. Anything else is a shadow of that ultimate reality, temporal and fleeting.

This season, as we light the candle representing love, consider Christ, the one who gave himself that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.

Pastor Craig

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[1] #CSLewis at Twitter.com

God With Us!

The sky is gray. The water is black. The air is cold. My cell phone is down to 4%. I have no electricity. The house is quiet because the fans blowing heat do not operate. There is no television to provide background noise. The two noises I do hear are the snoring of a dog and the rhythm of a grandfather clock. Even the hum of the refrigerator, which I dare not open lest it lose valuable cold, is silent. In the midst of this I find humor. I am trying to banish cold from one place while doing all I can to keep it in another.     

I wait for deliverance. In no way do I want to equate Oncor with my Savior. However, it is in times like these, even when our “suffering” is so trivial, that we are reminded of Advent. We get so comfortable. We love our conveniences, and we don’t know what to do when they are gone, even if it is only for a brief period.

Deliverance is a beautiful thing. It is the anticipation that pushes our patience to the limit. It is the only thing that our modern secularized Christmas has retained from its original. Children and many adults, waiting to see what has been left under our tree. For some of us, the wait is excruciating.

All those Advent hymns begin to make sense now: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, O Come, O Come, Emanuel, Prepare the Way. Then finally to burst forth with the praises of Joy to the World, Good Christian Men, Rejoice, Go, Tell It on the Mountain, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.

In Isaiah, the Lord promised king Ahaz deliverance from foreign invaders. He wanted to show the strength of His commitment to Ahaz by binding it with a sign. Yahweh God said, “Ask the Lord you God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

Ahaz, trapped in his own self-righteousness turned down the chance to see God’s power first-hand.

God’s response through the prophet Isaiah? “Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: A virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Emmanuel!”

Ahaz did not live to see that sign, nor did Isaiah, but we have seen what they did not. We live in the rejoicing when they lived in the anticipating. We now live in the anticipating of the victorious second return – Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus!

Pastor Craig

Doing Advent Right!

If Christ is the revelation of the whole meaning of humanity, if the meaning of human life is solely and entirely to be found in the fact that I am a child of God, then everything in my life becomes relevant or irrelevant in proportion as it tends to my growth as a member of Christ, as a child of God, and the extension of Christ in the world of humankind through his Church.[1]

Advent: A time spent in reflection and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. If the quote we began this short essay with is true, then we are doing advent very, VERY wrong.

Now, without getting all negative and ruining the Christmas spirit you are trying so hard to create at this time of year. If Lent, another season of preparation that most evangelical Christians would rather overlook, is about our life in reverse and thinking about our past sins and the lengths our Creator chose to take to assure our relationship with him, then Advent must be about looking to the future and how we should be living that we might glorify our Savior when he comes again. Think about it again. Lent is about our past and motivates us to glorify God in the season of Easter for he tremendous gift of our salvation. Advent is about the present and future, where we look at where we are ask, “How is my present life showing forth my citizenship as a child of the Kingdom of God?”

Few of us wish to put ourselves through such a period of examination. Most of us would rather sing another verse of Joy to the World and light another candle. But, Christianity is a faith that seeks to move us forward. Sometimes the best way to do that is to take a good look at the road traveled thus far, thanking God for his guidance grace and mercy for putting up with us. Other times, the best way to do that is to take stock of where we are and plan for the journey that is yet in front of us, making sure our road is straight and our pace is steady.

So, how do we approach this season we begin today? How do we keep it from being a mournful time? None of us, including myself want to, entirely, give up those rousing Christmas hymns that remind us of shepherds and angel songs and kings on long journeys to humble places? I think we do that by embracing the true meaning of this season. We look at where we are, we celebrate God’s continued faithfulness in the midst of our ever so glaring failings, we set our hearts on our destination, and we gird ourselves to complete the journey ahead. All of this we do with the firm reliance on God’s continued faithfulness, on the Spirit’s continued guidance, and the Son’s ever forgiving and restoring grace; the things of which those great Christmas hymns have always been made.

Let us light the Candle of Hope – again.

Pastor Craig

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[1] Thomas Merton The Good News of the Nativity