Throw it Down

     Moses would have been trembling in his shoes if he were wearing any, but when God tells you to take off your shoes, you go barefoot. He couldn't believe what was being asked of him. He didn't have anything that God could use. All he had was a stick, a little defense in an offensive world. He really couldn't believe the next request. God wanted him to throw down his only source of comfort, his stick. Reluctantly, Moses threw his stick down thinking, "This can't get any worse." only to see he was wrong.

  

     His stick was now a snake. Yes, a snake. As he turned to run, he heard the Lord say, "Moses, pick up your stick." Gathering up his courage, he grabbed the snake by the tail and it instantly was his old stick again, but something had changed. It was now God's stick; under Moses' command.

     All of us have something that God is calling us to throw down. That is down, not away. God wants us to lay down our talents so He can inhabit them. So that when we take them back up, they are God's talent under our command. What is God asking you to throw down?

The Image of God

A word before you start reading this. (I guess you are already reading this if you have made it this far, so disregard that first sentence.) I know a lot of you reading this blog have never really known a time when cameras actually used film, but that used to be the only option. Go ask your grandparents about the dark ages when you had to put film in your cameras.


     Cameras fascinate me. You aim them, push a button, and an image is captured forever on film. I have had the science behind exposing film explained to me several times, but I still think there is magic involved somehow. However it works, it does; every time. What ever it is facing when the film is exposed will be captured on the film. The film will be changed into an image of what it was exposed to.

     We are a lot like film. We become an image of what we are exposed to. We know that we are created in the image of God, but that quickly changes as we continually expose ourselves to the world. Just like film, we become an image of what we are exposed to.

     God calls us to repentance, a 180 degree turn. Why turn around? We need to turn around so we are no longer exposing ourselves to this world of sin. We need to turn around and expose ourselves to the glory of God, that way we will take on the image of God; the very image we were first created in. What is on your spirit's film?

Just Beyond the Manger

     I think this will be the last of my Christmas posts. After today the topics will probably not follow much of a pattern until Easter. This post is also a little different in that I didn't write it. I mean have written it on paper, and I am typing it right now (at least I will be in a few minutes), but these are somebody else's words. They are in fact the words of Joseph M. Martin. They are the lyrics to a song he wrote entitled "Just Beyond the Manger". I think it is important to remember that there is more to the story of Jesus than His miraculous birth. He was born for a reason, to provide a path to the presence of God.

Just Beyond the Manger
by Joseph M. Martin

Just beyond the manger,
I hear no lullabies, 
I see no golden hay,
I feel no starlight.
Just beyond the manger.


Just beyond the manger,
I hear the hammer fall,
I see a rugged cross,
I feel the chill of night.
Just beyond the manger.


Just beyond the manger,
I see no swaddling clothes,
I hear no angels sing,
I feel no candle glow.
Just beyond the manger.


Just beyond the manger,
I see a lonely hill,
The Savior crying still,
I hear the thunder roll.
Just beyond the manger.


Forgive us Lord, and grant us eyes to see
in every Christmas, Calvary;
Implant it in our hearts.
Help us recall amid trees of red and gold
on another tree raised long ago
we raised God's brightest star.
Just beyond the manger,
Just beyond the manger.

Curious Choice

     Luke tells us that the shepherds were the first to hear of the birth of Jesus.(Luke 2:8-20) The shepherds? Why the shepherds? They are dirty and smelly and kind of a worldly lot. In first century Israel, shepherds were the lowest of low class. To be called a shepherd was an insult, and these are the people God chooses to tell first? A curious choice indeed.

     This curious choice was only one of many curious choices made throughout Jesus' life on Earth. Why Bethlehem? Why sinners? Why fishermen? Why a cross? The list could go on and on.

    I think the shepherds were chosen to show that this child was born for all mankind, even the lowest of the low. Consider the visitors that Mary and Joseph entertained, shepherds and kings, both ends of the spectrum. Truly this child was born for all people.

     God may make what seems to be curious choices, but be sure they are made for a purpose. The most curious choice may be that he chooses us to do His will. Will you become one of His curious choices?

I pray that all of you have had a Merry Christmas.