Creation Celebrates

The other day I heard the song “Carol of the Fryers” for the first time this season. I was moved by it, and not just because I have a soft spot for animals. It made me think about the fact that barn animals may well have been the first witnesses to the birth of Jesus, and I see no reason to think that they would not worship their Creator. Years later at the Triumphal Entry, Jesus would say, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19:37 ESV). All of creation is made to give glory to God. It is only mankind that has the choice of whether or not we will bow in worship to Him, though one day that too will change (Phil. 2:10). If the shepherds had not heeded the angelic message and the wise men had not followed the star, there would still have been worshipers to greet the King of kings. If the people were missing and the animals were silent, the very stones would have cried out.

Psalm 148 (ESV)

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise Him in the heights!

2 Praise Him, all His angels;

praise Him, all His hosts!

3 Praise Him, sun and moon,

praise Him, all you shining stars!

4 Praise Him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord!

For He commanded and they were created.

6 And He established them forever and ever;

He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all deeps,

8 fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling His word!

9 Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

10 Beasts and all livestock,

creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

12 Young men and maidens together,

old men and children!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for His name alone is exalted;

His majesty is above earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up a horn for His people,

praise for all His saints,

for the people of Israel who are near to Him.

Praise the Lord!

Have a blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Prince of Peace, our Savior and our God!

© 2016 Dawn Rutan

Christmas Inconveniences

The down side of working in accounting is that the busiest time for me comes during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I’ve often thought that we either need to move the holidays or change some deadlines. It didn’t help when the IRS decided to require wage reporting by January 31 instead of February 28 now! Anyway, I got to thinking about some of the inconveniences of the first Christmas.

Did Mary & Joseph grumble about having to go to Bethlehem to register to be taxed? “Those greedy government officials! Why’d they have to do this now and cause so much trouble?! Couldn’t they have come up with a better system that wouldn’t have everyone fighting over places to stay? Now we’re stuck in a dirty stable trying to deliver a baby with no supplies and no help!”

Did the shepherds complain about their disrupted night? “Who’s going to stay and round up all the sheep that ran off when those angels appeared? Did they have to be so alarming? How far are we going to have to go to find this baby they mentioned?”

Did the wise men fuss about their long journey? “Why did we have to travel so far to find this king? If we’d known it was going to take so long to get here, we’d have found a more comfortable mode of transportation than camels! I wonder why that guy Herod has no idea what’s going on in his kingdom? There’s something fishy about him.”

Though they may all have had doubts, there were also reassurances along the way—the word of angels, the prophecies of Scripture, the star to follow. Whether they knew it or not, God was arranging all the details of this unique event. He had planned it long before Jesus’ birth and revealed pieces of the plan to many prophets throughout the years. Luke 2:19 and 51 both say that Mary “treasured up all these things” and thought deeply about them. I suspect that throughout her life she searched the Scriptures and continued to make connections between the prophecies and the life of her son.

I’m sure Mary was disturbed to hear from Simeon, “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:34 ESV). Her baby was still tiny, but already a shadow had appeared. And before too long they’d have to go to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. Their celebration of a new life was probably nothing like they’d anticipated. As difficult as the circumstances were around Jesus’ birth, they were nothing compared to His death.

No matter what challenges we face during the holidays and at year-end, and how tempting it can be to grumble, the birth of Jesus helps put things in perspective. God chose to send His Son into a dirty, sinful world, under terrible conditions, just because He loved us too much to let us go. He could have said “Forget it; this whole Creation just isn’t worth it.” But He came, He lived, He died, and He rose again because of His love. And because He did, one day we will be freed from all the struggles, sin, sickness, and death that is part of this fallen world. Jesus is no longer the Baby in the manger, nor the body in the tomb. He lives so that we too may have eternal life. That’s something worth celebrating!

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.

A Brief Thought for Advent

The four traditional emphases of the Advent wreath are hope, peace, joy, and love. As I was looking at some Scriptures on those themes, I noticed a few things in the ESV:

• There is one verse that refers to the God of hope (Romans 15:13), one reference to the God of love (2 Cor. 13:11), several verses that refer to the God of peace, but none refer to the God of joy.
• There are several verses that refer to the love of God, one reference to the peace of God (Phil. 4:7), but no references to the hope of God or joy of God.

“God is love” (1 John 4:8), but God is not hope or peace or joy. He is the source of all good things, but He is not defined by those things in the same way that He is defined by love. God has no real need for hope or peace as we understand them, because He is omnipotent and in control of all things. We who are limited, created beings need to find our hope and peace in something and Someone greater than ourselves. God has joy, but it is not dependent on any circumstances. He is never surprised by a good outcome of events or a newly converted sinner. His joy is in the fellowship of the Trinity and in arranging the detailed lives of billions of people in His divine plan.

But God is love. All that He does for us, in us, and through us is because of love. His character is revealed through His love in action, and His love is multiplied through the members of His Body. Because God is love, therefore we can have hope and peace and joy. As we trust in His character we can have hope, knowing that He will work all things together for our good. If we believe in His love for us, we can have peace because He is present with us in all circumstances. And because He is love, we can experience joy as we grow in spiritual maturity and as others are brought to faith in Him.

The commercialization of Christmas has led people to believe that we can find hope, peace, joy, and love through material gifts, well-planned social events, and nostalgic traditions. In reality, they are only found in seeking God. Hope, peace, and joy aren’t found by seeking them for their own sake, but by seeking the God of love.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13 ESV).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

The Truth Hurts

I read a few interesting passages this week:

• Jude 4 (ESV) – “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
• 1 John 4:1 – “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have done out into the world.”
• 2 Corinthians 11:13 – “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”

As I read these verses, I realized that I had previously assumed that the deceivers mentioned were people who knew they were propagating lies and were intentionally leading others astray. But given what I see happening in the church today, I believe there are many who genuinely believe they are correct and don’t realize the error they’ve fallen into. And it’s not always clearly delineated as in the past, such as with cults like Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, Jim Jones, etc. Instead they are people who outwardly appear to be evangelical Christians, but they are interpreting Scripture in ways that are wrong and will lead many astray (for example Jen Hatmaker, Glennon Doyle Melton, and the like). They do not see the truth of the Word, no matter how much they study it, and they don’t even realize they have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

I have come to the point of questioning the salvation of many who claim to be Christians. Yes, God’s mercy is great, but it is limited. Some people will find that they are saved “only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). Many others will hear “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23). I am alarmed by the direction of our “Christian” culture in which moral relativism is commonplace. Truth is being redefined and the Bible reinterpreted by anyone who is uncomfortable with its message. There is no longer any fear of God’s judgment or eternal damnation. Many seem to be more afraid of offending unbelievers than they are of offending God.

Michael Yaconelli wrote in Dangerous Wonder (110-111):

“I am beginning to wonder if we modern followers of Christ are capable of being terrified of God. No fear of God. No fear of Jesus. No fear of the Holy Spirit. As a result, we have ended up with a feel-good gospel that attracts thousands… but transforms no one… The nice, nonthreatening God needs to be replaced by the God whose very presence smashes our egos into dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person within…”

This leads me to pray for a couple specific things: 1) That those who have been deceived and are deceiving others will be led by God to understand and accept the Truth and repudiate their own lies (such as happened with Rosaria Butterfield); and 2) That believers will be strengthened to proclaim the Truth no matter what the consequences may be from society or from other so-called Christians. One day God’s elect will be rewarded and all others will see the error of their ways.

Psalm 25:5 – “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day long.”

James 3:1 – “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.