Reflections on a Year

As we all come to the end of another calendar year, and I celebrate the anniversary of my birth, I was thinking about some of the lessons I’ve been learning (or relearning) in the past year. In no particular order:

• Just because someone endeavors to take care of their body doesn’t mean they won’t face physical challenges and decline over time. Exercise and diet are important for stewarding our bodies, but life in a fallen world with broken bodies leads to the need for doctors. But one day we’ll receive new bodies suited to life in the perfect new creation.
  
  
• Even though someone may be labeled as an extrovert doesn’t mean they are good at building relationships. And even though I’m an introvert doesn’t mean I have an excuse for avoiding people. All good relationships require time and effort, regardless of whether we go to church together, work together, or live together. One day we’ll live in the new kingdom in perfect harmony, but for now we all have to deal with difficult or broken relationships. Sometimes we have to let go of our expectations of other people.
  
  
• God has created each of us as unique human individuals. As an old book by Barbara Johnson noted, “Normal is just a setting on your dryer.” Some of the standards that are thought to represent the “proper Christian life,” are actually just cultural stereotypes that have no basis in Scripture. When we are prone to judge others for their appearance, habits, or interests, we need to go first to the Bible as our guide for right, wrong, or somewhere in between.
  
  
• Just because someone goes to church sometimes and may profess faith in Christ doesn’t mean they are living under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Some may go to church every week for decades and yet choose to ignore most of the commands of Scripture. Living in a “churchy” culture allows many to slip through with a Christian façade. There is coming a day when all will be called to account.
  
  
• There are no “one and done” aspects to the Christian life. Faith, sanctification, endurance, repenting from sin, forgiving others, peace, joy, hope—all require turning to God every day. And we all need regular encouragement and exhortation to keep walking on the narrow way of salvation.

As we launch into a new year, let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

The Light of Life

The exact date of Jesus’s birth is not known, and occurred somewhere around 5 BC. It is believed that after the Roman emperor Aurelian made December 25 into a celebration of the “Invincible Sun” to mark the winter solstice (AD 274), the Church chose that date to celebrate Christ’s birthday to appropriate that festival time. Certainly the solstice would be an appropriate time to mark the arrival of the Light of the world into the darkest day of the year.

There are about 80 references to light in the New Testament. Many of those refer directly to Jesus.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:4-5, 9).

“The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19).

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

“The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matt. 4:16).

God’s first act in creation was to speak light into existence: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). When Jesus died on the cross, “the sun’s light failed” (Luke 22:45). Then of the new earth to come, we are told, “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:23).

Scripture also refers to our responsibility to live in the light:

“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

One of the reasons we decorate with lights at Christmas is to remember the arrival of the Light of the world. Jesus came to expose our sin, redeem us from eternal death and darkness, and enable us to share His light with the world. Let there be light!

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

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© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Waiting

Simeon,
awaiting the Savior,
the consolation of Israel,
waiting faithfully,
waiting patiently,
salvation for all,
the light for Gentiles,
and the Jews’ Messiah,
waiting righteously,
waiting devoutly,
believing God’s promises,
trusting the Spirit’s revelation.
Lord, make me more like Simeon.

Anna,
awaiting the Savior,
worshiping daily,
fasting and praying,
waiting for decades,
the redemption of Jerusalem,
giving thanks to God,
speaking to all,
waiting for the Redeemer.
Lord, make me more like Anna.

Jesus,
the Christ,
the Messiah,
Savior,
Redeemer,
Son of God,
Friend of sinners,
coming again,
awaiting the Father’s cue,
wanting none to perish,
but all to repent.
Lord, make me more like Jesus.

Help me to live
in holiness,
in godliness,
faithfully,
trusting You,
waiting for the coming day,
for the new heavens
and new earth,
where righteousness dwells.
Lord, come quickly.

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7).

[See Luke 2:25-38 and 2 Peter 3:8-13.]

© 2023 Dawn Rutan text and photo. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Blessed Forever

As we approach Christmas, it’s likely that you’ve seen or heard some reference to Mary’s song of praise (the “Magnificat”) in Luke 1:46-55. In her book Jesus Through the Eyes of Women, Rebecca McLaughlin notes similarities between Mary’s words and Hannah’s praise in 1 Samuel 2. She notes,

“Looking at Jesus through the ancient telescope of Hannah’s and Mary’s eyes, we see the one who turns the tables on all human power, the one who lifts the humble and humbles the mighty, the one who is the Savior of his people, showing mercy even as he shows his strength.”

One thing I noted in reading through the Magnificat is how little of Mary’s praise is for her own personal blessing of being the mother of the Messiah. While it is true that Mary’s role was unique and that she was blessed in that way, it’s also true that every believer is blessed through our adoption into God’s family through Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. When Jesus began His ministry, some of His first recorded words are proclamation of blessings—the Beatitudes in Matthew 5—for the poor in spirit, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted. In fact, there are several parallels between the Magnificat and the Beatitudes. Mary quotes from many Old Testament passages in saying that God has shown mercy to the meek, scattered the proud, exalted the humble, and filled the hungry.

In Ephesians 1:3 we’re reminded that God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” In a recent sermon from Immanuel Nashville, Barnabas Piper notes that Mary wasn’t chosen because she was spectacularly different from other people, and neither are we. God “chose us before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), not for anything we have done but by His own grace and mercy. Our blessed status is entirely dependent on Jesus’s righteousness, not our own. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). And Jesus’s righteousness never changes. We can trust in His promised blessings forever. We can join Mary in saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

During this Christmas season, rather than elevating Mary beyond measure, let’s give our praise to God, who elevates all believers beyond anything we could ever ask, imagine, or deserve. As Amy Orr-Ewing notes in an interview in Christianity Today, “It’s encouraging to know that, whatever our qualifications or status, we can have this deep theological conviction in the reality that Jesus is Lord of all.”

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (Psalm 103:2-4).

 

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.