Focus on Christ
One friend lost her Dad and her grandmother within a few months. Another said his last good-byes to his wife before she died. These were not Covid related deaths, however the sting of loss has been made more difficult in a year filled with uncertainty and unrest in general. Everyone has been touched by this pandemic in one way or another. We have all seen fear or disappointment in the eyes of people we know and love. Weddings have been cancelled or limited, births were quietly announced and plans of all kinds were put on hold. Wildfires caused additional disruption, loss of property and life. Unemployment percentages are high, and violence has increased. Most readers will be able to add several items to this list of challenges. I have not even mentioned our recent presidential election. There are loved ones we have not been able to see, and many have celebrated their long-awaited graduation from school on-line. Birthdays, anniversaries, and retirements have quickly passed – all without the acknowledgement we are accustomed to. Wearing a mask and meeting outside and virtual classrooms have become the norm. And 2020 keeps on giving! I received a text yesterday that one of my dear friends got bit by a dog while walking! What next?
The test is real! Will we remain steadfast and focused on Christ? There is one thing certain and One we can find rest in. There is peace and assurance when we look to Jesus. He was born in a stall, a most unassuming place. Yet, His birth brings the hope of salvation to all mankind. The truth of the Gospel – redemption of mankind from sin to eternal life – does not change. Look through the lens of hope and you will see reason for joy.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Do not lose heart! Our strength does not come from outside but inside.
Ephesians 3:14-19, “For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; [and] that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God”.
Our burdens are small in comparison to the work God produces through them.
Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us”.
Keep your focus on things which have eternal value.
2 Corinthians 5:1-9, “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this [house] we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him”.
We are not here for our own welfare, happiness, honor, or benefit; we are here to offer abundant praise to God for His mercy. It is all for His glory.
Merry Christmas! Be joyful as you contemplate your future in Christ. Christmas is a time for celebration of the greatest gift given to all mankind. Difficulty, burdens, and pandemics do not change the value and truth of the Gospel. This was the case thousands of years ago and it is the case now. There is no better gift you can give to those you love than sharing the reason for your hope.
