(As a part of my new “green” blog initiative I am recycling these Groundhog day musings)

They woke up Punxsutawney Phil Tuesday morning long enough for the prognosticating rodent to let us know whether six more weeks of winter must be endured. According to Phil you should plan on bundling up for next month and a half.

Phil looks about as happy as I do when when I am disturbed in the morning. Seventeen years ago a funny and underappreciated  movie came on the scene. Groundhog Day told the story of a self-absorbed news reporter (redundancy alert?) that finds himself stuck in an endless repeat of the same day. Bill Murray is perfect in the role of reporter Phil Connors. Since I live in the odd world of broadcast television I can relate to the cynical personality of Murray’s character. Reporter Phil is less than thrilled that he has been assigned to cover Punxsutawney Phil’s annual peek outside to predict winter’s duration. He feels he is “above” such an inane assignment. Connor’s looks into the camera and cynically reports:

“This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.”

My day and/or night job is television sports directing. I have directed some events that offer that kind of challenge. But what got me thinking about that movie again was the plotline where Phil Connors realizes he is doomed to live the same day over and over and over. The plot is summed up in this article in Wikipedia. For Connors, Groundhog Day begins each morning at 6:00 A.M., with his waking up to the same song, Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, on his alarm clock radio, but with his (and only his) memories of the “previous” day intact, trapped in a seemingly endless “time loop” to repeat the same day in the same small town.

Connor has this exchange in the film.

Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Ralph: That about sums it up for me.

And that brought to mind another famous Bill Murray quote…this time from Stripes.

And then depression set in.

So what is the point of these ramblings? Is it to impress you with my cerebral movie tastes? The point is that too many followers of Jesus are stuck in a Groundhog Day life of their own. They wake up every day and feel trapped in a repeating pattern of frustrating behavior. And then, depression sets in. Why is that?

Einstein was once quoted as saying that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” I am not quite willing to concede that I was insane. But the truth is that for years I did approach my spiritual life the same way everyday while somehow expecting different results.

I would make a mistake (that is politically correct for sin) and I would convince myself that I would never do that again. I was grateful that the consequences were not worse. I was determined to stay far, far away from that sin. And then before I know it I had forgotten the lesson and I would awaken each morning to my own version of Groundhog Day. The Apostle Paul wrote about this very thing (not the giant rodent part…the repeating behavior part) in his letter to the Romans.

I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.   (Romans 7, The Message)

Wow…can I relate to that. A bit later Paul writes…I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

That is the real question. And there is a real answer offered by Paul.

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

So what can you do to get out of this sin spiral?

Nothing.

Wait! Don’t let depression set in. This is good news! You and I can’t do it. I am incapable in my own efficacy (5 Reader’s Digest points) to escape my spiritual Groundhog Day. Only Jesus can enable me to escape this endless loop of frustration. Further advice from Paul follows in Chapter 8 of his amazing letter to the Romans.

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.

Allow the truth of that verse to soak in.

Want to get out of your Groundhog Day existence? Most readers of these humble ramblings realize they couldn’t deal with their sin separation from God on their own. We needed Jesus. So why do we think we can deal with our ongoing sin issues on our own? When the Father looks at me on my very worst day this is what He sees.

Jesus.

That is step one. I don’t have to clean up the sin to please God. He loves me already because of Jesus. Step Two. I am learning daily to recognize that the Spirit of God has taken up residence in my life. I am learning that I am the one who limits His power by restricting access and not trusting Him with my thoughts and actions. I am learning that I don’t need to wake up to the frustrating effects of repeated self-effort. I can wake up trusting God, trusting that Jesus has my sin covered and trusting that the Spirit of God will allow me to resolve that sin. Trusting God and what His Word says to be true allows me to escape the Groundhog Day syndrome. Instead I have a new day full of possibilities to thank God for His amazing grace.

The moral of the movie Groundhog Day was that Phil Connor needed to learn that he was self-absorbed and dependent on his selfish efforts to get ahead. The moral of the spiritual groundhog day is to learn that we cannot depend on our self efforts to live a joyful and free Christian life. I come to Jesus by grace and total dependence. I live for Jesus by grace and total dependence. While the other groundhog is busy predicting weather I would suggest you try this for the next six weeks. When the alarm jars you awake remember this truth. Instead of the Sonny and Cher song you can sing “I Got You Lord”. The two of you can end this “Groundhog Day” of frustration. To paraphrase our hero Phil from above….

This is one time where a blog really fails to capture the true excitement of a large doofus trying to explain his joy and freedom of learning how to live in grace. So try it for yourself. If you begin to lean on grace perhaps you can also paraphrase the line from Stripes with this one.

And then joy and freedom set in. That is my prayer for you today. I can’t help you with the weather.

Why me Lord? I suspect that most of us have cried out to God with that question. And I would also guess that ninety-nine percent of the time we are asking God why some trial or affliction has come our way that we feel is undeserved.

The same question has been asked throughout history. “Why me Lord? Why me?”

A song by Kris Kristofferson cycled up on the iPod today and reminded me of a better perspective. I have loved Kristofferson’s song “Why Me?” since I was a young believer and, if you do the math, you realize that I am not so young a believer anymore. The truth is I am still trying to apply the wisdom of these lyrics.

Why me Lord, what have I ever done
To deserve even one
Of the pleasures I’ve known
Tell me Lord, what did I ever done
That was worth loving you
Or the kindness you’ve shown

So true. What have I done to deserve even one of His blessings? I did not deserve forgiveness. That was a gift of grace from a loving God. I did not deserve to be born in the United States into incredible comfort, religious freedom and opportunity. I did not deserve to be born healthy and semi-intelligent when others live with chronic affliction and mental illness. Those things were blessings that I received without complaining to my Creator.

The why me Lord question we so often ask should have an entirely different focus.

Why me Lord? What have I done to deserve your blessing?

It is true that some seem to suffer a disproportionate amount of affliction and difficulty. It doesn’t seem fair. The theology that faithful Christians will experience nonstop prosperity, perfect health and green lights at every intersection is a lie from the pit of Hell. Suffering is a part of the process that God uses to refine our faith and ultimately to glorify Him.

My high school basketball coach was a winner and a great teacher. I remember Coach Tom Cuppett yelling at me. A lot. It seemed I could never do anything right. We would run a play and the whistle would blow. “Burchett….what are you doing?” Then he would grab me and the other forwards and walk us through what was supposed to happen. After my senior season Coach Cuppett called me in to his office.

“I have to let you in on something. Remember how I always yelled at you and walked you through the plays?” He asked.
I responded with a smile. “Pretty hard to forget that you can’t do anything right.”
“The truth is that most of the time it was Jimmy (not real name) who messed up and not you. He couldn’t take the criticism and you could. So I yelled at you and then grabbed him and walked him through the plays with you so he would learn without losing his confidence.”
“It would have been nice to know why I was the target so often.”
“I couldn’t tell you at the time. But I trusted you to keep going. And you did. Your ability to handle adversity made him and our team better.”

The lesson never left. I trusted a good coach and accepted what I had to endure to achieve our goal of winning. Later I found out that I had gained honor is his eyes by trusting him even when things didn’t seem “fair”. How much more so can I trust a God who loved me enough to offer grace when I was completely without merit? What if that trial is given to me because God deems me able to remain steadfast and through that faithfulness He will be glorified? What if I get called into God’s office someday and find out that He gave me the gift of trials to reflect His glory and now my rewards will far exceed that temporary pain? If I can trust an earthly coach then I can certainly trust my Heavenly Father with all of me.

Kristofferson writes about what many of us regret.

Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it so
Help me Jesus I know what I am
Now that I know that I’ve need you so
Help me Jesus, my soul’s in your hand

That is the amazing thing about our God of redemption and second chances. It is never too late to start trusting and living in His grace. It starts with believing your real identity. Henri Nouwen says it well.

“You can deal with an enormous amount of success as well as an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity, because your identity is that you are the beloved. Long before your father and mother, your brothers and sisters, your teachers, your church, or any people touched you in a loving as well as in a wounding way-long before you were rejected by some person or praised by somebody else-that voice has been there always. “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” That love is there before you were born and will be there after you die.”

Paul wrote this to the Church at Ephesus.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.  (Ephesians 1, NLT)

Believing that makes it possible to ask “why me” in a very different way.

I never know which direction this weekly adventure known as the iPod Devotional will take me. The usual procedure is to grab dog friend Hannah, set the trusty iPod to shuffle and head out for a morning walk. I just walk until a song hits my heart or sense of humor. Today was both. The song that popped up is meaningful but recent context made me smile.

My pastor at Waterbrook Bible Fellowship in Wylie, Texas decided to preach a four week series from 1^st Corinthians, chapter seven. For reasons unknown Pastor Jeff Denton chose this on purpose. The text deals with sex in marriage, the sin of sex outside the marriage and the always fun topic of divorce. So when Andrew Peterson’s song “Dancing in the Minefields” cued up on the iPod today I thought of Pastor Jeff and chuckled. He has truly been dancing in cultural and relational minefields by addressing these difficult verses unflinchingly. His messages have been full of truth and grace. Both are needed in full measure to address such loaded topics. Have I mentioned he chose this series on purpose? But seriously, if the church cannot honestly and gracefully address these topics then our faith is limited in its relevance. I can assure you that Scripture does not shy away from tough topics. We are the squeamish ones that prefer Biblical texts that don’t meddle in our actual lives.

A good marriage is hard work. A great marriage is the hardest of all because it requires the equally selfless devotion of both parties. Peterson’s lyrics are powerful.

“I do” are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I’ve heard
Is a good place to begin

‘Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price
For the life that we have found

Laying down your life for another does not dovetail very well with a culture that screams that we “deserve” to be fulfilled and have a “right” to personal satisfaction and happiness. The cruel irony is that fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness are ultimately found in sacrifice, serving and giving. Andrew Peterson poetically captures the difficulty of this journey.

And we’re dancing in the minefields
We’re sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for

One of the points that Pastor Jeff made during his most recent message continues to rattle in my heart and mind. He has counseled hundreds of couples over his years of ministry. One of his observations convicted me not only in my marriage but in all of my relationships. Jeff noted that “it is never productive to be critical of your spouse”. I think most of us would agree that is true. But it is so easy when you spend so much time together to become critical of differences and idiosyncrasies that your mate possesses. The danger is mortal. Being critical of your spouse creates an opening for Satan that he will rarely pass up a chance to roar through.

It is not just marriage that criticism destroys. I can also do incredible damage in my community of believers by being critical. This has been a struggle for me because being critical comes quite easily to this wounded sojourner.

Grace is changing me. Slowly. Emphasis on slowly. I am learning to look at others through lenses of grace. To quote my friends from the book “The Cure” I am beginning to see my community of believers not as “sinners trying to become saints by more right behavior but saints who still sometimes sin”. It is an important distinction. We are all saints who are righteous because of Christ alone. We still sin. We need grace. All of us. So when my brother sins grace compels me to run toward him and not away. Grace does not allow me to condemn and judge. He needs grace to be restored as I will need that same grace soon. Likely very soon.

Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth about hardships and the message he received from the Lord.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12, NLT)

I have come to know some of my fellow believers well enough to see what lies behind the Sunday morning mask. I see that they are insecure, needy, selfish and unpredictable. They are just like me. Jesus told the story of a father who runs to embrace his child who has made terrible mistakes. He doesn’t wait for them to crawl back and grovel. At the first turn of repentance he sprints to them and throws a party. That is grace. That is what a critical spirit destroys. Paul wrote this in the Epistle to the Colossians about having a spirit of love based on understanding the Good News.

For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. (Colossians 1, NLT)

So I will dance in minefields of relationship with my bride, my family and my community. It is a dangerous place at times. And there is no place I would rather be.

I love the cynical mind of Scott Adams expressed through his Dilbert cartoon strip. A recent New Year’s Eve panel expressed the skepticism that Dilbert had for attaching meaning to the annual calendar rollover.

“I don’t celebrate the magical thinking that says one random point in the space-time continuum is somehow special.” – Dilbert

We do place a remarkable emphasis on the New Year as a specific point in time where we can resolve to do something better or something less or something not at all. I have resolved over the years to work out more, read all the way through the Bible, lose weight, be more organized (HAH!) and assorted other failed bits.

But there is power in the hope of change and new beginnings. A song by Jason Gray reminded me of the power of starting anew. Jason is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers/singers for Christian lyrics. The lyrics from “I Am New” blessed me on the morning walk and serve as a template for the New Year journey.

Too long have I lived in the shadow of shame
Believing that there was no way I could change
But the one who is making everything new
Doesn’t see me the way that I do
He doesn’t see me the way that I do

I haven’t just lived in the shadow of shame. I have wallowed deep in the pooled up shame of past failures, broken vows and failed efforts to be more worthy of love. Then Jason reminded me again that the work is done. I am changed. I just need to believe and live out of that truth.

I am not who I was
I’m being remade
I am new
I am chosen and holy and I’m dearly loved
I am new

I am new. I can trust and live out of that truth on New Year’s Day or January 5^th or April 10^th or any other day. The point is we are new creations in Christ. The verse is familiar. Trusting it is hard.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. (2 Corinthians 5, NLT)

That is true every day of the year. Yet it can be so hard to believe and Satan makes it so hard to accept. The old tapes (digital recordings?) start playing whenever the old shame triggers are pulled.

“I am not enough.”
“I am a failure.”
“I don’t deserve His mercy.”

Gray’s lyric addresses the truth of how God views me.

Now I won’t deny
The worst you could say about me
But I’m not defined by mistakes that I’ve made
Because God says of me
I am not who I was
I’m being remade
I am new

Yep. All of the ugliness is true about me. I put all of my sin and shame on the table and Jesus gently says that is not who I am anymore. Is there any more freeing and joyful message to take into the New Year?

You are correct Dilbert. There may not be any special power in the random moment on the space-time continuum when a New Year begins. But there is amazing power in the redemptive work of Christ. I begin today, tomorrow and every day of 2012 with the knowledge that I am….

Forgiven, beloved
Hidden in Christ
Made in the image of the Giver of Life
Righteous and holy, reborn and remade
Accepted and worthy
This is (my) new name
This is who (I) am now…

The organization is called TrueFaced and the newest revision of their book is called The Cure. I don’t think I have ever had a book (excluding the inspired one) impact me as much as this one. Here is how strongly I feel about this book and ministry. I have written two books. So selling a few books would be awesome for the fading retirement account. But if you only have the budget to buy one book in the near future I would tell you to buy The Cure. (That gives you a hint as to why I rarely am asked to do marketing seminars)

I am borrowing one little bit of content that is very timely during this month. John Lynch is one of the authors of the book and in this section he addresses how we are programmed from childhood to default to performance theology. He calls it the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town theology”.

You better watch out
Better not cry
Better not pout
I am telling you why
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
He’s making a list….checking it twice…three times…every day
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
He sees you when your sleeping, nows when your awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.

Oh, he’s watching. Waiting for you to screw up so you will get coal instead of a bicycle. You had better please him. And we teach our kids to put on the mask and be something they are not. Because Santa Claus is comin’ to town. This omniscient being who is judging our every deed is coming to town…and we learn to do the dance early. Buck up…be good. Don’t cry. Don’t pout. Santa Claus is coming to town.  (©Copyright 2003, William Thrall, Bruce McNicol, John Lynch. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.)

He is exactly right. We learn that we get good things and receive love only when we are good and do good things. Santa is pleased (and we later substitute God) when we obey. So we learn early. We had better be good. Or least fool everyone around us to think that we are being good.

Ask any child this Christmas if they are being good and I will wager you will never hear this response.

“Well, to be honest, I am really struggling with the whole being nice thing. I have actually been pouty and I cried yesterday. It just isn’t working out this Christmas so I suspect the video game system will have to wait.”

Nope. What you hear is the lie that we learn early and too often keep handy in our arsenal for a lifetime.

“Oh yeah. I am being really good!”

I remember (vaguely) the tension of the Santa Claus years. I knew I hadn’t really changed much. I tried to modify my behavior for a week or two leading up to Christmas but I knew I had failed to really be good. I learned a couple of things early. I learned how hard it is to change behavior by sheer willpower and I learned that I could fool Santa by living a lie. I learned that that he would bring me presents in spite of my failures. I did not learn about grace. That maybe Santa gave me gifts because of who I was and maybe he came to my house because I was lovable instead of rewarding me for what I had done to please him. I figured I had fooled him and to get the good stuff I would have to continue to hide the little boy who broke an ornament and then hid it.

Isn’t that too often how we view God? We had better not cry. Better not sin. I’m telling you why. Jesus is coming to town. He’s making a list and He is checking it not once or twice but every moment of every day. God knows if you’ve been bad or good so if you want to be healed or happy or prosperous you had better be good for goodness sake. If I do mess up I am scared to death that I will get a bad life or miss all that God has for me. So I put on the mask and try to be really good for Jesus. If I can fool those around me maybe, just maybe, I can fool God too.

Satan sells the lie so convincingly. And we buy it for months and years and even decades.

But God and Santa are very different in their approach. God does not keep a list. He is not impressed by our hernia inducing straining to control sin.

You know the verse well.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NLT)

Jesus offers us so many gifts. But the one we seem to have the hardest time unwrapping is the gift of grace. The gift that allows us to become who God desires us to become as we simply trust Him and quit trying to be “good” for goodness sake. We are saved by grace and faith in Christ. We become like Him by the same radical strategy. Faith that He has changed us into a new creation. And understanding the grace that gives us good gifts even when we don’t deserve them.

Don’t let the Santa Claus theology live into the New Year. Go straight to the gift of grace that Jesus left under the Cross. Open it. And clothe yourself in His salvation, acceptance and love. It may be the best gift you have ever given yourself.

(You can download a sample chapter of The Cure by clicking this link)

This series was well received last year. Some would call this a repeat but I prefer to think of it as environmentally friendly blog recycling with no carbon offsets required.

Merry Christmas!  Dave

As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. For the internet hall monitors who love to send anonymous and snarky comments I understand that the celebrated date of Christ’s birth is likely off a bit. But since this is when we celebrate we will go with the date assigned.

Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. The last post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas.  By the way, there is a plaque that is available in catalogs this year with the title “What if They Had Been 3 Wise Women?” Here is the conclusion….

They would have asked directions.
Brought practical gifts
Made a casserole
Cleaned the stable
‘ Changed the baby
And there would be peace on earth.

Alert readers from the last article remember that the first gift was gold. That is always a lovely gift. But now it gets a little tougher.

Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. (Matthew 2:11, The Message)

The second gift brought out of the luggage by the Magi was frankincense. Frankincense is a very costly and fragrant incense. It is a gum distilled from a tree found in the Middle East. It is a white resin or gum, and is obtained by slitting the bark of the “Arbor Thurisfrom”, allowing the gum to flow out (there will be a test). The word actually means “whiteness”, referring to the white colored juice which flows out of the wound in the tree. This gum hardens for three months, and is gathered at the end of the summer, and sold in the form of “tears”, or clumps of hardened resin. Frankincense is highly fragrant when burned, and was, therefore, used in worship, where it was burned as a pleasant offering to God. It is interesting to note that this sweet smelling resin comes as the result of the tree’s woundedness and pain. It is cut open and bleeds to give us the sweet smelling scent. The spiritual parallel is interesting. When we can worship God in the midst of our sorrow, our brokenness, then it is a sweet smelling offering to our Lord.

King David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17 )

Much emphasis in worship today is on “celebration”. No time for agonizing and tears, only for shouts of joy and victory. While joyful praise is acceptable and pleasing to God, tears, like frankincense resin, oozing out of our hurts, broken hearts, and tears of repentance are especially pleasing – a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Anyone can dance and shout when blessings are flowing, and everything is going their way. But true worship happens when we must overcome feelings of self-pity, fear and doubt. So how can we offer a pleasing aroma to God?

How about giving Jesus the gift of belief for His birthday? You believe that Jesus is the Son of God…that He came to earth as a little baby over 2,000 years ago. That he lived a Holy life and died on a cross as perfect sacrifice for my sin and your sin. I would guess that most of the people who stumble onto this blog believe that. But what I am talking about is really believing God in every circumstance.

Think about giving the gift of really believing in Jesus for every need this coming year. Completely trusting who God says He is and who God says you are when you put your trust in Christ. Completely believing that you are a new person and not the same old person reworked. Completely believing that this new identity in Christ gives you power to live and power to not sin.

Believing that you are an amazing one of a kind creation whom God has placed where you are and with gifts that can be uniquely used where you are in your journey.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are-no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. (Matthew 5:5 The Message)

Later in the gospel of Matthew we find this…If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. (Matthew 23:12, The Message)

I believe that comparison is one of Satan’s primary strategies to cause despair. You are wonderfully made by the Creator of the Universe and you are valuable. Michelangelo made a nearly perfect sculpture of David. The statue’s muscular tension is precisely rendered down to the muscle contraction on his forehead as David is poised to go into battle. It is perhaps the most important sculpture in the world and it was carved from one large block of marble. Why is that unique? Two other artists rejected the block of marble because of imperfections. Michelangelo saw the beauty in that block of marble that others did not. Jesus sees the beauty in you that others might not. Can you believe in a Jesus that can take you, even if you feel like a rejected block of marble, and then lovingly chip away until you become a beautiful work of art? Can you give Jesus the gift of believing on His birthday? Nothing would please Him more.

This series was well received last year. You may view this as a repeat. I prefer to think of it as re-gifting.

Blessings and Merry Christmas!

Dave

We are fast approaching the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife.

He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him.

Barry continues his thoughtful treatise…

So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We know from the Bible that the Wise Men showed up in Bethlehem and gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold,frankincense, and myrrh. Now Gold is always a nice gift, but frankincense and myrrh – at least according to my dictionary – are gum resins.

Barry asks the vital question…

Who gives gum resins to a baby? The answer is…Men. The three wise men…being men, didn’t even start shopping for gifts until the last minute, when most of the stores in the greater Bethlehem area were closed for Christmas Eve. The only place still open was Big Stu’s House of Myrrh.

Even though Barry’s interpretation of the Gospels might be a little suspect…I do think he is correct about the difficulty in finding the right gift to give to Jesus on his birthday.

On December 24th or 25th most of us will exchange gifts on Jesus’s birthday. Suppose you had a big party for me to celebrate my humble birthday this April. All of my close friends and acquaintances show up and you all start exchanging gifts on my birthday. But there is nothing for me. Oh, someone might mention my name now and then. But I just sit and I sit and I watch others open gifts. Then someone mentions how grateful they are for Dave’s birthday so we could all be together. I become hopeful. But then someone else yells that the refreshments are ready so everyone rolls into the kitchen and I am left sitting there….no gifts on my birthday. I wonder if we don’t do that exact thing to Jesus. We have reason for the season signs and all of that. But it is so easy to get all caught up and not even think of a gift for the guest of honor at our Christmas celebrations.

So what can you give the Lord of the Universe? If you think your mother-in-law is tough to buy for what do buy for the Saviour who has everything? Believe it or not…I decided to go back to the Three Wise Men and see if there was more to their gifts than first appears. What is the story behind these gum resin gifts? What is up with the gifts presented by the Magi? The simplest meaning is that these men brought items which, in their experience, represented the greatest worth. All of these gifts were rare, precious and expensive. Whatever else we may learn from this story, we know that they gave their best in honor to the One they believed to be the King, the Messiah. It’s interesting that we don’t know the names of the Magi but we know what they gave. We don’t know where they came from but we know that they worshipped the  Christ child.

They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshipped him.

The first important point is that the Magi did not visit the Baby Jesus at the stable so our Nativity scene on the mantle is chock full of Biblical errors. They showed up at the house and it is clear that the gifts were a part of their worship. They bowed down before Him, and they offered Him gifts. What an amazing spirit that must have surrounded that child that caused men of importance, wealth and education to fall down before Him!

The miracle of God becoming man… He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.
Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB)

The first gift mentioned is gold.

Gold was the usual offering presented to kings by their subjects, or those wanting to pay respect. Gold has always held extremely high value – as long ago as 2,500 BC, gold was especially prized, and used as a medium of exchange. Even today when investments get shaky you start hearing about buying gold as a hedge against economic downturns. The value of gold seems to be a constant in our civilization. In both the Old Testament Tabernacle and the Temple, gold was used plentifully and was clearly associated with worship.

So should we give Jesus gold on His birthday? Most of us have a rather limited supply of gold. I am going to suggest that we give Jesus a commodity that is as valuable in today’s culture as gold was in the time of the Magi. That commodity of great value is time. When I think of gifts that we can give to Jesus…is there anything more precious than our time?

When you love someone you want to spend time with them. If you say you love your wife but you go several days or weeks without talking to her she might be suspicious. When we say we love our children but we can’t work them into the schedule they begin to have doubts. When a young couple falls in love they want to spend every moment together. When they are apart they think of each other. As Percy Sledge famously sang that when a man loves a woman he can’t keep his mind on nothing else.

So we say we love Jesus. But we probably have little difficulty thinking of something else. We tell others that He is the center of our universe…but we can’t carve out the time to spend with Jesus to develop that relationship. I am confessing here that I have been guilty of this far too often in my journey with Jesus. My lips confess my commitment to Him but my time with Him reveals my true priorities. The uncomfortable truth for me as a husband…as a father…and as a follower of Christ is that my calendar reveals my heart. I make time for the things that are most important to me.

Gift suggestion number one for Jesus on His birthday…give Him a little time. Sit down with Him…talk to Him…enjoy His company.

And join us tomorrow for another last minute gift idea for Jesus. Perhaps it is not that hard to give something to Christ this Christmas.

The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve night on the battlefields of France during World War I, the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches. Enemy troops were dug-in so close that they could easily exchange shouts.

On December 24, 1914, in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, a miracle happened. The British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit Christmas trees began to appear above the German trenches. The glowing trees soon appeared along the length of the German front.  Henry Williamson, a young soldier with the London Regiment wrote in his diary: “From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remembered my German nurse singing to me…. The grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange… like being in another world — to which one had come through a nightmare.”

Silent Night
Holy Night
All is calm
All is quiet

“They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate,” another British soldier wrote, “So we sang “The First Noël” and when we finished, they all began clapping. And they struck up “O Tannebaum” and on it went… until we started up “O Come All Ye Faithful” [and] the Germans immediately joined in …. this was really a most extraordinary thing — two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man’s land that was a killing zone the day before. The soldiers wished each other Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day. The spontaneous cease-fire eventually embraced much of a 500-mile stretch of the Western Front. According to the reports of soldiers at the scene, hundreds of thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

Other soldiers told of how the “enemies” exchanged badges and buttons from their uniforms. Others shared photos of wives and children and some even exchanged addresses and promised to write after the war ended. The German troops rolled out barrels of dark beer and the British reciprocated with offerings of plum pudding. Some soldiers produced soccer balls and a spirited match broke out as fellow soldiers shouted encouragement.

At one location along the front the men who just the day before sought to kill one another now gathered together to bury their dead. Together, with heads uncovered, they held a service to memorialize their fallen comrades. A solitary voice began to sing Silent Night, in French. He was joined by another voice — this one singing in German — the words of a Christmas song known and beloved by all.

But the miracle of peace was temporary. Slowly, under threats from their officers, the troops returned to the trenches and the recoils of rifles split the temporary “Silent Night.” Some soldiers admitted aiming so their bullets flew well above the heads of the “enemy.”

Perhaps those of us who celebrate the birth of the Savior could learn a lesson from this Christmas miracle as we engage those who do not share our beliefs and faith in Jesus. Those on the other side of the cultural trenches are not unlike us. The message delivered in Bethlehem was peace and goodwill toward all men. When we fight the cultural war we need remember that the whole purpose of Jesus invading our space and time was to love and ultimately die for those on both sides of the battle.

But perhaps the biggest lesson is how the power of a unified focus on Jesus can unite even bitter enemies. My heart aches as I see Christians splitting ranks over things that don’t amount to a hill of beans on an eternal scale. I picture Jesus weeping over the churches of America like He wept over Jerusalem. I picture Him weeping over how Christians in this country divide over non-essentials and fail to communicate the joy and life-changing power of the good news of the Gospel. Jesus gave this final command to His followers…

“Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28,  The Message)

Pretty straight forward. Nothing in there about personal gain, power, or prestige. The power of what happened on that Silent Night united enemies centuries later on a French battlefield.  My Christmas prayer is that the miracle of God becoming man will unite you and me, His followers, to seek what actually matters. To really make it about Christ and not about us. To model His grace to a culture that desperately needs that grace. While we still have the chance.

(Note: There is a movie (Joyeux Noel), a DVD (The Christmas Truce), a children’s book (Christmas in the Trenches) and a historical book (Silent Night: The Story of the WW I Christmas Truce) about this event if you want to know more about the story.

But the part that really puzzled me was the self-righteous anger toward the demonized one percent. We are the ninety-nine percent was the recurrent chant. But I kept thinking that there is a really awkward truth being ignored by many if not most of the protestors. We have a very different expectation as Americans for what we are “owed”. An article I found at Yahoo News was sobering.

In America, the top 1% earn more than $380,000 per year. We are, however, among the richest nations on Earth. How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?

$34,000.

That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it’s $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000.

So if you make more than $34,000 a year you are in the top 1% income level in the world! That information stirred up one of my biggest frustrations with the churches and with Christians in America. For the most part we do not give according to our riches. And that is what Jesus is trying to teach us concerning money and possessions in the Gospel of Luke.

“And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Luke 12:29-34, NLT)

This is an excerpt from my book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People.

Where is our treasure? That is the question all of us must address. For it is surely true that our heart will be there also. Empty Tomb is an organization that studies giving in the church. They reported that church giving in 2007 had declined to an average of 2.56% of income. This giving percentage was lower than it was in 1933 during the depths of the Depression. That, my Christian friends, is pathetic!

And it gives us an unfortunate clue as to where our treasure might be. Sylvia and John L. Ronsvalle (The State of Church Giving Through 2007, Empty Tomb, Inc.). The Ronsvalles’ report states that “leadership in the church is committed to institutional maintenance and is abandoning church members to an agenda of a consumer lifestyle.” What that means is the preponderance of church budgets are going to salaries and buildings while church members pile up credit debt and material possessions. Because the money left over for outreach and missions is shrinking, the church is becoming more and more impotent outside of the church structures.

The report suggests that if current trends continue, the church will be “spending little to nothing on others by the middle of this century.” God forbid that we allow that to happen. If churchgoers had given an average of 10 percent in 2007, another $161 billion would have been available for the Lord’s work. You don’t have to look far to see how much that could help in a world where people are dying for lack of life’s necessities. Even worse, they die without experiencing the message of God’s love, which Christians could likely provide with even modest sacrifice. But we must be willing to relinquish at least a little bit of our American dream, which has somehow morphed into an American right to possessions.

It takes so little sacrifice to make a difference. But it will take the whole body of Christ to really impact this globe. A few years ago I gave up a daily beverage at an omnipresent coffee franchise. That freed up enough money to sponsor a child in need. A couple of years ago my sons gave me a goat. No, I didn’t wake up to find a goat nibbling on the Christmas tree. They gave the gift of a goat in my name to an impoverished community through World Vision. I will not know this side of eternity how God used my Christmas gift. But I bet it was more useful to those struggling souls than the motorized cooler that goes 13 miles per hour to deliver cold beverages would have been for me. Are you kidding me?

If you live in North Texas you can feed a hungry person for $1.92 at the Union Gospel Mission. I just now got the ball rolling by donating to that wonderful organization. Whether it is the Salvation Army, Angel Tree, Samaritans Purse or whatever…just do something!

I often encounter people who say God is judging America because of this sin or that sin. I always tell them I don’t know if that is true. But I do tell them that I suspect that God would more likely judge this country because of the incredible wealth and influence His people have squandered. You can make a difference this Christmas. One coat or goat or gift or meal at a time. I am only asking you to give if you are in the top 1% of wage earners in the world. Are you in?

Merry Christmas!