a recommended read... to keep Christmas in your heart...

Christmas...
we put a lot of time and energy into the surface elements...
gifts...
decorating...
parties...
dressing just right...
but what about the heart...?

In the midst of Advent... a book came to my attention...
a small book by Timothy Keller...
I'm still reading it... not quite finished... but Wow...!

Hidden Christmas... The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ...

Every year after Christmas... I long to somehow keep the wonder of the Infinite and Uncontainable... stooping low... to become an embryo... then a Babe laid in hay... in my heart...

This book by Timothy Keller... may just do it...

Now that the hub-bub has subsided...
the new year dawning...
I recommend this read to you...

Not for next Advent...
but for NOW...
a way to begin the new year...

Before the last of the decorations are stored away...
begin this book for a better understanding of our Savior...
and what Christmas truly means...
and why it's not just a superficial season...
but a life changing event...
for us... for the world...

Keep the wonder in your heart all year...
and perhaps you'll have more heart...
and less surface... next... Christmas...

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we,

being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. ..."

Luke 1:68-74 ESV

lean on Him... Isaiah 12:1-2...

You will say in that day:

"I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for the Lord God is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation."

Isaiah 12:1-2 ESV

Our God has every right to be angry with us...

those whom He created... and gave charge of His creation...

took it... and broke it... in the very beginning...

But God... He is trustworthy... even in His anger...

He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

Psalm 103:9 NLT

He does not constantly accuse... condemn... blame...

He chooses instead to save... redeem... forgive...

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,

that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

God Himself... became our means of salvation... through His Son... Jesus...

He took God's wrath... in its fullness... 

He took everything we deserved... and paid the price we couldn't...

How can you not trust a God...? who doesn't treat you as you deserve...? even in His anger...?

He does not deal with us according to our sins

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

Psalm 103:10 ESV

we need Him...

The reading through... brings me to Job... and his lament... reveals our need...

To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty. [You] brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away, Which are black and turbid by reason of the ice, and in which the snows hides itself; When they get warm, they shrink and disappear; when it is hot, they vanish out of their place. The caravans which travel by way of them turn aside; they go into the waste places and perish. [Such is my disappointment in you, the friends I fully trusted.]

Job 6:14-18 Amp

Job... in the midst of despair... finds his friends lacking in kindness... they seem like brooks fed only by the melting snows in Spring... deceitful brooks running dry... providing no refreshment... when days grow hot... when water is needed...

Jesus... He is the only Friend... who faithfully stands by us... the only One... who will never disappoint... run dry... when it comes to compassion... mercy... kindness...

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of this water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

John 4:13-14 ESV

Job's complaint continues... his suffering leaves him feeling vulnerable... at a loss... before God... 

For [God] is not a mere man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in court. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both, [would that there were!]...

Job 9:32-33 Amp

Job sees the need for an umpire... an arbiter in other translations... to be able to stand before God... someone to give him a chance to be proved righteous... before Him...

God the Father... in His mercy and love... provided just such a Mediator...

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all...

1Timothy 2:5-6 ESV

All mankind... represented by Job... all need a Friend... who understands... all need a Mediator... before the Almighty...

Before the Israelites became a nation... through captivity... before the Exodus... and the Law... Job's heart... cried out for a Savior... an innate need... of everyone born... in this broken world...

This week's readings for The Journey...
Monday                       Job 12-13
Tuesday                       Job 14
Wednesday                  Job 15-16
Thursday                      Job 17-18
Friday                          Job 19-20