Applied Math for the Soul 101: Lust of the Flesh + Lust of the Eyes + Pride of life + any time in life = heartache + confusion + a desperate need for a personal rescue.
Advanced Fuzzy Math for Life 101: Pain + a humbled heart + a crushed spirit + a devotional cooperation with the truth of God's Word = healing in God's Time + rest.
It seems the further down the turnpike of life we get, human-kind as a resource for “smart”, always finds itself on a detour to stupid. Now, don't get too self-righteous in your thinking … this detour for the most part has provided a few chortles along the way {def: chortle – laugh in a noisy, gleeful way – sometimes a chuckle and a snort}. For instance - Christmas Eve, the big headlines for a local but an extremely admired weatherman fell off his lips in the form of the following: “Even tonight’s snowfall won't stop Santa!”. Now pinch me if I'm sleeping but … snow … reindeer...sled ...Rudolf ...Isn't snow something that should get me excited in the scheme of things. We were always concerned how the Jolly Old Elf was gonna make it without snow. Probably not too funny to you … but I don't even need eggnog to get a chortle out of this.
I truly think that God had one of those “chortle” moments when He brought Christmas to the planet. One illustration that stands out from the rest is the FIRST ANNOUCEMENT after the Babe was born. While the self-righteous religious world was busy writing out bills and IOU s to God, and while continuing to reference their religious endeavors as collateral, He revealed The Most Awesome Truth of the Ages to a group of common, hardworking, though many times irreverent, always earthy, occupationally smelly … "outcasts"... known as shepherds. Although the religious community couldn't do without these “unclean savages”, they did their best to minimalize contact with them. In the midst of the biased blurb by the religious teachers of the day, God would deliver The Announcement of the ages to those who would keep it simple because they lived life and didn't fake it.
Think of the event and feel the chortle of God --- An angel appears to the outcast shepherds … they are mega-slammed with terror that makes them want to run. But the Angel's message stops them in their tracks; “Fear Not!” “BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU is born this day in the city of David (the Beloved), a Saviour (rescuer, deliverer, preserver) which is Christ the Lord, And this shall be a sign BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU; You shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
What? God entering the normal … because of and for them? Now that was a miracle they had to see.
Try to understand all the arrangements made to bring this night to pass BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU and it will blow you away. God moved the hands of time, birthed nations, formed hearts, bartered unions, empowered the political realm, motivated the moment, positioned the places and players... and then released the message on those he planned all this for … shepherds... BECAUSE OF and FOR YOU.
Step back and it all makes incredible sense – The Babe, wrapped in common utility cloth, and cradled in a feed trough..because of and for the faith of Shepherds and you. God will make sense to those who see Him in the normal... for He is Emmanuel, God with us.
Don't ever write yourself out of God's plan, He is and will continue to move and mold the events of time and space because of and for you. But here is where His Story will collide with us. And what we do at the point of impact is critical. The fact remains, He didn't do what He did the way anyone expected it. How we deal with this “unexpected gift” of Heaven will mold and make our lives for eternity.
God gives + you believe + you receive = you shall live.
God gives + you don't believe + you don't receive = you shall perish. ( John 3:16, John 3:36)
To this day He doesn't do things the way we expect it. He is still in the business of creating an unexpected awe from the normal. How we deal with these “unexpected gifts” of Heaven will mold and make our lives while on this side of eternity. Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, and will create different points of pleasure and pain depending where you are in the reception line (which starts at the perception line). Unless our thinking conforms to a grace outcome even in the most catastrophic situations, our lives will be handicapped by our inability to see the good, and will be further frustrated because we will lose control. This is where we have to apply Advanced Fuzzy Math for Life 101.
Pain + a humbled heart + a crushed spirit + a devotional cooperation with the truth of God's Word = healing in God's Time + rest.
Carefully Check out the picture attached ...you will notice as I did that the baby Jesus has blond hair. We have had these manger figurines for years and I never noticed this until I removed them from the house, placed them in the snowy grass of our side yard, framed the picture, snapped the picture (I still hadn't noticed the Blond hair yet), pasted it on this communication, opened the attachment to see if it was there.... What? Baby Jesus has blond hair. What does that do to you? Not what I expected.
What will you do with what you don't expect … even if it is painful for the moment...
Because of you and for you?
HLFA,
Jeff