December 2019

With Christmas just a little over a week away, I wanted to share with you something that continues to boggle my mind.  Of course, everything that surrounds the true meaning of Christmas is absolutely amazing.  However, there is one truth that I know I will never fully comprehend.  This truth is stated in both the Old and New Testaments.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Emmanuel.  Isaiah 7:14

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, “God with us.“ Matthew 1:23

Whether one spells this name with an “E” or an “I”, the meaning is the same.  When Jesus was born as a baby, God came to this earth.  It is hard to comprehend that the Creator of the universe took on human flesh and dwelt with man right here on earth.  I love singing the little chorus that speaks this truth over and over again.

Emmanuel, Emanuel.  His name is called Emmanuel.  God with us, revealed in us.  His name is called Emmanuel.

As I prepare for Christmas, I am consumed with the truth that God loved me so much that He came and dealt among us.  This should impact how we live our lives each and every day.  But then something else happened because Jesus became God with us.  He went to the cross and died for our sins and rose again forever defeating sin and the grave.

When I repented of my sins and believed in my heart that Jesus was Lord, I was born again.  What is amazing about that is that it was no longer simply God with me but now it was God in me!  His Spirit lives within me.  So this Christmas I am rejoicing that they called His name Emmanuel – God with us!  But I also praise Him because of what happened on that first Christmas, I can now say that God is in me.  I can’t fully comprehend this truth but I have a new creation in Christ.

Here are the questions that I have asked myself as Christmas approaches.

1. How is my life a reflection of the truth that Emmanuel came to this earth?
2. How is my life different because He indwells me each and every day?

I pray that each of you has a blessed Christmas.  I look forward to being back with you in 2020.  Together let’s live our lives knowing that God is both with us and in us.  Can you imagine what 2020 might hold in store if the reality of Emmanuel consumed us each day?  Merry Christmas!

 

It is amazing to see how the meanings of words change over time.  Unfortunately, many Christians fail to understand that this is even happening.  This results in them using words and thinking that everyone is defining them the same way they are.  The end result is utter chaos.

Another thing that I have witnessed over the years when it comes to the meaning of words is that we use common words and phrases and never really define them.  This leaves the meaning of those words and phrases left up to how the hearer defines them.  Once again, the result is chaos.  Words are important but knowing their meanings is equally, if not more, important.

My good friend, Mark Kennedy, recently sent me a brief article. Mark is the ACSI Director for Eastern Canada.  In the article, he illustrated the results that take place when definitions change or people use words without really knowing the true meaning of them.  He wrote,

Over time, the definitions of words change – occasionally they change quite a bit. An innocuous example is the word ‘silly’ which comes from the old English word ‘saleg’ meaning ‘happy’. Over many decades that meaning (and spelling) changed gradually so that saleg – ‘happy’-, came to mean ‘blessed’, then ‘pious’. From pious its meaning changed further to ‘innocent’, from ‘innocent’ to ‘naïve’ and then from the mid 16^th century on, it evolved into its current meaning – ‘foolish’.

Over the centuries, some definitions just evolved on their own. But in our day, the functional meanings of a few key words have been intentionally altered for political and/or social engineering purposes. The word “Gay” is a prime example.

And for other words, their common daily usage has come to mean the exact opposite of their long-established definitions. So ‘tolerance’ now implies the furious rejection of any perspectives except those promoted by the wielders of worldly power. And ‘inclusiveness’ carries with it the intentional and scornful exclusion of anyone whose beliefs conflict with ‘political correctness’.

Most of us can relate to what Mark is saying in these few sentences.  You may have even been accused of being bigoted or worse because of how you “misused” some of these words.  Mark went on in his article to show how the changing of definitions has affected education.

Along the same lines, the term ‘liberal’ has been so misused in our culture that its roots are obscured. ‘Liberal’ comes from the Latin “liberare”, meaning ‘to set free’.  According the original meaning, the word ‘liberal’ isn’t about the rejection of traditional ideas or the unquestioning acceptance of the new.  From its root, the word ‘liberal’, is all about freedom.  This makes me think of Jesus’ words, “It is for freedom that you have been set free!” Gal 5:1. And of course, the Scriptures defines what freedom really is and who is able to supply it.  So, a ‘liberal’ education is one that sets students free according to God’s standards– the very thing I hope we are doing in Christian schools.

As I read this brief article, I asked myself this question.  Are we providing students with an education that sets them truly free?  Jesus also spoke these words.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:31-32 (NKJV) 

If the education we are providing our children is going to set them free, it must lead them to abiding in God’s Word to the point that they will know truth.  When they know truth, they will be made free.  Mark finished his article with a quote by a Catholic theologian named Peter Kwasniewski.  Kwasniewski wrote,

The point of liberal [freeing] education is not to form perfect beings on the model of already perfect beings but to initiate a lifetime of apprenticeship to the one true Master, Jesus Christ, freeing the mind from the debris of a collapsing civilization and freeing the heart from the chafing shackles of confined and self-centered desire. Students who receive such an education are granted the opportunity to find a spiritual freedom that is more precious than all the riches of this world (emphasis mine).

After thinking about the world that our children and youth are growing up in, I found myself in full agreement with Mark’s closing thought.

Young People Need an Education that Inspires Them to Seek God’s Face!

It is hard to believe that another year is coming to a close.  It seems like 2019 just started a few days ago.  Did you set any goals for the year or make any New Year’s resolutions?  Did you achieve success this year?  Everyone desires to find success but how can one measure and determine true success?

Unfortunately, too many people measure success by the world’s standards.  I have found that there are four criteria that are often used to measure one’s success.  I call them the four Ps of worldly success.  These are:

• power
• prestige
• possessions
• position

These measures of success are closely related to one another and often overlap each other.  Some believe that if they had the power to do whatever they desire, that would bring them success.  Others think that having a certain appearance that is prestigious in other people’s eyes will determine their success.  A great number of individuals strive to obtain success through financial wealth and/or possessing more and more stuff.  Finally, there are those that believe they will be successful if they were able to climb the corporate ladder and get to the top.

The sad reality of measuring success by these criteria is that they are all temporal measures.  In fact, if I use any or all of these measures for determining success, I am setting myself up to eventually be a loser.  This is because a day will come when I won’t be able to maintain a certain level of power and I will lose any sense of prestige – whether it is my physical appearance or some other form of status.  Possessions can also be lost in a moment of time and someone will eventually replace me in any position I might hold.

I have found another very interesting thing about people who try to find success by striving for one or more of these worldly standards.  It seems like many who achieve these measures of success struggle with such things as depression, addiction, broken relationships, etc.  Examples of this are common in professional sports and Hollywood.  Why is this so common with people who seem to have it all — power, prestige, possessions and/or position?

Many years ago, I read a study that tried to measure what caused people to feel successful in life.  Even though many people believed that achieving one or more of the four Ps of success would bring them satisfaction in life, they found out that even when they achieved one of these measures, something was still missing.  It was discovered that the one thing that gave a person a sense of true success was when someone that he/she saw as being a significant person in his/her life approved of him/her.

I have come to believe that this is true for each and every individual.  For many people this significant other person might be a parent, coach, spouse or teacher.  This is why a person can be seen as being very successful and may even have a large fan base and still end up destroying his life.  It is because there was someone that he wanted to please but that person never gave them the affirmation he was looking for.

This is why it is so important for parents, pastors and educators to speak truth in love into the lives of those they influence.  It is your approval they may be seeking more than anything else in life.  Sometimes the most difficult person you have to deal with is the one who desperately wants your approval.  This is why it is so important to see every person as an image bearer of God.  When we do this, we will see their true value and will treat them appropriately.

Yes, we need to do all we can to encourage and challenge others to be the best that they can be as image bearers of God.  However, it is also important to look at our own lives and examine what we are measuring our success by.  Is it one or more of the four Ps?  Or is it someone that we really want to have approval from?  The truth is that the things of this world will eventually fade away and other people will disappoint us.

So how does one find true success.  I believe it is to make only one person our most significant other in our lives.  That person is God, Himself.  When God becomes our significant other, we will never be disappointed.  Probably the most familiar verse in the Bible about success is,

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)

When do I accomplish the greatest sense of success in my life?  It is when I,

• surrender daily to God’s will
• spend time with God in His Word
• obey Him

When these three things are directing my life, I am successful.  Paul found true success by striving to do these three things.  When he did them, his priorities changed and he found true success.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8 (NKJV)

The need for power, prestige, possessions and/or position fades away when I make Christ my significant other.  When this happens, I am successful!