Living Between Two Advents: Be GREAT!

Rather frequently, this past week, I found myself thinking about my mother-in-law.

Most likely, that's because we are very close to the anniversary of her death on February 3rd of 2019 - almost six years without her.

Gramma Dot, as she was known to everyone, opened her heart and home to multitudes. 

From her I learned what biblical hospitality looked like. 

She taught me what it looked like to serve others with joy and WELCOME...never grudgingly, always with loving kindness. 

If anyone modeled serving others for Jesus' sake, it was Gramma. 

I won't go on, because days before she passed, I wrote a full blog about my mother-in-love.

When I take time to look at what's being read on this site, that particular blog gets at least one hit EVERY WEEK.

Even after six years.

I reckon the other reason, she's been on my mind, has to do with John the Baptist.

Huh? 

Jesus said these words about John, and they have definitely brought Gramma to mind as I've pondered them:

Among those born of women there is none greater than John!

BUT.... (pay attention to those conjunctions in the middle of sentences, something better might be coming)

Look at how The Message translates this passage -

"Let me lay it out as plainly as I can: No one in history surpasses (the greatness of) John the Baptist, but in the kingdom he prepared for you, the lowliest person is ahead of him (Luke 7:28)."

John, in the eyes of Jesus, is considered greater than Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah...all who had come before, whom God used mightily. 

Yet, even those the world considers "lowly," are greater (Lowly. Least. "Mikros." Small - either in stature, rank, or influence).

John preferred to be behind the scenes, serving, preparing the way, being a voice (an instrument of words) in the wilderness (nobody loves the wilderness, but John did). 

This "serving" others for Jesus' sake is what made John great. 

Again, Jesus' words: 

In the Kingdom of God, greatness is measured by one's willingness to serve. 

It is not measured by the amount of money one gives, power, authority, or even how "upfront" (seen by others).

As greatness goes, John the Baptist hit the mark; Dorothy Barnes Forrest did, too. 

As we live from Advent to Advent, from The Coming to THE COMING of Jesus, the standard for living has been established by John the Baptist (and followed by my mother-in-love):

SERVE WILLINGLY.

See a need? What can I do to meet it? What might you do?

Oh, and just to be clear - it's even better, as I heard this past weekend in Sunday's sermon, if we do what we do in SECRECY (not even our left hand knows what our right hand is doing). 

Jesus-Followers we need more greatness!

BE GREAT!

Lucky? Unlucky? Or?

Shortly after John the Baptist sent a couple of his disciples to Jesus to simply confirm Jesus' identity, John found his head on a  chopping block (literally) and delivered to Herod on a platter (the recipient of an angry woman's revenge). 

What a horrible, macabre end to a life lived wholeheartedly committed to the Lord. 

So, last week, in the middle of a conversation with a friend who'd been following the John-blogs, she commented, "What an unlucky end for John..."

I scrunched my forehead...something didn't sit right with that sentiment.

Then, Sunday morning as I listened to the teaching-pastor at our grandson's church, there in the midst of a biblically solid message, this comment flowed: "Lucky for me, at the time, I was sitting right over there in that spot, when..." 

Lucky for me...

Unlucky for John...

🤔

I frequently hear Jesus-followers use these words (or various synonyms of the same sort) in conversation and find my eyebrows lifting in question; and, admittedly, I've begun cringing (the kind of cringe that comes when you hear a fork scratch across someone's teeth). Oy!

Here's why it's become such a big deal for me.

First, words matter. We best know what they mean and how they fit into the plumb line of Scripture.

As a student, still learning what Scripture tells me, I am completely convinced regarding the Sovereignty of God. To me, it is is an indisputable fact. 

If this is so, then there is nothing that touches our lives that the Lord is not aware of...and allows. 

Everything from life to death and in between...that affects us...does not happen by chance. 

If I believe in chance, then I can not truly believe God has a perfect will for my life (Romans 12:2)...

"Luck and God's will?" - The two can not go hand-in-hand. 

I believe one or the other, I can't believe both (not luck, not chance, not fortune)...

And...

if I believe in chance/luck, then what happens to faith? 

There's no need for faith.

No need for trust...we just resign ourselves to how the dice will land when they are thrown.

What a terrible way to live!

Were I to believe in simple good-fortune, or bad-fortune (as the case may be), I'd wake up each day living out the course of the day in nothing but fear. 

I don't, though.

I live each day with the faith that God is still on His throne...still looking ahead...knowing assuredly His plan will never be thwarted (and it's a GOOD PLAN, which we may not always see or understand at any given moment). 

God's Sovereignty does one more thing for me.

Not only do I not live in fear, but knowing the kind of God who is in control of my life (His character, His grace, love and mercy), makes surrender to Him, and His plans for me, easier (note: easier, not necessarily easy). 

Because of God's Sovereignty, making friends with the hard-stuff finds a place in my world. 

So, should things go south, turn pear-shaped, not go according to my expectations - I can be at peace and settle into true rest within my soul. 

Were we to sit down and record a podcast with John the Baptist, I believe he would tell us the same thing ToDaY (!) about the end of his life: 

Yes, while horrible and macabre - it was not a matter of good luck or bad; but, it was all part of God's plan to 1) remind us Jesus truly was the Lamb of God; 2) there's always a purpose we can't see, even in the hard stuff; and, 3) even in death, God will use us as a witness to His Sovereignty. 

So, if I could wave a magic wand and eliminate one word from the vocabulary of a Jesus-follower, that would be the word (and anything similar to it): 

LUCK.

For me, there is No! SuCh! ThInG!

In the Middle Between Disappointment and Despair

 "Are you the One to come, or should we look for another?"

-John the Baptist-

(Luke 7:19)

There he sat.

Imprisoned in Herod's cruel confines, John waited with uncertainty. Who knew with Herod what John's upcoming fate might be? 

Twiddling his thumbs, he had nothing but time on his hands, as he looked back at this life God ordained for him, and wondered at what the future held.

This wasn't what he'd expected, nor how he'd imagined the end of it all.

So, as I looked deeply at this picture, the furrowed brow, the dark eyes squinting (as if trying to foresee the future), I find myself deeply comforted (of course, the cross made by the iron bars in each of the corners also helps). 

However, I imagine if we interviewed John right now, he'd assure us that he's glad to bring us a measure of comfort, hope, maybe even joy as his weakness is unveiled in Scripture.

It makes me think of the Apostle Paul and these words from him:

If you're like me, the last thing you want to brag about are your weaknesses...

Paul (and John the Baptist) disagree.

For it is in our greatest weakness that the power of our Savior is revealed to all mankind.

He shows Himself off best when we are not strong (so we CAN'T brag, in and of ourselves).

In the Luke 7 passage (in fact, go and read verses 18-35), John's wondering about his lot in life...and, his disappointment has led to doubt. 

Doubt lies half-way on a dangerous journey toward despair. 

Disappointment leads to discouragement.

Discouragement leads to doubt.

Doubt to distrust.

Distrust to depression.

Depression to despair.

Despair is the bottom of the barrel. 

It's where suicide generally finds us. 

We are all like John (after all, his human existence puts us in the same club, where it is easy for doubt to find us). This is what I find most comforting. Even the prophet Elijah, whom John often imitated, found himself on the journey toward despair (again, a comfort...we aren't alone!). 

It's not sin to doubt; the sin comes when we allow ourselves to wallow...

The goal, of course, is to deal with disappointment and discouragement before we ever get to doubt, but doubt is subtle and creeps up on us before we even know it.

So, even though John's disciples are reporting on the amazing ministry of Jesus (they'd just returned rejoicing in the healing of a soldier's son and a widow's son - the latter from death to life), his heart needed something more. He wanted confirmation from the One that he's declared to be "The Lamb of God," Himself.

Two of his disciples went to Jesus with John's question.

Jesus does just what we'd expect.

He rebukes John, scolds him for his unbelieving heart, and tells the disciples to go back to their rabbi and say, "Buck up, Buttercup! Remember how you leapt for joy at my arrival before you were even born? Of course I'm the ONE!"

Nope!

That's not what I read in the Scriptures.

Jesus responds with patience, kindness and a WORD OF TRUTH...

...That WORD came directly from Isaiah (chapter 35): 

That is all it took to turn John's journey back to one of hope and joy - one prophecy fulfilled, one good word spoken, one truth to remind him all was not in vain.

The comfort I receive abounds when I remember, 1) I am not unlike the one who Jesus declared to be the "greatest" of those born among women (Luke 7:28) - - - if we are human, we will doubt from time to time; and, 2) at any time on the spiral downward to despair, I can stop that Merry-go-round with a Word from the Lord found in His Holy Scriptures. 

Instead of wallowing in my own little pity-party, I can make a choice to start the climb out of the pit, one rung at a time, as I dwell on the TRUTH, and renew my mind. 

ANOTHER TRUTH IS: maybe somewhere in the middle, between someone else's disappointment and despair, we will be able to offer the same kind of comfort with which we have been comforted!

Thank you, John!

A Piece of the Puzzle

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through Him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

John 1:6-8 (underline emphasis mine)

In two verses, the same word is used to describe John the Baptist three times: 

witness

In each dictionary I checked, the word is, first, a noun...not a verb; so that tells me, "I am" before "I do;" John, then, followed up with living it out. 

Witness was John's identity before it was John's work.

Truthfully, we would be hard-pressed to separate the two, but the sequence is important: first, be; then, do.

God sent (indicating intentional purpose) John to become evidence that proved Jesus as Messiah, the Light of Men. 

And...John contented himself with being a piece of the puzzle that pointed the way to Jesus. 

Once he understood his call, John opened his mouth, became a voice, and brought forth a word of testimony. 

The witness became a witness. 

Living between two advents means I, too, am willing to be a simple piece of the puzzle that points to our soon-to-come-again-Savior, along with readying others for the Kingdom.

But, the word "witness" means far more than I once realized (as the Word-Nerd-in-me steps to the forefront, don't give up, just yet - this is pretty important).

The word, which we translate as witness, is transliterated from Greek as "martyria."

It's fairly obvious that this is where we get our word for martyr. 

In first century AD, to be a witness for Jesus, you recognized the fact you risked death. The two concepts were significantly inseparable. This new sect called "Christianity" came with HUGE political and religious tension.

With that said, it isn't at all surprising that John the Baptist became one of the first New Testament martyrs as he "made straight the way of the Lord Jesus." 

If I claim to be a Jesus-follower, I am also called to be a witness.

Jesus makes it clear:

"Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20)."

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)."

Like John, there must be a resolve, a willingness, (and, yes) a contentedness that comes with our being "sent out." 

Like John, and, like Jesus, there's an attitude in us standing and declaring, "not my will, Father, but Yours be done," and with that resolution moving forward into the purposeful calling of God...even if it might mean death (a little more on this next week as we look at John the Baptist's moment of doubt).

XXXXX

Just before sitting to work on this morning's blog, I happened to be upstairs doing some clean-up after our Christmas-company. 

Dusting the shelves, my eyes rested on stacked blocks that have been there for years (you know how sometimes something sits for so long we forget it's there? Exactly!). Here's a picture.

I

DIE

DAILY

From God's sending of John to the day of his actual beheading, this truly was the man's theme.

It was the apostle Paul's, as well...

"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)."

You know, sometimes, I recognize that I just throw those words out there in the blogosphere, but what does it mean, really, to die to self?

Well, there's another sign on my wall, crafted and sand-blasted years ago by a dear friend:

Absolute surrender! That's what it means to die daily...

Dying-to-self is simply to surrender in obedience to the Lord: His will, His way, His when, His where...

I'll close with this little prayer that is hand-written and taped to the back of my phone today. It comes from the prayers of early Puritans in the little book, Valley of Vision:

All-good-God,

Help me to see how good Thy will is in all; 

and, even when it crosses mine, 

teach me to be pleased with it. 

Amen.

New Year's Goal

It's a New Year: fresh starts; new beginnings.

I like this CS Lewis quote as I sit on the fringe of 2025:

"The past is frozen and no longer flows, and the present is ALL LIT UP WITH ETERNAL RAYS (all these capital letters are my emphasis)."

Yep, we can't do anything about the past, but there is a great big PRESENT all ready for us to unwrap. 

I know many who are fearful of what's in that package, but Oswald Chambers addresses that, as well:

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the ONE who is leading."

That's why, as Jesus-followers we can live in the now, looking at the future without fear or dread. We know the one who KNOWS ALL THINGS, has been there before us, and is working all things for our good; because He IS GOOD!

Sigh.

Welcome 2025 and all you bring...

XXXXX

With Christmas over, and all the trimmings packed up and put away in tubs to wait for another year, you'd think my mind would stop dwelling on Advent.

Yet here we are in what is known as Christmastide (the season we call "The Twelve Days of Christmas"), beginning Christmas Eve.

So, it's only right to still be pondering how we live between two Advents, as we continue to study the first (and the people who lived it).

This morning, I was re-reading Luke 1, which heralds the Christmas story. 

I stopped again at the story of the birth of John the Baptist (Jesus' forerunner and cousin). 

There are a few interesting sentences starting where Zechariah writes the words, "His name is John (v. 63)"

The audience standing around this newly parented couple were curious, wondering, "what next..."

Then Luke records for us these words:

"All these things (regarding the birth of John) were talked about through all the hill country of Judea. All who heard them laid the stories up in their hearts, saying, "What will this child be?"

I think every parent looks at their newborn babe and wonders the same...echoing the same question throughout the early years with a great deal of hope.

"What will this child be?"

We even ask it of ourselves, "I wonder what I'll be when I grow up?" I'm still wondering...

John knew the answer to that question from an early age.

He'd figured it out, and it was all tied up in the life of his cousin, Jesus. 

Who he would be depended entirely on Jesus.

If I'm faithful in pondering my own identity, the same is true. 

Who I am depends entirely on Jesus...

Ah, then, how I live between two advents reflects this, as well.

XXXXX

In John 1, John the Baptist is asked this question by the priests and Levites: "Who are you?"

This is how John answers the question, first asked by his neighbors, then by the religious leaders:

"I am the voice (John 1:23)."

That's it.

Just a voice.

A voice crying out in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord.

That's all he was ever meant to be. 

That's all he wanted to be. 

I've not heard of any little ones, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, answer: "Oh, a voice."

For one thing, voices aren't seen, just heard....and most of us want to be seen, known, valued.

For another...depending on what the voice says, it raises a lot of opinions (some very under-appreciated). 

Yet, John the Baptist sets for us an example of who and what we are to be, first and foremost, as we live betwixt and between two Advents.

A voice crying in the wilderness of this world: 

"Here He is, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)."  

Yes, Jesus loves us - and we are to live loved.

Yes, Jesus set us free - and we are to live in that freedom.

Yes, Jesus made us citizens of heaven, children of the one True God, and we are to live like it! 

But, like John, as Jesus-followers, we are to be THE VOICE, making straight the way to the Savior - our Lord. 

New Year's Goal.