DWJD - Do What Jesus Did

The Miracle of Christmas is just about upon us. The celebration of the birth of one who would change the world. His birth was not heeded by the locals in Bethlehem at the time. It was announced by angels to lowly shepherds in the fields in the middle of the night. Jesus was born in a barn, in modern day terms. We ask people who are uncouth if they were born in a barn...not as a complement! How low can you go? In the day, the Jewish people anticipated the coming of their Messiah. Simeon was an old man who anticipated Christ's coming. The Holy Spirit spoke to him when Jesus was brought to the temple at 8 days old, that this was the Christ, sent by God. (Luke 2:22-32) No fanfare started, Mary, Joseph and Jesus weren't brought to a place of honor or given a palace fit for a king. They went home after presenting Jesus at the temple and probably wondered at Simeon's declaration. Skip a few years to the time of Jesus' ministry here on earth. The Bible is filled with instances of Him healing the sick. Not just the sniffles, He healed the blind beggar, he healed the paralytic, He healed the outcast leper, He delivered more than one demon possessed person, He raised a young girl and Lazarus from the dead. He cared, He had compassion....on the lowly. At that time and place in history men didn't approach women who weren't family. Women were second class citizens, much like most of the Mid-east is today. He approached and spoke to the Samaritan women at the well, forgave and rescued an accused prostitute and granted healing to a sickly women who reached out for Him. He had compassion on over 5000 people who followed him so he fed them with 3 small loaves of bread and 2 fish. If He can raise people from the dead, He surely can multiply food! The amazing thing is, that Jesus himself said we will do greater works than His! John 14:12 ESV says: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father". Caring for the lowly is just the beginning. It starts with compassion. If you find you don't care about the poor, the sick, the single mom with 3 kids, the janitor at your work place, prisoners, the annoying neighbor, the abusive family member and the list can go on and on. What if you don't care about some of these I mentioned? Not that caring is something you switch on, certainly we absolutely have to see some people through the eye's of Christ to care. What if you thought about the fact that in caring, you glorify God? In having the faith to pray for someone's healing you are glorifying God. Scripture says that the servant (us) will never be greater than the master (Jesus). So even though we may be praying, laying on hands, giving out of our abundance, it is truly the resurrection power of Jesus that is doing the work. Wow...what a thought, that God would flow through us to reach the unreached! What a challenge to live into that scripture that we would do greater miracles than Jesus! How humbling that is! I think to myself, what do I need to do or be to walk into that? I need to go before the Lord and ask Him to teach me and touch me and then be quiet and listen.

Thankful Giving

During this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas so many of us are very busy with holiday preparations, getting ready for colder weather and for students, taking exams and coming home to mom and dad. We know this is a time for being thankful and for giving gifts. Some of us put some thought into being thankful beyond the holiday designated for it. We will be giving and receiving gifts soon. Do we think of expressing our love in gift giving beyond Christmas? Do we think of it as a way of expressing love at all?

I like to think of this time as a chance to get back to habits of giving and being thankful the whole year. So much centers around gifts. People spend enormous amounts of money giving expensive gifts and lots of them. My family has not done so. We keep it simple. The kids have made candy, with supervision of course. Good thing we don’t live in Idaho. The law states that any gift of candy has to be in boxes of 50 lbs. or more! I’m sure the local candy magnate had something to do with that! What we most enjoy is time with each other. It’s always an adventure to see who gets my sister wound up, candy fights behind mom's back and if we can keep dad from telling the same story he’s told the last 30 years or so at every family event.

For most people it’s easy to be thankful for family and friends. For others it’s a stretch to be thankful for certain family members, the critical boss or rude neighbor. Often we tolerate those particular family members at holiday gatherings and spend our time with those whose company we enjoy. We simply try to stay out of that bosses way and ignore the neighbors. For abuse victims the holiday brings new stressors; perhaps bad memories or time alone away from festivities that the perpetrators are attending. For me it is a mix. I am tired and spend time looking for gifts, even for my perpetrator who is a family member.

I forget about the reason for the season too. Jesus. He came in just about the lowliest of circumstances a baby could arrive in. He understands the “lowly”. Those who are alone, tired, poor and depressed. Don’t forget to include them in your “thankful giving”. Being aware of the world around us includes those who may be at the fringe of our social circle. I have a neighbor who is 92 years old and still lives independently except for the help of family. She really enjoys a visit especially since one close friend and neighbor passed away and another one moved across town to a small apartment. I plan on stopping in a couple times for a chat even though I am busy. What about the aloof person at work or church who is on the edge of conversations, but not quite participating? Do you know their story? I was that person for many years. I longed for someone to reach out and be interested in me. I look for the person sitting alone at lunch or during the church service to say hello and introduce myself. It doesn't have to take a lot of time to make a difference to them. I haven’t mentioned giving to a charity or to a family out of work. Many others cover those choices. The point is to express love to someone in need, whether it is time, money or a gift.