A Baby Changes Everything

Every parent talking to a man or woman about to have their first child knows something the soon-to-be-parents don’t: they have no idea what’s about to hit them.  Their world is about to be completely turned upside down.  Whatever dreams of a schedule they had will quickly fade into the reality of feeding schedules and diaper changes.  Whatever sense of control they had over their lives will soon end.  A tiny creature incapable of intelligible speech with no knowledge of the fact that it possess arms and legs with hands and feet attached will become their master, dictating their sleep cycle, their bathing habits, and their spending plan.  Their lives will change instantly.  They will suffer from sleep deprivation and spit-up saturation.  And they choose to undergo all of this voluntarily!

When a woman finds out she is pregnant, it is very common for her to evaluate everything she has been doing without thinking.  What she eats, what she drinks, what she smokes, when she sleeps – everything is looked at with great scrutiny.  I knew a woman who was a pack-a-day smoker who stopped cold turkey as soon as she found out she was pregnant.  Other women who are usually couch potatoes find themselves walking 30 minutes a day to get healthy.  Women who once swore off vegetables as an arch enemy suddenly is immersed in dark green leafy veggies.  Women who hate swallowing pills are willing to gag themselves on a prenatal horse pill every morning.

Why do women examine their lives so carefully when they are pregnant?  Simply because they want their baby to thrive long before they draw their first breath.  When pregnant women really understand the impact of their choices on the life of their child, they make changes that they would not have made otherwise.

Even though it was long before we had modern medicine to inform us about the impact of diet, exercise and rest on ourselves and children within, I am certain Mary played it safer when she discovered that she was pregnant.  The decisions she made would affect her and her baby.

What would happen if we took a similar approach to our faith, realizing that Christ dwells within us, and that Christ naturally wants to grow in our lives all the way to maturity?  What if we believed that our daily decisions really would make a difference on the likelihood of our spiritual health?

• We would think about what we eat and drink more carefully.  We would think about the fuel we feed our bodies, and would choose the best we could.  Have you ever treated your dietary habits as a spiritual discipline?
• We would exercise.  We would want to be as physically healthy as possible so that our bodies would be the best tool for us as possible.  Have you ever thought of exercise as a spiritual activity?
• We would take rest seriously.  We would realize that building calm into our lives is as important as integrating exercise and a healthy diet.  Have you ever considered guarding “rest” in your schedule as a spiritual discipline?
• We would read as much as we could to learn everything we could about the journey we’re on.  We would realize that we have much to learn that will help us make the most of our experience and avoid common pitfalls.  Have you ever considered integrating various forms of learning about your faith as a spiritual exercise?
• We would get professional help.  We would talk things over with a doctor, midwife, or nurse practitioner to gain from their perspective and get their help in staying on the right track.  Have you considered getting a spiritual check up with a professional?  I wonder what that might do for you…
• We would join others who are on the same journey with us.  We would gain a lot of confidence in the company of others; we would learn from peers, and together we would be stronger than we possibly could alone.  Have you considered building community into your life as a spiritual prescription?

Mary, though very young to be with child by our standards, discovered very quickly that a baby changes everything.  Without question, she met new challenges, and made decisions that perhaps made things tougher for her, not easier – but the payoff was worth it.

May you be so motivated and eventually blessed as you follow in Mary’s footsteps this Christmas.

It's A Wonderful Life

George Bailey grew up in a loving household, the elder of two sons.  George had great ambition – he dreamed of one day touring the globe, learning about cultures and their architecture, and one day returning to build great buildings that would inspire for generations.  George was an old soul – his character was rich with compassion.  Early in life he made decisions to risk his own well-being for the sake of others – once in saving his brother’s life in a sledding accident (which cost him his hearing in one ear).  On another occasion, he intentionally disobeyed his employer in order to save another child’s life from being poisoned from a pharmaceutical mix-up.  His dreams were high, and his heart was deep.

Unfortunately, George’s dreams were cut short just before he was to set out for his dream life – his father died.  George was faced with a terrible decision: go fulfill his travel and educational dream, or stay to save the Building & Loan business his father had built and run for years.  If he chose to leave the Building and Loan behind, he could easily shake the dust of Bedford Falls off his feet and get on with his life.  But leaving would also mean the end of the Building & Loan and with it the end of hope for hundreds of people who would never be able to afford a home with his father’s business.

His choice was between personal comfort and sacrifice for the good of others.

In the story of Jesus’ birth, Joseph faced a similar predicament.  Should he stay the course he had dreamed – leaving Mary behind and hopefully finding someone else down the pike – or should he sacrifice his personal comfort and dreams for something much greater, and much larger than himself?

A few years later, the underlying love between George and Mary blossomed, and they were married.  While en route to their honeymoon train, people in downtown Bedford Falls went nuts.  Ernie the cab driver wondered if it was a run on the banks.  He was right.  George had another difficult choice to make – go on his honeymoon or do damage control at the Building & Loan.  Mary encouraged him to stay in the cab, but George went anyway.  And just as his customers were starting to go wild, Mary showed up, and offered their own honeymoon savings to keep the company afloat.  The choice between personal comfort and sacrifice for a greater good was before him yet again, and George (and now Mary, too) chose the latter.

It’s reasonable to believe that by the time Jesus was a toddler, Joseph had established himself in the village of Bethlehem.  He was probably picking up carpentry jobs here and there to make ends meet.  He and Mary were probably enjoying a normal life together.  But then he had a dream in which God instructed him to pick up his stakes and move to Egypt to save Jesus’ life.  The choice arose between personal comfort and sacrifice for the greater good.  Joseph chose the latter.

Personal comfort or sacrifice for the greater good.  That’s the choice we face over and over and over again.

Jesus was clear about the choice, too.  He said the choice was between the Kingdom of God and the garbage dump.  The word “hell” shows up, but we must understand that this specific word literally referred to a famous garbage dump just outside of Jerusalem.  When Jesus used that word for hell, his audience thought of the dump.  I’ve switched it out in the following verses where Jesus speaks to his audience about the cost of going our own way, which often doesn’t produce the results we thought would come.

Jesus’ Use of Hell in Matthew 5:

²² …And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of [the dump]….

²⁹ So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into [the dump].

³⁰ And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into [the dump].

Jesus’ Use of Hell in Matthew 7:

¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to [the dump] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Jesus repeatedly refers to the Kingdom of God as the “zone” where life really resides.  The Kingdom isn’t simply heaven – the Pearly Gates and streets of gold.  The Kingdom is now, present, at work in the world, redeeming and restoring people and places all the time.  That’s where meaningful life is found, not in simply looking after ourselves.

Jesus stated that the more we try to save our lives by serving our own needs, the more our lives will actually be lost.  But the more we give our lives to the way of life exemplified by Jesus, the more we will really live.  See what Jesus says…

Jesus On The Bottom Line in Luke 9 (NLT):

²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁵ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? ²⁶ If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”

George Bailey discovered, with the help of God, that his life and sacrifice mattered much more than he realized.  He didn’t have much in the way of money, but he was certainly rich with life. 

Joseph risked his life on God, and discovered a life of impact and experiences that would have been missed if he chose to simply give into our natural tendency to simply look after ourselves.  Joseph could not have foreseen what level of impact his decisions made.  But the truth is that billions of lives have been transformed by the grace of God discovered in Jesus Christ because he trusted God more than his selfish instincts.

The truth is that jumping into the way of life seems scary at the time.  But over time, as God helps us get more and more of our life aligned with the ways of the Kingdom, the more living we actually experience, and the more God, too.  Have you made the jump to trusting God more than yourself?  What parts of your life are not aligned – and therefore holding you back from experiencing more of the life God is offering?

Fearlessfull Faith

From Quiet…  The shepherds who pulled the short straw that first Christmas Eve expected what they had always experienced – not much.  If they had the late watch, there wasn’t much work to be done – just keep your eyes open in case a sheep wandered off or if a wolf or lion wandered in.  I had a job like that in college for awhile.  I worked the graveyard shift at a gas station right off the freeway.  From midnight until just before dawn, nothing much happened.  You can only sweep the floor, organize cigarettes and prep the coffee so many times.  And then you just sit there, looking around, trying to stay awake.  It’s a pretty easy job, but not exactly engaging.

To Glory…  As the story goes, however, on that one night something did happen.  And nothing could have prepared them for it.  An angel appeared, and the radiance of God’s glory with him.  The being had a message about the Christchild’s birth.  Then a huge boatload of angels showed up to sing a song celebrating this event.

To Fear…  It’s a wonder the shepherds knew to look for a manger after such a visit.  My hunch is that as soon as the first angel showed up, all the guys heard was blah, blah, blah.  Can you imagine what they went through?  They had to be absolutely petrified.  God actually showed up in person, with his glory cranked up to the “blinding” setting.  If you look at most of the times when God showed up in person to someone throughout the Bible, the apparent first reaction to the experience is fear.

Maybe we should rethink our position on fear and faith.  Maybe fear, though we tend to speak of it as another term for deep reverence, actually has something to do with being afraid.  How could being afraid be connected to faith in god?

Psalm 111:10 states that fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.  Perhaps this initial reaction is necessary if we should actually take God seriously.  In the United States, we have free speech, and state that everybody has a right to speak their mind.  But this freedom has also had an interesting side effect: we don’t necessarily respect the person behind the voice.  At any particular moment you can hear from about any perspective you choose on the radio and the internet.  Most people tune out most of those voices and give attention and allegiance only to those voices they deem valid.  Could it be, however, that we equate validity with agreement – that we only really give heed to the voices of those who share our viewpoint?

To fear God is to recognize that the voice speaking isn’t one among equals, but a much stronger voice with much greater power than our own.  When we realize Who is speaking, we appropriately should be filled with fear.  Fear is good, then, because it keeps the relationship unequal, with One much greater than ourselves on the other side.

At an early point in my relationship with God, I experienced a fraction of his glory.  I had never before experienced anything like it.  It freaked me out.  But I knew it was God, and I trusted that God was worthy of my confidence, so I went with it.  It blew my mind in the right way, so that I knew a very big God was all around me.  The fear lasted a moment, but then turned to passionate faith.  When I experience the same thing now, it does not elicit fear, but serves to strengthen my faith.

To Faith.  The good news is that God doesn’t want us to cower every time we consider his visits throughout our lives.  Quite the opposite – the more we listen to God’s voice, the more we understand that God is a loving God and desires good for us, the more our fear turns to faith.

May you wrestle with the fact that the all-powerful, all-knowing God showed up on the first Christmas Eve, and still does today.  May you tremble as you realize how significant this truth is.  And may your fear keep your relationship to God appropriately unequal, so that you discover how much you can trust God to be good and faithful your entire life, now and forever.