As we write our goals and action steps for 2020, let’s remember to include surrounding ourselves with people who can help us grow.

I was researching Charles Jennens, the man who compiled the libretto for Handel’s Messiah, and I came across an article containing a quote from George Steevens who was not a fan of Jennens because Jennens had criticized some of Shakespeare’s work. Others have refuted Steevens’ perception of Jennens. 

The point of today’s blog is not whether the quote fairly applies to Jennens or not. The point is that the quote contains a valuable reminder for all of us. Ready?

The chief error of Mr. Jennens’s life consisted in his perpetual association with a set of men every way inferior to himself. By these means he lost all opportunities of improvement, but gained what he preferred to the highest gratifications of wisdom – flattery in excess. —George Steevens 

The warning is that if we associate only with a set of people inferior to ourselves, we lose all opportunities for improvement, and we trade gaining wisdom for gaining flattery. 

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. (Proverbs 15.31 – 33, NKJV)

I wrote soon after I was given an Apple Watch how it was motivating me to get more exercise. One of the ways it does that is by giving me monthly goals. I’m now seeing that there are two kinds of goals, and I’m debating which kind is more effective.

Some goals give me a target for the month: so many minutes of exercise, so much distance walked. So far these have been attainable especially with a bit of planning. I figure out what my targets are for each day, and I monitor my progress and get ahead when I can to make up for those days when I can’t do as much. This type of goal motivates me to do more than is required “just in case.”

This month’s goal is different: I have to keep up my daily minimums every day. Every day for the whole 31 days. There’s no incentive to do much more than the minimum since it won’t carry over. On the other hand, I’m not allowed to do less. Consistency is not just encouraged, it is demanded.

If we’re setting our own goals, which is better? When I started thinking about this, I thought I would say the second type since it demands consistency, and consistency is good. However, there’s no grace. What happens when I fail to meet my minimum? What’s my motivation to get back to it the next day? 

So as we set goals or make resolutions for the new year, I’m going to aim for actions that are attainable, maybe with a little extra effort, that inspire consistency, but are not so rigid that I quit if I miss a day.

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 8.34, 35, ESV)

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! (Philippians 3.12 – 15, MSG)

Please permit me one more Christmas meditation…

I wrote earlier about the baby Jesus himself being the sign to the shepherds; here’s some additional insight from Bruce Simmons, translator of The Passion Translation, from which I quote from time to time. Here’s his footnote from Luke 2.8 when the shepherds are introduced:

Many scholars believe that these could be the same fields where sacrificial flocks were kept for temple worship.

Bethlehem was only 6 miles from Jerusalem, hence a good place to raise lambs for sacrifice. But here’s the kicker—the note from verse 12 about the baby being the sign:

A baby lying in a feeding trough where animals were kept nearby, wrapped in strips of cloths, became a sign of the Man-Savior’s life on earth…The shepherds that night were possibly near Bethlehem at Migdal Eder, “the [watch] tower of the flock.” …It was at the lower floor of the watchtower (Migdal Eder) that the birthing of the Passover lambs would take place. Selected ewes that were about to give birth would be brought there. After the birth of the lambs, the priestly shepherds would wrap the lambs in cloth and lay them in a manger lined with soft hay to prevent them from hurting themselves, for Passover lambs must be unblemished with no bruise or broken bone. The miracle sign for these priestly shepherds would be a baby boy lying where the Passover lamb should be—in a manger, wrapped in strips of cloth.

I don’t think that needs more comment!

That night, in a field near Bethlehem, there were shepherds watching over their flocks. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in radiant splendor before them, lighting up the field with the blazing glory of God, and the shepherds were terrified! But the angel reassured them, saying, “Don’t be afraid. For I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere! For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. You will recognize him by this miracle sign: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough!” (Luke 2.8 – 11, Passion Translation)

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting. (Micah 5.2, NKJV)

The prophet predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Then God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus, and she was from Nazareth! No problem…

During those days, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, ordered that the first census be taken throughout his empire. (Quirinius was the governor of Syria at that time.) Everyone had to travel to his or her hometown to complete the mandatory census. So Joseph and his fiancé, Mary, left Nazareth, a village in Galilee, and journeyed to their hometown in Judea, to the village of Bethlehem, King David’s ancient home. They were required to register there, since they were both direct descendants of David. Mary was pregnant and nearly ready to give birth. (Luke 2.1 – 5, Passion Translation)

If you need someone to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, why not get the Roman emperor to order it!

It’s as easy for God to steer a king’s heart for his purposes as it is for him to direct the course of a stream. (Proverbs 21.1, Passion Translation)

This is amazing. We serve a powerful God. Caesar Augustus thought he was god. And, as Andy Stanley said, if you told first-century believers, hiding in the catacombs, that within 300 years every building in Rome would have a cross on it in honor of Jesus, they would have thought you were crazy. 

God [is] the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords… (1 Timothy 6.15, ESV)

It’s not too late to think about the reality of the Christmas story from a warfare perspective. (I don’t make this stuff up; I just report it!)

Note that the first forecast of this warfare goes all the way back to Genesis 3, where God tells the serpent (Satan):

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3.15, NKJV)

Jesus is the “seed of the woman,” and the “heel bruising” occurred at the cross where Satan won a “temporary” victory. The opening scene of Passion of the Christ ends with a powerful reminder of Genesis 3.15.

But before the cross was the birth, “the Christmas story,” and here it is from a warfare perspective in Revelation 12. 

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. (Revelation 12.1 – 4, NKJV)

Remember King Herod and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus’ escape to Egypt?

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. (Revelation 12.13, 14, NKJV)

I discovered this “back story” a few years ago, and I’m always happy to see that others discovered it too! Mike Metzger has written about the warfare eloquently, including why we don’t often hear this part of the story. I recommend his article, published December 23. 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.12, NKJV)

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, NKJV)

Boxing Day is December 26, and the term is of “uncertain origin” although it is generally associated with giving gifts to those who serve:

In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys’diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older British tradition where the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families since they would have to serve their masters on Christmas Day. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day)

With that definition, for most of us, Christmas Day is Boxing Day with all those presents! In our house, we always say we’re going to get the shopping done early, and even if some of it is done early, June is assessing up to the last minute if we have bought “enough” for our growing family (four adult children, eight grandchildren). 

Some trace Christmas gift-giving to the wise men, who, as I say as often as I can, were not at the manger on the night Jesus was born but saw him later at a house:

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2.10, 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

In this country, most of us are blessed to be able to give, and we give because we are blessed. We have the example of the Jewish people when they were delivered from genocide as told in the book of Esther. 

And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. (Esther 9.20 – 22, ESV, emphasis mine)

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Corinthians 9.15, ESV)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9.6, NIV)

It’s Christmas Eve…is it snowing where you live? Are you going to have a white Christmas? 

Chances are that you’re not thinking, “What strange questions!” We have been conditioned to desire a white Christmas. Conditioned by what? There’s certainly nothing biblical about it! And it wasn’t all that long ago that no one cared. But they do now…

Irving Berlin was born in Russia in 1888, and his family moved to New York in the mid-1890s. While visiting Southern California, he wrote White Christmas, which appeared in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. When Irving Berlin wrote the song he told his secretary:  

I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.

Bing Crosby’s recording remains the best-selling single record of all time. It’s the opening song on my Christmas CD, Ewell-tide Carols!  

We usually sing only the chorus, but the opening stanza is clear what the song is about–not that there should be a snowy Christmas everywhere, but that he’d like to be where it does snow at Christmas:

But it’s become the wish of Americans that they experience a white Christmas. The National Weather Service actually has an official criterion for it:   

A white Christmas is defined as having 1 inch or more of snow on the ground Christmas morning. https://www.weather.gov/dvn/ChristmasSnow

All because of a song. Make no mistake: music is very powerful, and it’s one of the great gifts that our creator God has given us. Another thing to be thankful for!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1.17, ESV)

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? …Who marked off its dimensions? …On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38.4 – 7, NIV, emphasis mine)

Do we give thanks for blessings or are we often not even aware of them? 

My friend Bob told me a story today about something we take for granted: our freedom. A friend of Bob’s, who lives in Utah, was having parts of a car manufactured in Poland, and he wanted the workers to understand what the finished product looked like. So he brought four key Polish workers to the U.S. 

In the course of the day, the American had to make a quick stop at the grocery store, and he took the four men inside with him. Soon, he lost them. When he tracked them down, they were in the Kool-Aid section having a vehement discussion. When the American got them calmed down, he found out that each wanted a different flavor of Kool-Aid. So the American shrugged and scooped up a handful of packets and dropped them into his shopping basket. 

The men were astonished: “You mean no one tells you how many you can buy or what flavor? Now we understand what freedom is.”

How quickly we forget that we not only have freedom to choose what we buy, most of us have the means to exercise that freedom. 

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5.18, NKJV)

Then you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8.17, 18, NKJV)

Continuing the theme of Step by Step from yesterday, my friend Ray told me something he’d learned from his friend Mark who was a missionary to Muslim countries for decades. Mark described the evangelism process to churches in this country by setting up a balance scale with a weight on one side and an empty container on the other. The scale was tipped toward the weight, and Mark’s objective was to tip the scale the other way.

Mark described the step-by-step process this way:

I live in an apartment building, and my neighbor comes out. I say hello. That’s one sugar cube into the container. The next time I see him, I say hello again–that’s another sugar cube. Soon, I get his name: a sugar cube goes into the container. When I see him again, I use his name: yep, another sugar cube. Soon we have him to dinner. That’s another sugar cube. At some point, we show the Jesus movie and discuss it after. Sugar cube, sugar cube. Finally, my neighbor commits his life to Jesus.

Mark drops one more sugar cube into the container, and the balance scale tips the other way. He asks, “Which sugar cube was the most important?” Sometimes people say, “The last one, of course.” And Mark replies, “No. They’re all equally important. If it weren’t for all the preceding sugar cubes and the actions they represented, there would be no “last” sugar cube!

To use terminology we’ve discussed before, the sugar cubes, no matter how simple an action they represent, can be thought of as Holy Moments. And if enough of us did enough holy moments, we could change the world (again). It’s part of the “subversive” operation Jesus began in the manger, out of sight. As he called Mary and Joseph and later the disciples, he calls us to play some part in his grand Adventure. Each contributing our sugar cubes to tip the balance.

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” (Isaiah 28.10, NKJV)

I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. (1 Corinthians 3.6 – 9, MSG)