Doubting like Luther, and trying to test like a Berean, this is where I think aloud about Christian belief and practice. It is also where I share resources of interest to other struggling believers.

Baptized and confirmed in the American Lutheran Church, I explored New Age spirituality for a time but have since worshiped the Trinitarian God of Christianity in many different churches, my denominational preference being Lutheran. I believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. My greatest struggle is prayer. My greatest annoyance is legalism and the notion that blind obedience to the Law will bring sanctification. My greatest fear is that I don't believe correctly. Yet, my greatest hope is that as I grow in my understanding of the grace that God extends to me daily, I will grow in my ability to walk in and demonstrate that grace to others.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Let God Do the Work

Scripture:  Isaiah 64:1a

So, when was Christmas "easy?"  The author of my Advent devotional nails that answer on the head:  when we were kids and we didn't do any of the prep work.  Isn't that true?  Isn't it always easier when someone else does all the work and all we have to do is show up?  And how many times do we complain even about the effort it takes to do that?

Christmas can be a lot of work, depending on how much we choose to include in our celebration.  For example, I like to decorate the house, send out greeting cards, make delicious (and wonderfully decorated) cookies, tag a tree the day after Thanksgiving, erect that tree ten days before Christmas so it is still very fresh when decorated with my antique ornaments, yada, yada, yada.  Notice I said that is what I like to do.  What actually gets accomplished is another story.

For the past several years, I have only managed to finish the Christmas tree and that not very well.  Two years ago, I had to give up the fresh tree altogether due to allergies and the fact that my husband wasn't all that keen on wrestling with a tree anymore.  Now, I have a beautiful, pre-lit, artificial one from Balsam Hill.  I haven't sent greeting cards for years, either.  In fact, it has been so long since some of my friends and family have heard from me at Christmas that they probably think I died.  My beautifully appointed cookies have gone by the wayside, too.  A busy Christmas music performance schedule (and lack of freezer space) worked to eliminate them from the list of holiday activities.

Do I miss all those things?  Sure.  But they aren't the heart of Christmas preparations.  Why?  Because they don't prepare the heart for Christmas, whether for the commemoration of the first coming of our Savior, or for the anticipated second coming of our Lord, whenever that might be.  Only God can accomplish such preparation and He does so by calling us into a state of repentance.  Frederick Buechner and Luther describe it this way:
To repent is to come to your senses.  It is not so much something you do as something that happens.  True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, "I'm sorry," than to the future and saying, "Wow!" --- Frederick Buechner
God created the world out of nothing.  As long as I am not yet nothing, God cannot make something out of me. --- Martin Luther
The scripture passage for today is part of a prayer of repentance (or penitence).  The prayer actually begins in Isaiah, chapter 63 and continues into chapter 64.  The prophet Isaiah is asking God to look down from Heaven and make note of the wretched state of His people.  Isaiah reminds God that He is their Father and their Redeemer, and confesses that the people have turned away from Him.  He pleads with God to remember that they are His, ostensibly so He can again restore them.

Allow God to restore you this Christmas;  allow Him to do the work.  It may make for an easier holiday, one filled with wonder like then you were a kid.

To read today's devotional, click here.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)