Sharing the Message with the Next Generation

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Now also when I am old and grayheaded O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, 
Your power to everyone who is to come. 
Psalm 71:18 NKJV

Our opinions about old age change when we begin experiencing the aches and pains that usually come along with the passing of years. Our previous criticisms of mannerisms or styles of older folks, begin to sound hollow now that we are one of them! We value our friends and family more and begin to treat them with care. God has taught us to have a tender touch with others now our hands are bruised by difficulties and worn out from serving. In today’s verse, the man who once slew Goliath, is no longer praying for victory in battle. Now, he asks to share with his children, grandchildren and neighbors, his relationship with God. The crown on his head, now sits on gray hair and the power he wields comes from faith. David prays to have the strength to share the wonderful message of how great God is and God answered it in the Twenty-third Psalm. Many assume that David wrote this Psalm as a teen-ager, but scholars tell us that he actually wrote it at the end of his life. In six short verses David teaches us that the Lord is our Shepherd, He leads us on His path and stays by our side through dark valleys. Then, when we are surrounded by enemies, God prepares a feast for us and invites us to His home forever. Now that’s a message I am so glad David shared! If we know Jesus, He also has a message for us to give. We only need to ask Him how.

An Unexpected Blessing

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Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:48 ESV

As some of you know, we are knee-deep in Christmas caroling at nursing homes. (Which helps explain the avalanche of videos I’ve been posting). Here is an inside peek, Today’s event was such a lesson in unexpected blessings that I could hardly wait to share. This morning we arrived at a facility, to which a couple from our church recently moved. Though we had never done a program there, the activities director heard that I do music and so she invited us for caroling. Filled with excitement, song books, and gifts, five of us, showed up ready for some Christmas cheer, but we were met at the office with a notice that there had been another Covid outbreak. But before the groans and disappointment took over, we learned that two of us could come in if we tested negative (took 15 minutes) and we had to sing only in the halls and with masks on.

Of course, just as Nathaneal asked if anything good could come from Nazareth, I wondered what good could possibly come from the abrupt turnabout of our plans. But God is a much better planner than any of us, and we found that by trailing the director through the wards, we actually were able to sing for many residents who could not have made it down to the dining hall. Then on our way out we met some would-be carolers who had stopped in from a nearby facility. They were being turned away at the door, so Santa and I went outside and sang with them instead. We left exhausted and yet filled with the sense, that God had blessed us unexpectedly way beyond anything we could have imagined or planned. It just remined me that we must hold not only our possessions, but also our plans lightly. When we let God take control of the direction of our one-horse open sleigh, we will be amazed at what He has in mind for a destination!

Photo by Mateusz Feliksik on Pexels.com

God’s Kindness Changes One Life at a Time

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Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, 
not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 
Romans 2:4 ESV

It is easy to become overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness, when reading the headlines of the latest cruelty, perversion or political movement that seems to hate even the merest vestige of Christianity. Such temptations to despair sometimes can get our eyes off of what God has called us to do and call us to respond with harshness, criticism or sarcasm. But Jesus had another way when He faced an unreasonable and seemingly hopeless mission. The path that Jesus took, unleashed the power of God’s kindness.

Yes, Jesus wept over the city, but then He walked down into it and gave His life. No, Jesus did not stop teaching the hard things about the Kingdom of God, but when they nailed Him to the cross, He didn’t hurl angry accusations against His opponents, instead He prayed, “Father forgive them.” How foolish and weak that must have sounded! Forgive? What good would forgiveness do? How could that change the situation? The answer came not only on the third day, when they found Jesus alive again, it also unfolded on the day of Pentecost when three thousand of the people He had wept over repented and believed. Soon all of Jerusalem was shaken, and tens of thousands became Christians. It all began in a moment on a hillside, when judgement seemed the more logical response, but Jesus chose the power of kindness, and that kindness has changed the world. Kindness doesn’t win military victories, elections or Hollywood awards but God’s kindness changes the world one life at a time. I know it has changed mine!