January 3, 2025

FOUR days to Bethlehem…

…journeying as magi.

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. .” (Galatians 5.22-23)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I find it strange that we think of Jesus as so godly (because He is) that we forget He is human (because He is that, too!). Jesus was not a stoic philosopher, a physician with fact only bedside manner or merely a human body snatched by God to have a face to meet the people on earth. When Jesus sat around the campfires with His disciples and at times, the one hundred twenty followers, the behavior in those gatherings was not dictated nor determined by Jesus. He did not set the agenda and establish the culture and climate of those moments. As His name was Immanuel, God with us, the emphasis for Jesus was to be Himself with us. The reality that He was God’s Son often eluded the disciples and followers. They saw His humanity far more than His divinity. I don’t think it was in denial of His divinity that they did so. It was more likely they were more afraid of discovering the God within as if they had to leave their human side, for some their manhood as the world expected, behind. All of that to say, I do not find it difficult to see Jesus as one of them. He ate. He slept. He grew weary. He longed for God. He longed for attention. He laughed. He cried. He sang. He danced. He may have even played an instrument like a drummer dancing to the beat of a different drum. He stubbed his toe. He worked too hard. He wanted some time alone. He wanted to play and loved children around Him so He could. He loved nature. He, of course, loved God more than anything and everyone. He loved those whom God had brought to Him as the next generation so that the world would know how to be godly people, the people of God and not just be God’s people. He ate bread. He drank wine. He enjoyed olives and dates and cheese. He ate meat and vegetables. He loved His mother’s cooking and undoubtedly had a favorite food which she prepared just for Him. We do not hear of these things because He didn’t do them. We do not hear of all these things because it was simply natural and normal. He was perfectly what we are supposed to be naturally and normally. We, like the disciples, are not in conflict with God so much as we are in conflict with ourselves. We allowed the lie of the Enemy to determine what human beings were supposed to be, to do and to think. Jesus was the truth and still is. He is the image in which we were made and still is. He surrendered His life so that we might recognize that life is ours for the taking, the asking and the realizing. That life is what makes for authentic living regardless of the circumstances and situations of our own lives in the world. We are called to be in the world defining what it should be. We are not called to be in the world and defined by what it only thinks it is.

What is that authentic living and thinking? In the song/poem “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” it is represented by nine ladies dancing. Each lady represents a one aspect of the fruit of the spirit. There are not nine fruits, of that we must be clear. There is but one Spirit, just as there is one God and one Lord. We may be able to look at the Spirit in this regard as a beautiful diamond expertly cut. It has nine facets. It, of course, is unlike earthly and worldly diamonds because there is no flaw in the Holy Spirit. It is not made of the substance of the earth as we are and as diamonds are. The Holy Spirit is of God and is God, one of three persons representative of who we are in this world as parent, child and legacy. So there is but one Spirit whose legacy is known in nine facets which are presented in Paul’s letter to the Church in Galatia: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those life characteristics exists in our own spirit. They are what makes for authentic living. It is not the externals of the world which make for the life we truly desire. Even the most ungodly person has a place inside their heart, mind and soul which aches for authenticity and a calm enduring life. The wise men of distant lands, the magi, knew this as well. In the midst of all their knowledge, wisdom, power and riches, there was one thing they lacked to be “perfect.” They were like the rich young ruler who begged of Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to be so perfect that I can inherit eternal life, the life of bliss and prosperity and true happiness?” Jesus spoke first of the externals as described by the Law of Moses. Those rules of righteousness were not necessarily dependent on having a right heart and mind. They were about following the rules and expectations. Someone who was truly determined could “do the Law.” They did not have to believe in doing them was right only advantageous. But, of course, no one could do them all because ultimately if they didn’t have the heart, mind and spirit to do so, then it was only for self-advantage that they “put on the Law.” Only those who surrendered the self-advantage of what the world would give them in their striving for perfection, a perfect image in the eyes of the world, would find the beauty and truth of the multi-faceted spiritual life which leads to true life of bliss, true prosperity and true happiness. This the rich young ruler could not do. The magi had such things themselves but were missing the one thing that would complete life. They went to Bethlehem believing that would find that “one thing” in the One who was born King of the Jews. And they weren’t wrong. They were willing to give up their most precious possessions in trade for the experience of recognizing that only by worshipping, honoring, serving and submitting to God could the life they looked for and longed for would be theirs. In their desire to know God and accepting Jesus as that baby were they made truly perfect. It is the same for each of us. Is that why we are journeying to Bethlehem this year? Are we seeking to be that diamond of great price for which the man of God surrenders everything to possess for himself? Isn’t it time, mighty ones of God that we begin to “dance” to the beat of His drum?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.