Sunday review: December 13-18
As we anticipate Christmas, we can also look into our own hearts. Posts this week prompt meaningful self-evaluation. Which one challenges you most?
December 13
Chosen, royal, and holy. Your coworkers probably won’t use those words to describe you when you walk into your next meeting. However, you and I should probably remember this reality before we get there. Otherwise, we might give our family a bad name. Everything we do and say reflects on our King and all of his family.
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December 14
The Scriptures are filled with evidence that God is about justice and has actually initiated a just plan to resolve all evildoing. According to 1 Peter, our calling is to follow the steps of Jesus not only in suffering but in how we suffer. And the how-to means that we must entrust every situation into the hands of the One who judges justly.
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December 15
If we are going to reach our culture for Jesus we will need to create something different. Here are the characteristics of our new community: unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender hearts, humility, a different approach to evil, and a focus on bringing blessings more than getting them. As followers of Jesus, according to Peter, the church must look different than the world.
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December 16
As we wait during this season of Advent, we all know that what we need has been given as a gift from Heaven. Matt Redmon’s song “Help from Heaven” is a beautiful reminder of help that came to earth in the person of Christ to save us all. As we await Christ’s final arrival, we can consider that Peter might have very well been nudging us to be the help from Heaven for someone facing difficult endings.
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December 17
The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, along with daily surrender, can and will bring genuine changes to both attitudes and behavior. Peter knew himself well enough to know he would likely always have tendencies toward his earlier compulsive behaviors. But he had learned that when we come to Jesus with humility, laying aside our baggage and our stubbornness, God will raise us up at the proper time.
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December 18
We’re not in denial. This is tough. But like the frightened teenager 2,000 years ago giving birth surrounded by circumstances she neither wanted nor anticipated, we are learning some things: Just because life is hard doesn’t mean it can’t also be good. Even in pain, there can be peace. Along with grief, it’s possible to experience gladness. And with each loss, we gain new appreciation for God’s gifts old and new.
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Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
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