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Christmas is Over. Now What Do We Do With Jesus?

January 5, 2024 by Lauren 4 Comments

Hi!  It’s been a minute.  We have celebrated multiple holidays since my last post and I hope they were a joy to you.  And if not, I pray that God will comfort you in your grief or disappointment.  My celebrations included both, but also many, many sweet times.  But now that a new year is in progress, I’m left to ponder where we have been and where we are going.  This is nothing new for many of us as the calendar turns over.  But I’m not talking about resolutions or restarts. 

Now that Christmas is over, I want to know what we do with Jesus?

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Maybe you have been walking with Jesus for a long time.  Or maybe your knowledge is limited.  But what struck me during the shopping and revelry is how much of the world celebrates baby Jesus (whether they know it or not).  Mainstream movies (ok, Hallmark movies.  Don’t judge.) feature religious Christmas carols and church services.  And people who don’t regularly attend church show up for the ritual or the story of the Christ child.

 

That baby Jesus feels meek and mild.  It’s even in the songs!  I will venture to say He feels harmless to us.  No threat.  It doesn’t cost us much to praise a tiny baby.  Celebrating the birth of that baby with the beautiful story of the stable and the manger is easy.  But once the nativity sets are packed away (ok, ALL of my decorations aren’t put away yet), do we still think about Him?

 

What Do We Do Now that Christmas is Over?

 

At Christmas it’s easy to imagine Jesus enshrined as a baby forever.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  Jesus grew into a man who was both worshipped and despised.  He lived a sinless life – so hard for us to understand – and died an agonizing death on a cross as punishment for OUR sins.  He made a way for us to have relationship with our holy God.  And because of all He has done, He demands our ALL.  Our obedience, our allegiance, our surrender, our lives.

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  This is not what we think about when we light a candle and sing about “the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay”!  But even that lyric from “Away in a Manger” holds a key word.  “Lord”.  Are we truly willing to make Him Lord of us?  That means putting aside our wants and desires for His.  Seeking His glory and renown and not our own.  Loving Him through obedience to His Word.  Even the parts we may not like.  It means being counter-cultural.  Even if we look foolish to those around us.

 

Are you ready for that kind of sacrifice?  Maybe instead of setting goals for 2024 that we probably won’t keep (just being a realist), it might be time to examine our commitment to Jesus.  It was pretty easy to celebrate baby Jesus in December.  But are you ready to worship King Jesus all year long?

 

Scripture

 

“For by[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  Col. 1:16-17 ESV

 

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What Are the Rumble Strips in Your Life?

May 12, 2023 by Lauren 8 Comments

Have you ever dozed off at the wheel?  During college it happened to me with much more frequency than I like to admit, and it terrified me.  Not enough to miss a party and get more sleep (don’t get crazy), but enough to wake me up in the moment.  Sometimes rumble strips were my saving grace.  I tried to look up whether or not every state in the US employs rumble strips but had trouble nailing that down.  What I did find?  As of 2009, 35 states had installed them.  Hey, I am nothing if not current.

 

In case you don’t have rumble strips where you are, they are a series of raised strips running along the outside lanes on a road or highway that change the sound a vehicle’s tires make.  The noise alerts the driver if they drift off of the road and hopefully prevents accidents.  Whether one falls asleep or is simply not paying close attention, those rumble strips wake up a driver quickly.

 

What rumble strips to you have in your life?  Those people or things that help you stay on the right path and alert you to impending danger?

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It can be easy for me to fall asleep to God’s good plans and design – especially during times I let myself get too busy.  For parents of school-aged kids, May is a killer month.  I’m running to keep up with a hectic pace, so I’m so thankful for my rumble strips.  Here’s what keeps me between the lines:

 

1.  God’s Word

The holy scriptures are the plumb line I measure everything else by.  Maintaining the discipline of daily time in God’s guide book for us is definitely the number one way I stave off the drift.  Reading the bible, studying commentary and original language, praying the verses and listening to our church’s Sunday morning teaching are all ways I immerse myself in the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).   I still mess up daily, but I cannot imagine where I would be without God speaking to me through His Word.

 

2.  Accountability

Being accountable to another person – be it a spouse, friends, bible study group, a counselor or minister, or all of these – keeps me honest.  Sharing what I struggle with not only takes the power out of my secrets, but strengthens and deepens my community.  And knowing that someone I love and respect could check in with me on my “thing” at any time definitely plays into how I choose to engage or not engage that “thing”.

 

3.  Leaving Room for the Holy Spirit

John 14:26 tells us, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  But how can the Spirit remind us of what we have learned in the scriptures if we aren’t listening?  As difficult as it may be in our culture, I have to slow down enough and have some quiet space to hear from God’s Holy Spirit.  Filling every minute with noise and activity will drown out His voice.  Our triune God is a gentleman and won’t force Himself on us.  We must intentionally invite Him with a hospitable heart and mind.

 

In addition, I shouldn’t grieve or quench the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 4 gives us a list of things that do just that, including but not limited to, living like unbelievers, lying, stealing, unforgiveness and sexual immorality.  We all mess up.  It’s inevitable, but its living self-focused instead of God focused that steers us off course.  Continuing in unconfessed sin will muffle the guidance of the Holy Spirit more and more the longer it goes on.

 

Your Turn

 

The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to thank God for the rumble strips in your life.  And if you can’t think of any, establish some.  Borrow mine or pray and listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance on what you should do to keep yourself on the right road.

 

By the way, after I started writing this I thought of how the newer makes and models of cars actually have built in alarms for when we veer out of our lane.  So rumble strips could become obsolete.  As I said earlier, I’m nothing if not current.  But we can choose to disable those alarms if we want.  That could be dangerous.  As it would be for me to drive through life without God’s Word, accountability and the Holy Spirit.

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Learning to Develop Regular Rhythms of Fasting by Sarah J. Callen.  I had never thought about fasting as a discipline that could be practiced in community, but now I can’t stop thinking about it!

 

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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