Busy being distracted

As a leader in my church, I am always warning people about the danger of getting distracted by the busyness that surrounds Christmas. There is so much to do, and such a compressed time frame (especially this year!) that it's easy to get pulled away from what's important by what is urgently in front of us.

Alas, I find that I am guilty of this myself. Between activities at church and my "concert season" at school, I find I am always trying just to keep up with what's coming next, and trying not to get overwhelmed by looking at what's still ahead. I thought I left this behind when I left the retail world, but, if anything, my life is actually busier during the Advent season than it was then.

What I have scheduled to do are all good things. We have a number of community outreaches at Christmastime, my students at school really love their chance to perform at the concerts, and preparation for performances is in itself something good and important. But when looking forward to Christmas as a day of rest from all that is hectic becomes a real temptation, I know I've lost some perspective.

I don't need to completely clear my calendar. What I do need is to remember why I'm doing all of this. If I lose sight of the fact that Christmas is about Christ (no matter what the atheist billboard in NYC says), then I've lost the reason for doing pretty much everything on my list that's not required by my job. Why worry about singing about the glory of Jesus Christ if I forget that He's the reason I sing? Why help plan a church outreach if the Gospel story isn't impacting my own life so I want to share it with others? My activity becomes meaningless to me personally if I don't connect it to my Lord and Savior.

Now, I can certainly go through the motions, lose sight of the Lord, and still have my efforts make an impact by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. My own attitude doesn't thwart God's plans. But it means so much more if I am drawing closer in my own connection to Christ while I encourage others to do the same. God wants me to help share the good news with others, but He also wants me to let that good news change me.

So here's my usual warning: don't let the busyness of the season pull you away from time to meditate on the One who is the reason we celebrate. I promise you I'll take my own advice, too. Let's commit to honoring Christ first in all we do this Advent and Christmas season.

"Seven Seasonable Question for All Believers"

The great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon published a monthly magazine for preachers called The Sword and the Trowel. I occasionally read an issue as if it was a magazine I had just received in the mail. (I realize bot "magazine" and "mail" are somewhat outdated concepts these days, but I'm old enough that it makes sense to me. And I actually read them from PDF files.) I came across an article he published in his January 1868 issue, and I think this short article is worth sharing in its entirety, without comment from me:

Seven Seasonable Questions for All Believers- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

I. Cannot I do more for Jesus this year than I have done in the past? Have I no wasted time or rusting talents?

II. What shall I do? What form shall my extra effort take? I must not be long in selecting, for time speeds; but, without neglecting my old work, what new labor shall I enter upon at once?

III. Can I give more to the work of Jesus? Ought I not to practice weekly storing? Am I a faithful steward with my substance? Am I really returning to my Lord in proportion as he has given to me? How much shall I give at orate?

IV. Ought I not, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become more Christlike this year? I am certainly older in years, should I not grow in grace in proportion? Shall I not seek more grace at once?

V. Shall not my prayers be more constant and fervent during this year? Might not my whole life be more forceful for good if I had more power in secret prayer? Shall I be content to go on as I have done in this matter?

VI. Must I not labor after nearer communion to Jesus? Why should I not walk in the light of his countenance? Why should I cleave so much to worldly things? Shall there not, by God’s grace, be an improvement in this respect? Is there not grievous room for it?

VII. Can I not this very day aim personally at the conversion of at least one soul? Might I not go at once and talk with some unconverted relative or neighbor about his soul? O Lord, go with me! O Lord, use me in thy
service!

A child shows the way

As a parent, I see the difficulty that so many children of all ages are having growing up in our American society today. There are pressures that I couldn't have imagined when I was in that age group years ago. Media influences, peer pressure, social media. political correctness, and other outside pressures put them under a microscope that didn't exist when I was a child.

So how do we teach our children to respond to all this pressure? I think that a vignette from the gospel of Luke shows us a beginning. Luke tells the story of Jesus' trip to the Temple with His parents. They went for the annual celebration of the Passover, as required by the Law. Since Jesus was 12 years old, this would have been the first year He was required to make the trip as a man, although He probably had done it before. They probably stayed for the week of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, then began to travel back to their home.

His parents had traveled for a day before they realized Jesus wasn't with them. This sounds shocking to us, but Luke tells us they thought Jesus was with some of their relatives and friends, which would have been a fairly common practice of that time. Maybe someone else had offered to look after Jesus, or to have Him travel with other children His own age. We don't know who was supposed to be watching out for Him, but in the end it was His mother and father who made the trip back, frantically looking for their son.

They found Him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers of the Law, listening and asking them questions. He was also providing them with some astonishingly insightful answers. When questioned by Mary, He simply replied, "Didn't you know I had to be in My Father's house?" (Luke 2:49). Jesus as a child wanted to learn more about His Father and about the Word of God.

How does this apply to children today? I don't think any of us think our child is the moral and spiritual equivalent of Jesus. (I don't think any of us think we ourselves are either, for that matter.) Still, the interest Jesus showed in learning from the Word and in understanding how He should live in the presence of HIs Father is something we should seek to instill in our children. The best way to avoid the pressures of the world is to understand the truth of God's Word and to apply that truth to our lives.

I recently sat in on a class with some children who spoke of how they were picked on at school. I could tell from their words and expressions that this was an unpleasant part of their lives. When asked how they dealt with it, they responded with some typical answers like punching the person or insulting them back, only to say then that while that's what they would like to do, they knew that they shouldn't respond that way. I think those children have started to really take in and live out the teaching of the Word.

I'm not saying that this is easy for children, or even for adults. What I am saying is that this is where we have to start. We cannot resist the call of the world if we don't hear the call of Christ louder. We can't hear Christ call if we don't spend time taking in His Word, through reading, meditation, and teaching. Jesus had to spend that time when He was here on earth; why would we think we don't? Let's help our children learn that lesson, and continue to take it in for ourselves.

Sunday sermon: "The Growing Church"

Today's sermon dealt with the church's function of discipleship. We were reminded that we all need to work to build up each other and our church, and that our standard is always Jesus. The summary is at http://pastorsteve.wikispaces.com/file/view/The+Growing+Church.pdf.