GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

“As bad as you are … you’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?” (Matthew 7:11, MSG)

When my oldest son was appearing in his first Christmas musical at church, my job was to videotape the event for posterity. 

In another time and another place, I was a television producer, so I was already planning out how to “tape the show.” I arrived with all the latest electronic toys and found, to my amusement, a “press gallery” of dads every bit as competitive as the pros I used to go up against.

Looking through the viewfinder of my camera, I was distressed to see that the lighting was all wrong, the stage was too low for even the best camera positions, and I knew from experience there was too much noise in the room to get a good sound recording. 

When the choir took the stage, my hopes for an Emmy-winning video sank faster than the Titanic – My son was on the stage in a place where I could barely see him.  Then, his face went pale, and he started yelling, “Mommy!” 

I felt like crying, “Mommy!” too.

Finally, the choir began, but by then my son seemed more interested in the audio speakers than in performing. But just then, he turned to face me with eyes so bright and buoyant that the professional in me stepped aside and I quietly said, “That’s my boy!”  When I walked out of that performance, I thought, “There’s absolutely nothing I’d trade for having been here.”

• Do you sometimes think of God as more the professional than the Father?
• Do you think of him as being disappointed in you when things haven’t gone perfectly? 

Next time you’ve totally blown it, think about the father-heart of God and the fact that you’re totally accepted by him. When God looks at you, he shouts, “That’s my child, and I wouldn’t trade my child for anything.”

God knew you’d never be perfect without his help; and that’s why he sent his Son, Jesus, to cleanse you of your sins.

What does this mean?

• Consider the father-heart of God – He looked at Jesus in the manger and said, “That’s my boy! I have sent him to save you from your sins.” On the cross, he saw his son, in obedience and love, take on the weight of the world.
• God loves you just like you love your own children – Only God does it perfectly. “As bad as you are … you’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?” (Matthew 7:11, MSG)
• The next time you fail – Don’t avoid God; come to him as the father he is, and trust that his love is bigger than your mistake.

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2007 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). (Isaiah 7:14b, MSG)

As I write this, I am sitting in a fast food restaurant and over there … see her there, pretty in pink … this young girl, maybe five-years-old, is celebrating an early Christmas with her mother. Her presents are spread out across the booth and … listen … she just said, “I miss you, Mommy.”

“I miss you too, baby,” her mother says.

My eyes move beyond their booth, and I see a woman casually, but carefully, watching them. Trained as a journalist to observe, I put it all together: The watching woman is a social worker, and she is supervising a structured visit for mother and child, who are doing the best they can to celebrate Christmas in the booth of a fast food restaurant. A few minutes later, the foster parents arrive to take the girl home with them while the mother leaves alone.

There is a darker side of Christmas that we rarely acknowledge. We create this fantasy of the perfect homecoming that rarely matches reality – even in the best of homes. There are many of us whose Christmas memories are full of tension, not tinsel.

Some of us know that the holidays are just another excuse for Mommy to get drunk or for Daddy to be with his new family. It’s a reminder that the one we love the most is far away – perhaps never coming back – or the relative we love the least will be placing his hands somewhere they shouldn’t be.

Would it surprise you to know that the suicide rate is extraordinarily high in December, and that depression is as common as joy to the world? I suspect there are far more people who hurt at Christmas than we would initially imagine. They find misery in mistletoe, and they have a sneaking suspicion that “ornament” is rooted in the word “ornery.”

For those tired of the hollow hope and the false fantasies of Christmas, the Good News is that God is with us. A virgin gives birth to a son, and his name is Immanuel (God-With-Us). (Isaiah 7:14)

What does this mean?

• Trust the baby in the manger – The babe in the manger came to give you good news, and it’s not the kind of good news that will dissipate tomorrow when the bad news arrives. You may be just hanging on by a thread, and you may not be able to see it yet, but the HOPE is here.
• Trust the baby born in heartbreaking conditions – That baby in the manger came to heal your broken heart. You may be bleeding inside, and for you Christmas is just another reminder of what might have been – “if only.” Jesus will heal your broken heart. You may not be able to feel it yet, but the HOPE is here. Trust the baby born in smelly, unsanitary, heartbreaking conditions.
• Trust the baby who grew to be a man of sorrow – He became a man acquainted with sorrow. He knew the true condition of the human heart. The baby in the manger came to help you make the right decisions. You may be so captive to drugs, alcohol, or pornography that you don’t even know how you can get help –if you’re even able to figure out that you need help. You may be in so much bondage that you can’t even see it, but the HOPE is here. Trust the baby, who did not stay in the manger, but grew to be a man facing difficult choices.
• Trust the baby who teaches us to live above our circumstances – That baby in the manger will help you live above your circumstances. You no longer have to be prisoner to the “what ifs” of life – what if I had a better job, what if I had a better marriage, what if I had a better life? I know it’s hard to see past the prison walls, but the HOPE is here. Trust the baby in the manger, whose circumstances led him from a poor beginning to a violent execution.
• Trust the baby who brings us a hope-filled Christmas – Bring him the ashes of your life and he’ll give you beauty; bring him the mourning in your life, and he’ll give you joy.

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2007 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.