A Fair View of History

1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Should we greet people we meet at this time of the year with "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays?" As I see it, there are actually two events which happen in the latter part of the month of December every year. Chronilogically, in its beginning, is the birth of Jesus Chrisr. The second, instilled in the lives of mankind, is the celebration of the act of giving and receiving of gifts. Billions of people around the world celebrate or or the other of these events. Many celebrate both events. But how do we distinguish which we are celebrating? How do we avoid the offense to others which is prevalent today? Two centuries have passed since God sent His Son into the earthly world to save His creation from their sins and bring them eventually into a heavenly eternal residence with Him in Heaven. During that period of time, we have celebrated that world changing event for exactly what it is. Multitudes of persons have understood and accepted the Message of the Gospel

Fifty years ago this morning I woke up as a 19 year old young man. By the end of the day, I was the husband of the young lady with whom I had spent the previous two years falling in love. We were very young; many, I'm sure, felt that we were too young. But 50 years ago, marriage of  a couple 18 or 19 years old was commonplace, not unusual at all. We had no idea, or even an inkling of where our journey would take us or how long we would be together. But, we did take our vows seriously, without even a consideration of the possibility that we could, at any time we desired, call the whole thing off. We entered into the union, even at that young age, expecting our lives together to be "till death parts us." As I reflect on our 50 years together, and observe the change in the minds of so many couples as they approach marriage, I perceive that the mindset in our culture today seems to be that nothing is permanent, not even a marriage covenant is binding for life. Having of

HERE I AM, I’VE COME TO FIND YOU HERE I AM, TO SEE YOUR GRACE. The lines above are the first two in a song titled, You, You Are God . This was the first song in the worship service we attended this morning.  Today is December 16th. We are approaching the celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, to seek and to save the lost; and to show us the grace that only God can provide. As these words were sung, my reaction is, "really?" We are in a season when we remember that Christ said, "I have come to seek you out, to offer you salvation."  And we sing, Here I Am, I've come to find you? It just struck me as somewhat backward in light of His coming and His purpose in doing so. Now, the lyrics may be acceptable, but appropriate at this time of celebration? I think not. Now, the remainder of the song sends a positive and worshipful message. To bring to You an offering, I have to ask myself one thing How can I do anything but prais