Time flies, but some months seem to move even faster!
And the Christmas season seems like a sprint to the finish line of the year.
Many good intentions get lost in the busyness of this season.
Great opportunities are crowded out by secondary choices.
December could be such a memorable finishing touch, but too often it turns into a dismal rush that leaves us exhausted at year’s end.
We pray this year will be an exception.
God’s Word never tells us to live in a hurry. We don’t worship a frantic God. He has established a pace for living in the hours of the day and the seasons of the year. Rather than accept the timetable the world hands us, why not seek to live our days under God’s timing?
We don’t want to reach the end of the year and say, “I just didn’t spend much time considering the reason for the season this year—again.”We pray that for all of us, this month will hold some special moments of vivid experiences in Christ’s presence.
We need to see His glory! Let’s dedicate this, His season, to Him.
Anyone who has ever had a car Out of alignment knows the damage and the danger this phenomena can create…and it happens so easily, just one pot hole, and Wham!
The Christmas season is a great time to ask ourselves
“Is it Time for Realignment?”
How can you discover the unconscious values you may have embraced this past year? Look at how you spend your time and money. Psychiatrists M. Scott Peck observed, “When we love something it is of value to us, and when something is of value to us, we spend time with it, time enjoying it, and time taking care of it.”
Perhaps it is time to conduct a values audit in your life. Look at your calendar. Review your budget and compare it to your spending habits. Think about your passions. All of those things will lead you invariably to an accounting of your values.
If you are living by values that run contrary to your ideals, philosophy, or theology, consider what changes you must make to align who you are, what you believe, and what you do.
You don’t make decisions because they are easy. You don’t make decisions because they are Cheap. You don’t make decisions because they are Popular. You make decisions because they are Right. ~Theodore Hesburgh
The closer you are to The Christ of Christmas the safer you are.
More Presence = More Power!
How To Live Out Your Values With Integrity:
1. Learn to Articulate your Values Clearly.
2. Review them Daily.
3. Practice them Purposefully.
4. Make Decisions with them Strategically.
5. Teach them to your family Intentionally.
6. Recognize them in each other Publically.
7. Celebrate them Continually.
From Deb & I
HAVE A WONDER – FILLED – CHRISTMAS SEASON!
I Know it’s a Busy Time…But make the Time.. Check out our “STUDY TOOL”
And Your feedback is a great Encouragement to us!
This week try and tell at least one person why you are Anticipating Christmas this year.
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7 comments:
What a great thing to do as the year comes to an end, re-evaluate my values. I'm usually thinking about redefining my goals, but I need to take a look at my values and how to live them out better. Thanks for the motivation again PM. I should always be thinking about how to align myself better with God's Word and principles. I just want to be more like Jesus!
Jen King
Amen Jen......a good friend of mine put it to me the way he sees it....we need to focus on obedience and continue to long to see His face.
Between refining and realigning, that's what its all about and the more we seek His glory the more we seek His face the more we realign and refine ourselves to His image. Someone I respect always says, "Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him."
Praise Him \O/
My prayer is that God's love will shine and pour out to all those around me. That we may all have His light upon our faces and it would reflect to others. Thanks again, Pastor Mark, for always keeping us in check and for continuing to open our eyes for those "pot holes" in our path.
Thanx for another great blog Pastor Mark. I was just starting to feel the busyness of Christmas getting to me when I opened this today and took a sigh of relief and then started to think of what's really important this time of year. So...thanx, your timing was perfect....as always. I know what my prayers will include for the rest of December!
It doesn't take much to get things out of balance either. When you consider that a pot hole is probably only missing a pound or two of concrete but that hole can damage a 5,000 pound car in a split second. It's the little things that can do the greatest damage sometimes. Conversely, it's doing the little things daily that can make a big difference in our lives. I'll make sure to take time this month to really consider the true reason for the season. You just showed us how to get to Janury in one piece!!!
Thanx Man....You're the Best:)
That was an encouraging Selah today Pastor Mark.
How do we search and know what God wants to do in our specific lives that is more abundant??
I know He wants to realign us but to what? How do we get to know what He is telling us?
Can you give us a clue?
Pastor,
If we are refined and realigned and given more abundantly by God, where do we stand when it comes to be "chosen or elected" by Him?
I know you've said you are a fan of Charles Spurgeon, who once said,
"I feel persuaded that false doctrine, inasmuch as it touches God's sovereignty, is always an object of divine jealousy. Let me indicate especially the doctrines of free-will.
I know there are some good men who hold and preach them, but I am persuaded that the Lord must be grieved with their doctrine though he forgives them their sin of ignorance. Free-will doctrine—what does it? It magnifies man into God; it declares God's purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God's will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent upon human action.
Denying election on the ground of injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners, so that if he gives grace to one he is bound to do so to all. It teaches that the blood of Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this doctrine ascribes the difference to man's own will, thus making the atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it efficacy.
Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man's depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit of the glory of his effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that showeth mercy.
Any doctrine, my brethren, which stands in opposition to this truth—"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," provokes God's jealousy. I often tremble in this pulpit lest I should utter anything which should oppose the sovereignty of my God; and though you know I am not ashamed to preach the responsibility of man to God—if God be a sovereign, man must be bound to obey him—on the other hand, I am equally bold to preach that God has a right to do what he wills with his own, that he giveth no account of his matters and none may stay his hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou?" I believe that the free-will heresy assails the sovereignty of God, and mars the glory of his dominion. In all faithfulness, mingled with sorrow, I persuade you who have been deluded by it, to see well to your ways and receive the truth which sets God on high, and lays the creature in the dust." — C. H. Spurgeon.
This is a tough doctrine....Who gets to choose, us or God?
This Christmas season is unlike any I've ever known.
This year there is no money for presents. The economy got me and I have to face the possiblity that a few thousand dollars from now, I may become carless and homeless.
So, the focus of Christmas this year is solely on the birth of my Savior, and letting that Babe of Bethlehem encourage, strengthen, support and guide me through these frightening days.
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