“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Merry Christmas!

I trust you had a wonderful Christmas.

When my children were young, my dad and I had an interesting conversation on Christmas evening. My dad grew up in Korea during the Korean War and through the hard times after the war. He tells stories of the times when he was so hungry he had to eat the bark and leaves off trees and even grass just to fill his stomach.

As he sat watching my kids and nieces open up present after present of toys on top of the many toys they already have and they don’t use, he just shook his head. When he was a child, if he received anything, he was so incredibly grateful because they had so little. But these kids, although they have so much they know little about gratitude and appreciating what they have.

And then dad said, that’s like America. We have been given so much and there is so much abundance, that America has lost the ability to be grateful for what we are given. So when it comes to the gift of Jesus, because we have so much, because we are so self-sufficient, we don’t appreciate God’s amazing gift. We don’t know how to be grateful. The tragedy of abundance is the inability to be grateful. Abundance numbs us to how spiritually bankrupt we are.

So we hear about the gift of Jesus – how he gave up heaven to come to us in the form of a child to be born in a manger – and we’re more concerned with what’s coming up on tv and what we’re going to eat for dinner than we are about thanking God for the amazing gift of sending his Son to sinners on Christmas day.

So friends, before another moment goes by, take a moment right now to reflect on the gift of Jesus and remember to thank God for the gift of eternal life.

Merry Christmas!

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

God loves us just the way we are.

• There is nothing we can do to earn or merit God’s love. It is all grace. It is all God.
• There is nothing we can do to make God stop from loving us. God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it!
• There are no conditions to God loving us. God doesn’t say “When you’ve stopped sinning,” or “When you’re a better person,” I will love you. God really does love us just the way we are.

But, because God loves us, God cannot leave us where we are. God wants us to grow. God wants us to be better than who we are right now. God wants us to grow in wisdom. God wants us to grow to be more like him.

• God cannot leave us mired in sin.
• God cannot leave us as we are when he saved us.
• God makes us better. God makes us more like him.

If Jesus had to grow up and grow in his wisdom, certainly we need to grow up and grow in wisdom. It’s not enough just to show up to church. God wants us to grow up – to grow in wisdom, grow in knowledge, grow in service, grow in impact for the kingdom.

Lastly, the journey of growth is lifelong. So, don’t get discouraged when you can’t see improvement day by day. The way spiritual maturity works is that you can only tell in time. You should be a better you today than you were three years ago. But, are you going to be able to tell if you are a better version of you today than you were yesterday? If you can, great! If you can’t, it’s okay. Just keep following Jesus.

The goal of spiritual maturity is not perfection.

The goal of spiritual maturity is progress.

Keep growing. Keep obeying. Keep following Jesus.

“Because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me” (1 Corinthians 16:9).

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he would remain with the Ephesians until Pentecost before making his way to Corinth because God was at work. But look at the very next thing the Apostle Paul says – “and there are many who oppose me.”

Effective work for God – Many who oppose me.

These go hand in hand.

Why would anyone oppose God’s work? Why wouldn’t everyone want God’s will to be done?

Wherever and whenever God is at work, the devil is working hard to discourage, dissuade, and oppose God.

When we are living in a way that is already out of step with God’s will, the devil only needs to watch. The devil doesn’t need to engage. We’re already doing the devil’s work fine all on our own.

It’s when we join in God’s work, it’s when we obey God and his will that the devil starts to ply his trade.

Whenever God is at work, God is at work through God’s people.

Guess how the devil goes to work. Yup. He uses people. The sad reality is that the devil doesn’t only use people outside the church. The New Testament tells that the most dangerous ones are those who are in the church. They use spiritual language to confuse and get their way.

So, if you find that God’s plan for your life is facing some opposition? Good! Keep up the good work! Keep seeking God’s will and God’s purpose for your life. Opposition is to be expected, but don’t let that get you down. In fact, use that as inspiration. You’re on the right track! Keep going!