Merry Christmas!!!

Flame Thrower

By T. M. Moore | Published Date: December 16, 2013 Tired of Christmas goofiness? If you’re like me, you quickly tire of the goofy sentimentalism that attaches to Christmas. And especially to Jesus. Walking home from dropping my daughter’s car off for an oil change, I passed a nativity scene on a neighbor’s lawn. There was little baby Jesus, His little head laid in that crude manger, looking all peaceful and serene. Wouldn’t hurt a flea. The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay. Sleep, baby Jesus, in heavenly peace. Right. There is an aspect to the Incarnation that is easily overlooked amid all this gush and nostalgia. Jesus’ coming to the earth was not as depicted in the hymn, “The Snow Lay All Around”: “The snow lay all around;/the stars shone bright,/when Christ our Lord was born/on Christmas night.” We don't know whether that was the case or not, but the sweetness and placidness of the setting reflects the feelings many prefer to indulge at Christmas time. All peace and comfort and abundance and joy. Fire on the earth  The fact is, Jesus’ coming brought violence of the most radical kind. He declared (Lk. 12:5), “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” He intended to do some serious harm to someone, or, at least, to inflict some serious pain. Robert Southwell, the 17th century priest and poet, captured some of the essence of this aspect of Jesus’ coming in his poem, “New Heaven, New War.” Benjamin Britten set part of this poem to a staccato Christmas carol which I doubt many of us have ever heard: “This little babe, so few days old,/has come to rifle Satan’s fold./All hell doth at His presence quake,/Though He Himself for cold do shake;/For in this weak unarmèd wise/The gates of hell He will surprise.” Now there’s a carol you can sing with fire in your eyes! A century after Southwell, John Milton composed his “Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity,” in which, as Steven Wright reminded us recently, the coming of Jesus at Christmas sends every false deity, vain philosophy, and empty religion fleeing for the high ground, while Satan paces nervously in the depths of hell: “Our Babe, to show His Godhead true,/can in His swaddling clothes control the damnèd crew!” Righteousness and judgment Jesus came to earth to throw some flames around. He came to ignite the flames of righteousness and judgment, which consume like a forest fire all the dead wood of human sin and rebellion (Ps. 83:13, 14). And He came like a refiner’s fire to try and purify the hearts of human beings, that He might capture us for Himself and take us, glorified, to be forever with Him in heaven (Mal. 3:2, 3). That little Babe is throwing flames around, and we’re not going to be able to escape. Pray that His fire will enter your soul not for judgment, but for sanctification. “He comes to make His blessings flow/far as the curse is found.” And when the curse of sin meets the fire of holy Jesus, there can be no doubt concerning which will be the last standing. So the next time you drive or walk past a gentle nativity scene, pause for a moment. Smile sweetly – to reflect the mood of the times. Then offer this prayer to that little Babe, so few days old: “Torch us, Lord!” For more by T.M. Moore, visit ColsonCenter.org

Psalm 143:6

I stretch my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

(referring to the parable of the sower) The second group receives the Word with joy when they hear it, but then they have no root. They have an emotional response, they are quick to tell everyone that they believe, but their emotional response is based on what they thought they might get from Jesus, what He can do for them. It is a superficial response, an instant bloom then a fade.

- ALISTAIR BEGG

To truly seek God, to commune with the Most High, to receive that precious gift from God the Father to the world, one must thirst for righteousness. This is not a "good feeling" but quite the opposite: it is a desperate yearning for that alone which can satisfy our despondent condition - the fountain of everlasting, Jesus Christ.

Habakkuk 1:5

Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

Reading this invokes a feeling of awe and of expectation. While this was addressed to the Jews at the time of their exile in Babylon to give them hope that God had not forsaken them, I can't help but smile as I look through the pages of History and see His fingerprints everywhere. No doubt this verse can be applied to every generation. Even today, if we look at the nations and watch closely, God is up to something that we couldn't even believe.

Similarly, this can be applied to the individual. The important part of this is to "watch - and be utterly amazed". It's easy to dismiss events as "just life" and continue on the best we can. While this may be our only option, it is important that one does not forget to look for, or to seek, God. In this process He reveals Himself and does not cease to amaze.