This is that time of year we start thinking about making changes – “new year, new you” and all that. This is a good time to ask yourself, What do I want to be different this year?
Really. Sit with that for ten minutes. Let your heart surface. Write it down. And then…take it to Jesus in prayer. Lord – come into this. Show me the way. Give me the first step, or the next step.
Ask Jesus, What is the theme of this year, Lord?
And so we have celebrated Christmas, the coming of Jesus to this world. And O what a thing to celebrate! The manger, the angels, the shepherds…the focus of the entire pageant comes down to this: Jesus became a man. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity…made like his brothers in every way” (Hebrews 2:14,17). Jesus took on a genuine humanity.
OK, this is really worth whooping over: I just heard about a guy who posted an offer to his 600 Facebook friends, offering to give them a free copy of Beautiful Outlaw, no strings attached. All they have to do is reply yes, they'd like one, and give him an address, and that's it. He'll send one asap.
Wow. Talk about Merry Christmas. What a cool idea.
This has been a tough year for me. A year with a lot of suffering. Both Stasi and I have been through a lot of physical affliction. There were accidents. Betrayals. My father died this year. On top of this, my friends have been suffering. A year with a lot of pain in it.
And there is nothing like suffering to wreak havoc in your relationship with God. The damage pain does to our relationship with Jesus is often far, far worse than the pain itself.
Last Wednesday night I was speaking in Dallas on who Jesus really is, his actual personality, what he's really like. It is by far my favorite thing to do. Afterwards a woman came up to me, big smile, bright eyes, and said, "I'm a Jesus freak too!" It made me laugh; it gave me joy.
It also got me thinking.
A friend of ours had an encounter with Jesus this weekend in which she received his healing from a very traumatic time in her life. She wondered if she would ever find Jesus in this place, and this weekend, he came. O, to have Jesus. How beautiful. There is nothing like it in the world. As A Kempis said, "When Jesus is near, all is well...when he is absent, all is hard."
"Without a friend you cannot live," said A'Kempis, "and if Jesus be not above all a friend to you, you will be sad and desolate."
Ain't that the truth.
We often don't recognize our desolation for what it really is - missing Jesus. A longing for Jesus. After all, he is our life. Without him, there is no life.
Last May I had the opportunity, while in London, to visit the National Gallery. Loving art, and being with my son who is an art major, I was excited to spend hours there. I loved the Van Gogh, the Monet, the Rembrandt paintings and many more. But there was one massive disappointment. No, it was more than disappointment. Massive frustration.
I did not see one portrait of Christ, in all the famous works of him, that came anywhere close to depicting Jesus as he really is. Not one.
I don’t even remember the issue we were talking about—it had something to do with Christianity—but I do remember my friend’s response. “Gosh, I'm not really sure," he said. And I thought it a humble and gracious posture to take.
Only, it's been five years now. And he's still saying, "I'm not really sure." He has landed in that place. Now I see what happened. He has chosen doubt—a posture very attractive and honored in our day.
Doubt is “in.”