CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS FROM A MISFIT

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!

  Well folks, it looks like it’s that time of year again. Time for all the bright lights, the glittery trees, and in many of the northern states……SNOW.  I know a lot of people don’t care for the snow, but in reality it isn’t the “snow” they don’t like, it’s the slippery roads and the cold temperatures that must come with it. And I understand that, but the beauty of the snow is compared with no other on this earth. When I see the snow, I think of the purity that it signifies.  It reminds me too, how our hearts must come clean when we receive the salvation of the Lord. In fact, in Isaiah the bible tells us that “tho your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow” (Is 1:18).  When I see the snow after it has been tracked up, and driven through, and plowed, I am reminded of how we, as Christians, can just as easily become polluted with the filth of this world. We are no longer beautiful. It happens much too often when we “join in” with the things of this world. The bible tells us to “abstain from all the APPEARANCE of evil” (1 Thess.5:22). That could be left to you to know what that would consist of. But if you TRULY belong to God the Father thru the blood of His Son Jesus, you won’t have any problems knowing what to stay away from, because you will KNOW what is not of God. You will feel an uneasiness about it. Because the Spirit of God dwells in those who are His. Just as there is NOTHING more beautiful that a snow covered field that has been “unspoiled” by the traffic. Nothing is more beautiful than a pure heart toward God.  Not only the snows of the winter, but the mountain stream running so clear and so smooth without the trash of the world.  The water from them is clean, cold and crisp. Even in mid-summer when the temperatures are so high, that cool mountain spring is refreshing like nothing else. Jesus is my mountain spring. He is always refreshing, and He will always cleanse when I feel dirty from the filth of the world. There are times that you will be “in” the world but you never have to be “of” the world. When you go shopping, when you travel, you will have things of the world try and attach to you. Then Jesus will come and cleanse you as the mountain stream. When you thirst, go to Him for your water….not the pits that the world offers. But you have to ask Him. Now that I have gotten WAY off track here, let’s see if we can manage to find our way back.

Please take the time to read “Journeys and Visions”; it comes from a desire with in the heart of the writer AND the heart of the Father. As you read it, please be alert to the message that is in it.

I have so often been heart broken by the “attitude” if you will of the world to keep Jesus as a tiny baby in a manger, or as a man on the cross which is where we put Him every Easter….we fail to realize that in order to be hung on the cross, He could no longer be a baby; in order to raise from the dead, He can no longer STILL be on the cross. Don’t get me wrong here, I am in awe and filled with great joy that Jehovah God would love such as me enough to send His only Son………..for me. That Jesus, who became a man, would love me that much that He would die for me. I don’t know if we really realize how hard that was for Him to do. He was a man at that time. TOTAL man.  He knew that He had to die. He knew, and He was afraid. If you remember, He asked that the cup be passed FROM Him. That shows His humanity. But in saying “Thy will be done”, THAT shows His love.

My point after this very long “speech” is, He isn’t in the manger anymore. He isn’t on the cross anymore. He isn’t in the tomb anymore. You need to follow along with the poem,  ”Journeys and Visions“ and see where He is; and figure out what that means for you. Amen. Maxine

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