fbpx

How Long? When to Expect the Long-Expected Jesus

by | Dec 22, 2020 | Christmas, Devotional, Weekly Gospel Meditation

How Long? When to Expect the Long-Expected Jesus

When Can We Expect the Long-Expected Jesus?

The last few days, a lyric sticks in my head…a long-ago line from a John Denver and the Muppet’s Christmas cassette tape I used to pop in on my way home from the Young Life Christmas tree lot:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…

(that’s from the days when they fattened a goose to kill for Christmas dinner, children)…

Christmas is coming, but what about Christ?

Yes, we can feel it, Christmas is bearing down on us….But do you ever, as I do, stop and ask, “But what about Christ?” “I know Christmas is coming, but when is Christ coming?”

Do you ever get weary of waiting, short on patience for peace on earth to be a forever thing? Do you ever feel faint of the fall, heavy of heart over hard stories at Christmas-time? If so, then I invite you to join me in singing the old hymn of expectation, “Come thou long-expected Jesus”:

Consider this stanza and how it addresses our hopes, fears, needs and longings in these sometimes-dazed days the week before Christmas:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Charles Wesley

Why not call the long-expected Jesus into the hard parts of your Christmas?

  • Christmas details causing chaos? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Family togetherness raising tension? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Economic forecast raining on your planned parade? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Stay-at-home orders ruining your Christmas gathering plans and raising your anxiety level? From our fears and sins release us.
  • Pre-Christmas preparations exposing your sin nature? From our fears and sins release us.
  • Attempts to make everyone happy stealing your joy? Let us find our rest in thee.

Without Christ, the Christmas season threatens to draw out the worst of our fears, sins and restlessness. Call to him, for the merry message of Christmas is that he comes to you. Christ the King stands ready to release us from our sins and fears; he invites us to rest in the hope and joy of the manger-child.

A Prayer about the Coming of Our Long-Expected Jesus

Come, we pray, Lord Jesus, come. Make our hearts ready to be your home. You alone are our dearest desire, our sweetest joy, our every expectation. In your very-near name we pray, Amen.

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

Do you need help finding rest in Christmas?

Four-part devotional series designed to help you…Slow down. Let go…of the frenzy, worry, rush…
Hear the story of the wonders God has done—in the lives of people who also struggle with fear, anxiety and loss of hope.

FOUR WEEKLY GUIDES|FIVE DAILY ACTIVITIES 

Day 1: Devotional

Day 2: Reflection Questions

Day 3: Story Starters

Day 4: Prayer

Day 5: Music

How Cynicism Kills Gratitude

by | Nov 17, 2020 | Devotional, Gospel living, Thanksgiving

How Cynicism Kills Gratitude

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21, ESV

She is astute and assertive; nothing gets by her. She sneers at her sister’s naiveté; smugly congratulating herself on not being easily fooled by such childish notions of God and heaven. She will shed no tear over her own suffering—after all, what more would one expect from this miserable, pitiful life? She has no awe, because nothing is really awesome. Life is hard, and then you die.

Who is she? She is the Modern-Cynic. Independent and strong, intelligent and competent, she doesn’t need God or others to help her out in this life. She thinks she knows foolishness, but Scripture says that she herself is a fool. According to Romans 1:19-23, the evidence of God’s goodness, holiness, love, power, and majesty is inscribed everywhere in the cosmos. But the cynical heart refuses to see it. Cynicism is the murderer of gratitude because it has lost its awe in God.

The cynicism of our own hearts may not be so overt as Ms. Modern-Cynic’s. We must seek it out as it sneaks about in the crevices of our sin nature, subtle as it may be. Consider Simon the Pharisee of Luke 7:37-50, whose cynicism about Jesus left him with little love and gratitude.

Do you have a murderer of gratitude lurking in your story? #gratitude #story

CLICK TO TWEET

Simon is certain—certain that Jesus cannot be a “prophet” because he doesn’t even know that the wild woman weeping all over his feet is “a sinner” (my emphasis) (Luke 7:39). In the ultimate irony, Simon does not know, cannot know, that Jesus is reading his mind (Luke 7:40)! Self-reliant Simon sneers at the needy woman, silently mocking her effusive show of gratitude. Jesus tells Simon a little story to invite him to see his own sin and thank God for forgiveness. When Jesus concludes, “he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:41-46), I always long for the truth to dawn on Simon, for his eyes to grow wide with awe as he recognizes Jesus’ compassion in his warning. I want him to fall on his knees before Jesus right next to the weeping sinful woman. Sadly, that is not how the story ends. Simon’s “foolish heart is darkened” (Romans 1:21).  His cynicism has killed his gratitude.

What about you? Can you sniff out scents of cynicism in your own story?

  • Perhaps you’ve prayed a seemingly unanswered prayer for a spouse, a child, a friend, for years? You’ve begun to doubt that God even cares; you’ve begun to feel certain that God won’t intervene in this impossible situation.
  • Or, maybe you’ve succumbed to the whatever response to life in a fallen world? It just hurts too much to feel the ache of creation’s groaning, so you shut your eyes to the joy and beauty of God’s redemptive handwriting in the universe?
  • Maybe you’ve learned your role as a strong and independent being so well that you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be as desperate as the sinful woman who loved much because she was forgiven much.

Dear friends, let us draw near the cross to remember the black day that Jesus stamped out all cause for cynicism once and for all, as he hung there dying. Let us draw near the empty tomb and join the first disciples in resurrection joy, falling on our knees in gratitude for our Savior.

A Prayer about Cynicism

Our Dear Lord, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth,

By your power, you have given us everything we need to believe in something beyond the here and now. Thank you for the wonders you have worked—in the stars and in our stories. Forgive us for closing our eyes to your goodness, for thinking we know more than you about glory and goodness. Slay in us that murderer of gratitude, our subtle and sometimes overt, cynicism. In Jesus’ in-credible name we ask, Amen.

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

Why Inviting Others into Your Grief Matters

by | Oct 20, 2020 | Bible study, Devotional, Suffering

Why Inviting Others into Your Grief Matters

Have you ever had say something completely insensitive to you when you were grieving a loss? In today’s blog, we consider why we need to take the risk of inviting others to grieve with us, even when they may get it wrong. (This is an outtake from From Recovery to Restoration, because I accidentally wrote 61 meditations instead of 60!).

Letting Others Weep with Us

Weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15, ESV

When her nine-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, Malea often met with awkward responses. One friend was so distraught upon hearing the news that Malea had to comfort her in the church parking lot for ten minutes. Another friend spotted her in the grocery store then turned quickly and scurried away. A hospital visitor told her about a distant cousin who had recently died of leukemia. When we are in the midst of crisis, people will not always respond helpfully. Even so, Scripture calls us to invite the body of Christ into our grief, because God uses his church as a conduit of his healing and hope.

The command to “weep with those who weep” comes right in the middle of Paul’s instructions about living as the body of Christ (Romans 12). If we are “those who weep,” others are called to weep with us, and we are called to allow them to do so, even invite them to do so. How does God work in this communal grief?

Dr. Gerry Sittser, who lost his wife, daughter, and mother in a car accident, wrote that he often felt numb after their deaths, unable to pray and sing in church. He said, “The church is a community. Sometimes some members of that community, even through time and space, carry others, because we do not have the capacity to function the same way. I remember very vividly my inability to sing and pray in the months and, really, years after the accident. I decided to let the church sing and pray for me, not only the church here and now but the church everywhere, and well, ‘everywhen.’”

As Sittser suggests, in the season following crisis and loss, we may find ourselves spiritually, physically, and emotionally incapacitated. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the church embodies Christ’s love, entering our grief, and bearing us along in our weakness. Here are just a few of the ways God might bring you healing and hope through his church:

When you are struggling with doubt, others will believe and hope for you, lifting you to the Lord with their prayers and encouragement.

When you are feeling discouraged, a friend will share a story of how God rescued in their lives or in Scripture, and you will gain courage for the journey.

When you can’t focus long enough to read Scripture or pray, someone will send you a verse or a prayer that gives you new courage.

When your tears seem to fall unceasingly, friends will weep with you and for you, reminding you that you are never alone in your grief.

Dear friend, it may feel risky to invite others to weep with you. But as you do, you will discover a powerful source of healing and hope.

Prayer

Lord,

Thank you for integrating us into the body you have created in Christ. Help us to trust others enough to invite them into our grief, and help them to enter it with your grace and love. In Jesus’ weeping name, Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Romans 12; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Corinthians 13:7.

Listen to “Blest Be the Tie” by Sara Groves.

For Reflection

In what ways have people joined you in your grief? In what ways could you reach out to invite others into your grief?

From Recovery to Restoration cover

Get Hope for Troubling Times

Advance Review for From Recovery to Restoration

"When the storms of life crash into our lives, the devastation left behind is often overwhelming. Recovery and healing is slow and arduous. Elizabeth Turnage's devotional is for all those laboring toward recovery. From Recovery to Restoration is a hope-filled, gospel-laced, and Christ-exalting book which invites us into God's story of redemption and helps us see how he is at work to redeem and restore all things, even the aftermath of our personal losses, heartaches, and trials."

Christina Fox

Writer, Counselor, Speaker

author of A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament.

Click Here

Knowing the Knowledge that Changes the World

by | Oct 13, 2020 | Bible study, Caregiving, Devotional

Knowing the Knowledge that Changes the World

Although this excerpt from The Waiting Room: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in Crisis was written about seeking certainty in the midst of health crisis, it applies to all of the ways we may seek to “know,” “to have certainty,” and how God calls us to trust him, even when we don’t have all the answers. In this election season, I need to ask myself where I am putting my trust. Maybe you do too!

Knowledge That Will Change Your World

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
    who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself….

Isaiah 44:24, ESV

“Knowledge that will change your world…”

It is a brilliant tagline for a hospital. I first noticed it on a sticker in the parking deck of the medical center. It plays right into our deepest fears and fiercest desires in the season of a health crisis. I do not fault the hospital for using it. Instead, I thank them for the hope it offered us.

After all, many of the world’s experts were gathered at this medical center, and they knew (almost) everything there was to know about brain tumors. Our neurosurgeon operated exclusively on brain tumors. He had performed thousands of awake craniotomies. Surely these people had the knowledge that would change our son’s world.

And yet…I recognize my own idolatry in that way of thinking. Idols are things we trust in more than God to deliver us. Long ago, I heard a speaker suggest we uncover our idols by asking, “Where do you find your security, significance, and sense of safety?” As we played the waiting game, I would have had to confess, “I am seeking my sense of security and safety in these world-expert doctors.”

The Bible warns us about putting our trust in idols, in earthly things that do not really have the power to save us. Isaiah 44 describes foolish people who take a piece of wood, use half of it to make a fire and the other half to carve an idol. They fall down before the idol and worship it, saying, “Rescue me… you are my god” (Isaiah 44:17, NLT). But the idol neither blinks nor moves, for it is merely a piece of wood. Isaiah observes, “The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all” (Isaiah 44:20, NLT).

Please don’t misunderstand me – I do believe doctors and medical experts have much knowledge and skill to offer us. Still, the gospel invites us to trust fully in the one, true GOD who can and will deliver us, the God who made all things and knows all things. God, who has the knowledge that will truly change our world, invites us to come to him and rest in him.

Prayer

All-knowing, ever-loving Father, you are our Creator and Redeemer. You know us fully, and one day we will fully know you and fully trust you. Thank you for the knowledge you have given to medical personnel and their faithfulness in acquiring it. Help us to trust in your knowledge more than theirs. In the name of your redeeming Son, our Savior, Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Isaiah 43:9-20; Proverbs 3:5-6.

Listen to “He Is God” by Susan Calderazzo at https://www.reverbnation.com/susancalderazzo/songs.

For Reflection: In what things are you looking for a sense of security, safety and significance during this season?

A Good Read for Hard Times: The Waiting Room Devotional

Buy Now

What to Do When the News Is Overwhelming

by | Oct 6, 2020 | Devotional, Gospel living, Suffering

What to Do When the News Is Overwhelming

Dear Friends, 

I don’t know about you, but I can be sucked into the media scrolls and screens. In this season, perhaps more than ever, we need to remember where to set our minds. Enjoy this excerpt from From Recovery to Restoration: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in Crisis today. 

Set Your Minds on Things Above

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Colossians 3:1, ESV

We scroll through our social media feeds, searching Twitter, Facebook, Instagram—for what?  We glue our eyes to the news at any and every hour of the day, filling our minds with words and words and words from people we don’t know and barely trust. Pandemic panic has set in, and our world is seeking hope and help, but the apostle Paul suggests we may be looking in the wrong places. 

Paul reminds us that we have been raised with Christ; that reality changes everything about where we should look for hope and help. He tells us to “seek the things above, where Christ is…” (Colossians 3:1). To seek the things above is to seek the one who first sought us—Jesus. To seek the things above is to look first for the things that Jesus cares most about, his kingdom and his righteousness. As we seek the things above, we find provision for all of our needs, and our anxiety subsides (Matthew 6:25-34).

Not only must we seek the things above, we must “set [our] minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). We must “set our minds,” or “fix our minds.” To fix our minds is to have the intense concentration of a world-champion chess player, to have the laser focus of a brain surgeon. For Christians, it means that instead of fixating on non-stop news, we instead fill our minds with the things of Christ, his rule and his reign, his glory and his grace.

Setting our minds on things above does not mean that we ignore the things of this earth. It simply means that we begin by seeking Christ in Scripture, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers. As we set our compass on Christ, we remain on course to live as he has called us to live on this earth. During crisis, moms and medical people, delivery workers and truck drivers will focus their minds and energy on the earthly tasks that need to be accomplished to care for those they serve. But they will do so while praying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Finally, setting our minds on the things above will help us remember that the day of restoration is coming. When our lives are centered on Christ, we are always scanning the horizon, watching for his return, waiting for the day when we will live with him in the new heavens and the new earth. In that day, in that place, we will “appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4), living and loving forever in his perfect peace.

Prayer

Lord Christ,

Draw our eyes away from our screens and toward your glorious presence on the throne next to our heavenly Father. Help us to set our minds on you and seek to live out your love on this earth. In your glorious name. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Colossians 3:1-3; Matthew 6:25-34.

Listen to “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” by Lauren Daigle.

For Reflection

Do you find yourself filling your mind with things of this earth during crisis? Make a list of three ways you could set your mind on things above and schedule times on your calendar to do them.

Learn More about True Freedom

Advance Review for From Recovery to Restoration

"Whether it be in the midst of physical pain, addiction, abandonment, abuse, or habitual sin, Elizabeth will redirect your gaze over and over through scripture to meditate not on the gaping hole of your loss, but on the relentless pursuit of Jesus's love."

Hope Blanton and Christine Gordon, Authors, At His Feet Studies

Buy now!

The Rest of Restoration: A Meditation for Crisis

by | Sep 29, 2020 | Devotional

The Rest of Restoration: A Meditation for Crisis

Dear Friends, this week I share another excerpt from my newest devotional for people who have experienced “crisis” —”radically life-altering circumstances.” If you enjoy this, please be sure to share and check out the entire devotional, From Recovery to Restoration: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in Crisis. It was written for times such as these.

The Rest of Restoration

And on the seventh day God finished

all the work that he had done, and

he rested on the seventh day from

all his work that he had done.

GENESIS 2:2, ESV

THE FIRST TIME I recovered from shoulder surgery, I was blindsided by the fatigue. My limbs hung limp, heavy and sluggish; my nerves were frenzied by pain. Restful sleep eluded me. Meanwhile, the items on my to-do list stacked up in direct proportion to my incapacitation. Recovery fatigue set in; what I desperately needed was rest.

On the seventh day of creation, after God had placed the finishing touches on his masterpiece — his image-bearers, he rested (Genesis 2:2). God rested because his work, his plan, his purpose, was fully accomplished. The Lord rested as only the ruler of the cosmos can rest.

The Lord designed his image-bearers for rest and called them to receive this gift: “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (Deuteronomy 5:12-14). The Lord knew that we needed rest; the Lord knew that to experience this rest, we would need to trust him completely.

What are you to do, though, when the housework piles up but you can’t lift your arm after shoulder surgery? When soggy carpets need to be stripped before mold sets in after the flood? When sleep won’t come because you’re worried about the child support check? Surely you can’t just do nothing?

God set a Sabbath rhythm: to work and to rest, to work and to rest. We may not be able to do the housework, but we can ask for help from others, and we can rest in receiving. We can strip the carpets, but then we must rest from that work. And as far as the child support check, there is a time to pursue and a time to pray, there is a time to trust, and a time to wait on God’s provision.

In addition to physical, mental, and emotional rest, we desperately need the rest of restoration provided by Jesus. As Richard D. Phillips explains, “If you have put your faith in this saving God, if you have trusted his gospel in Jesus Christ, you now can rest…. You can face the prospect of loss in this life, of suffering, and even of death, for ours is the God of the Sabbath, who established his purposes forever from the beginning. Through faith in him you enter into his rest.”24

Dear friend, in this season of weight and weariness, hear the call of the One who has bought with his life the rest you crave.Come to Jesus, who invites you to the rest of restoration.

PRAYER

Father, God,

Thank you for your Sabbath rest, and thank you for the ultimate rest granted in Jesus. Help us to come to you for every kind of rest we need in our recovery.

AMEN.

FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT

• Read Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Hebrews 4:9-10.

• Listen to “Good to Me” by Audrey Assad.

FOR REFLECTION

In what ways are you struggling with the need for rest or the inability to rest? Write a short letter to God about what things you need to entrust to him so you can gain needed rest.

From Recovery to Restoration cover

Get Hope for Troubling Times

Advance Review for From Recovery to Restoration

"When the storms of life crash into our lives, the devastation left behind is often overwhelming. Recovery and healing is slow and arduous. Elizabeth Turnage's devotional is for all those laboring toward recovery. From Recovery to Restoration is a hope-filled, gospel-laced, and Christ-exalting book which invites us into God's story of redemption and helps us see how he is at work to redeem and restore all things, even the aftermath of our personal losses, heartaches, and trials."

Christina Fox

Writer, Counselor, Speaker

author of A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament.

Click Here