Santa Claus: A Big, Fat Disappointment

My son Cade loves the Saturday morning craft event they do at Lowe’s and Home Depot. We go every week. But last week, I was horrified.

The Home Depot craft was making a picture frame, and Santa Claus himself was there. You get your picture with Saint Nick, and while you build your frame, they print the picture that you put in your new frame. When we went in, Cade walked right up to the jolly one and said, “My name is Cade, and you must be Santa.” They exchanged pleasantries and took a picture.

We made the frame, we put the picture in, and we almost left with a successful event under our belts. Then the horrific event happened. As we walked out, Santa said, “It was nice to meet you, Cody.”

I was crushed, and I hope Cade just didn’t hear this. Cody?! Who is Cody?! You are supposed to know if he was naughty or nice, you are supposed to know what he wants you to bring him on December 25, and you don’t even know his name?!

Well, it was a reminder. Only God knows you. Really knows you. Doesn’t that give you comfort?

In fact, look again at what Jesus said in Matthew 10:30: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Think about this. God knows how many hairs you have on your head. What is the significance of this information? What could someone possibly do with having an exact count of hairs on your head? What difference does it make if I have a thousand hairs… or none? Doesn’t that seem rather trivial?

That’s the point. God knows the most insignificant thing about you. He cares about you so much, that He even knows THAT! So whatever is burdening you, whatever keeps you up at night, whatever is troubling you, hurting you, breaking your heart… He knows, and He cares.

That’s the kind of God we have. He loves us in a way we can barely understand.

p.s. - is not renaming his son for the sake of Santa

Don’t Mistake My Tears

A good friend of mine, who has been such a blessing to me and my family, blessed me this week by taking me to “God’s Design for Disability”, a conference at John Piper’s church.

As many who read this know, my wife Erin and I have 2 autistic children. We have a heart to get a ministry started at the church to love and bless these families that are going through similar issues.

I was going to type all of the encouraging words John Piper and the other speakers gave. But honestly, I am still trying to digest it all. It was a lot of heavy stuff to take in one day!

But instead, I am just going to say: I cried a lot. Dang it, I am welling up now. Give me a second.

OK.

Here’s what I want to clear up: do not mistake my tears.

I was not, am not, tearing up because I saw a lot of “disabled” people (I did). Nor am I weepy because I know I am going home to my own “special needs” kids (I am).

These tears are tears of joy. Actually, they are the first fruits of the tears of joy I will have on that Day.

The Bible tells us, in Revelation 21:3-5: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

The Day is coming. Wheelchairs will be obsolete. Braces and crutches will be artifacts of a world long gone. Autism will be ancient history. Downs Syndrome will only be spoken of past tense.

Replacing it all will be wholeness. Glorious wholeness. Death and disease and disability gone forever. Pain, mourning, sleepless nights… forever gone. Replaced by the glorious wholeness of all of Christ’s people as we, and this is the best part, dwell in the glorious presence of God forever. The greatest worship service of all time, because it is never going to end.

So my tears now are just the anticipation of this. Will God wipe these tears then, or only the tears associated with us coming to the full realization that is was the brutal death of God’s Son to pay for my horrible sin? I don’t know.

So do me a favor. When the tears associated with autism well up in me, don’t feel bad for me. Don’t feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. Please just smile and say, “Yeah, it is going to be awesome.”

p.s. - looking for a Kleenex

Gotta Haveta Want It!

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 
Proverbs 2:1-5

One of the most common things I hear from people when I share the Gospel with them is this: “I tried to read the Bible, but I don’t understand it.”

There are a lot of reasons for this:

I am not sure where to start, so I start anywhere.

If you pick up the Bible for the first time and just pick a random starting place (ie jump right into the middle of Leviticus), I can see why you are having problems. (Why do people do this with the Bible? They wouldn‘t with any other book!)

A difficult Bible translation.

I have no problem with the KJV, but it is a very difficult translation to read for “first timers”. And because KJV is the most widely distributed translation, this is the one people use to start reading (sometimes by jumping in the middle of Leviticus).

These things must be spiritually discerned.

We can’t accept these things naturally. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned.

But here is another thing: You gotta haveta want it.

When it comes to pursuing the wisdom of the Lord, this can be no half-hearted interest.

Look at the way the Proverbs writer describes going after it: receive, treasure up, ear attentive, heart inclined, calling out, raising voice. Not a casual approach to God’s Word! Going after it like my son goes after Starburst candy! (Editor‘s note: Jeff‘s son likes Starburst candy.)

You gotta haveta want it. Want. It. Like how? Like, to what extent? Notice he says to go after God’s Word as you would go after hidden treasure.

If I gave you a treasure map that leads to 5 billion dollars in hidden treasure, would you simply fold it up, stick the map in a drawer, and say, “Maybe someday…” NO! You would drop everything and go after it!

What if this map were written in Spanish? Would you just discard it. “Bummer. I don’t speak Spanish. Oh, well.” NO! How quickly would you learn Spanish? For 5 billion? You would do whatever it took to learn the language to use the map to get the treasure.

Go after God’s infinite, eternal wisdom with the same gusto

… then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (v5).

Would you go after the wisdom of the Almighty with the energy and effort you would use to go after money?

p.s. - would totally become a spokesman for Rosetta Stone.

Do Not Harden Your Heart - Some Final Words…

I have spent a lot of time on this issue because obviously this is something close to the heart of God. Warning after warning is given in His Word: “Do not harden your heart”. It’s the most passionate warning because it results in the most serious danger.

The warning is given so we don’t go down that road. Here are a few more things God wants you to know about hard-heartedness (Hebrews chapter 3).

BATTLING HARD HEARTEDNESS IS A TEAM EFFORT (v12-13)

You are never on your own in this battle. And when battling hard-heartedness, God has surrounded you with people who can help you. Did you see the “this is a group issue” mentality? Look at all the plurals:

fathers (v9), generation, they, they (v10), they (v11), brothers, any of you (v12), one another, none of you (v13), we, we (v14), all those (v16), they, those (v18), they (v19)

It is true that salvation is an individual issue, but Christians are called to be a part of a body. And part of the dynamic of being part of the body is group identity. We suffer together, we rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:26). This can be a great thing, but the danger is when the group identity is being affected by negative things, such as bitterness (Hebrews 12:15) or hard-heartedness.

So what do we do, team? Verse 13: we exhort each other every day. Encourage each other in the word. A visit, a call, a text, and e-mail, a letter, smoke signals, whatever - we encourage each other in the Word of God. This is Who God is, these are His promises, this is who you are in Christ…

Notice, today…today, over and over in this chapter. Delay only results in a harder heart!

HARD HEARTEDNESS WILL NEVER LEAD TO VICTORY (v14)

The Bible teaches that the proof of salvation is endurance - God gives us enduring faith. You want to cross the finish line strong? The only way is constant abiding in Christ.

Hard-heartedness is never on that path. Do you want proof of your salvation? Do you want proof that you are walking in victory? The answer is found not in what did you do, but what are you doing now?

HARD HEARTEDNESS HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO THINK, “THAT CAN‘T HAPPEN TO ME“ (v15-19)

The Hebrew writer hammers us with questions, five of them to be exact. What is he driving at? This is for the person that is saying, “I am a good church-goer. This hard-hearted thing can’t happen to me.”

Wrong - you are exactly the kind of person it can happen to.

These people referred to in the text, these were people that saw God work as no other group in history. Yet for all they say, they still chose not to trust God.

That can happen to you in the church. You hear the Word, you see lives changed, you witness people healed, marriages saved… and you walk away still not personally trusting God yourself. Bad place to be… the worst place to be, actually.

Ask God for a reality check today. Get humble and honest about it. Get invested in others… and allow others to invest in you. Ignoring the symptoms and denying it can even happen to you are the worst things you can do.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

p.s. - today, as in, NOW