I Must…

“Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” – Luke 2:49

The Gospels are filled with examples of Jesus telling people about His “musts.”  He told His parents He “must” be in His Father’s house.  He told those in the synagogues that He “must” preach the good news.  He told the Pharisees that He must do His Father’s work.  He told Zacchaeus that He “must” stay at his house.  He told the Pharisees that He “must” shepherd His sheep.  He told His disciples that He “must” fulfill His purpose here on earth.

Life gets crazy.  Many of us have husbands and children to care for.  We have jobs to do and houses to keep.  We have friends to love and brothers and sisters in Christ to serve.  We have teachers and leaders to respect and care for.  We have bills to pay in hopes that there will be enough money for that rest that we so desperately need.  Yes, life is full of responsibilities to meet and authorities to submit to.  These are God-given responsibilities and authorities!

We are told by church and society that we have roles to fill.  We are told what kind of wife we should be and exactly what that should look like.  We are told what kind of parent and employee and friend we should be.  We are told if we’re spending too much time here or giving too much dedication there.  Life is full of finding balance between the desires of our heart!  I cannot wait to get to heaven where time is not an issue!  Where we will have an eternity to give to our ministries!  But here and now, we must find balance.  The thing we cannot lose sight of, however, is our purpose in life.  Our one and only purpose in this life is to bring glory to God.  It is not to be super-mom or wonder-wife.  It is not to be employee of the month or the next CEO.  We, of course, bring glory to God by giving our best in whatever situation He has put us in.  That will manifest itself in being a good wife, mom, employee, and friend.  But those can never be our goals.  Our goal must ALWAYS be to glorify God… it is what Christ claimed as His “must”… and it must be our “must” as well!

A New Creation

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” – Luke 2:14 ESV

The angels praised God at creation, and here they are praising Him again at the beginning of a new creation.  We can read the story of the birth of Christ some 200 years later and marvel at the fact that God sent His only Son to die for our sins and pay a price that we never, ever could.  But travel back with me for a minute:

This young woman was pregnant.  She got pregnant out of wedlock.  Yes… she was carrying the Son of God.  Yes, her husband knew the truth and took her to be his wife, anyway.  But what about the rest of the town?  Her family?  Her friends?  I wonder what kind of ridicule she was getting?  I wonder if anyone understood?  I wonder if, in the middle of the day, she felt alone?  Maybe her prayers went something like: God, please… I feel so very alone… I just need them to understand… to believe.  This is all conjecture, of course!  She had Elizabeth, and she had her husband.  But pregnancy is a public thing, and I just wonder if she still somehow felt alone.  And then they had to travel so far!  My friends, this is not just a quick drive down the street to McDonalds!  This is a long, hard trip.

Again, I don’t want to presume anything that we don’t know for fact about Mary’s pregnancy.  But in those days, I have to assume that she was not revered socially.  Have you ever been hit left and right?  Hard time after hard time, question after question, doubt after doubt?  What happened with Mary?  She praised God!  She clung to His promise.  What happened when the baby Jesus was born?  The angels praised God.

If God’s Word and His truth control our lives, then each event, good or bad, will help to fulfill His promises.  Whether we know it or not, whether we ever find out the answers to “Why?”, if we claim His truth and praise Him, we will be within His promises!  And each day can be a new creation!

Not Their Will But Thine Be Done

By: Amber McEwen

“Not my will, but Thine be done,” is a hard prayer to pray.  Aligning our will with God’s will is not always the easiest thing in the world to do.  And sometimes just being okay with whatever He desires for our life can shake us down to our very core.  But what about our peers?  What about our culture?  Sometimes we have to say, “Not their will, but Thine be done.”

I was reading about the birth of John the Baptist this morning.  When Elizabeth gave birth, actually eight days after, her friends and family came to see the new miracle baby.  They told her she should name the baby boy after his father.  Why?  Because it made sense!  It was a perfectly reasonable thing to expect!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where friends and family are telling you that you should do things one way or say things in another way?  And their advice makes sense.  But in your heart of hearts you believe that God is calling you to a different purpose.  Zechariah had seen and heard an angel who told him what to name his child.  We don’t have that today.  But we can spend time in the Word and in prayer, and we will hear those still, small whispers from the Spirit.  That doesn’t mean that God will whisper what He wants us to name our children.  Nor does it mean that we will hear guidance on every single decision that we make throughout the day.  But it does mean that we have a purpose in this life, and that purpose is to glorify God in all we say and do.  Sometimes that means letting go of what we want.  Sometimes it means going against culture and traditional practices.  All the time it means spending all of our time drawing closer to our Father, and listening for those still, small whispers.