Tag: Paul Nordman

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Holy Ground

Christmas changes us. We join family and friends in festive celebration, of course, and we take time to ponder the reason for the season, but Christmas marks the advent of “God with us,” and both we and our place in the world are forever changed because of Christ.

The Bible teaches that wherever the Lord is, is holy. This is why in the Old Testament Moses and, later, Joshua were told to remove their sandals, for they found themselves standing on “holy ground”—in the presence of God. But now that Jesus has come and redeemed us as His own, He is both with us and in us. We are, says Paul, “a temple of the Holy Spirit.”1 Wherever we are, He is; wherever we go, He goes; wherever we stand is holy ground, for God is present.

So, we live and move and breathe with newfound purpose. Ours is to embrace the grace we have received and to share the love and truth of God wherever we are. For the Lord is present and where He is, is holy.

Ask yourself:

  1. Does sharing Christ feel like an obligation I have to do for God, or a privilege I get to do with God?
  2. Can I just for today offer myself to the Spirit and trust Him to work through an imperfect and awkward me?

Father, thank you for making me a dwelling place for your Spirit. I am humbled by such great love. Where I am, you are, so use me as you will for your purposes and your glory. Amen.

Christ in me is holiness.

1 1 Corinthians 6:19

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Anticipation and Reality

It was in a conversation with my boss one afternoon that I aired a measure of uneasiness over a difficult discussion I would be initiating with a colleague within the next few days to come. He listened with patience and then offered the perspective of one not as closely attached to the matter. “The dread of anticipation is worse than the pain of reality,” he quipped. I sat in silence for a moment, a half-grin registering my appreciation of the insight of his adage, its suitability to the situation, and a pithy turn of a phrase.

There are much weightier matters in life than a business meeting, of course, and it is true reality can arrive with a harshness exceeding our expectations. Haven’t we found, though, that tomorrow almost never transpires exactly as we think or fear it may? Then isn’t it also the case we have wasted irretrievable real-time worrying about an imagined tomorrow that never materialized? Can we even begin to assess the amount of empty tonnage we’ve needlessly heaped upon the legitimate burdens of our days? It is a data point I prefer not to know.

When it comes to worrying about tomorrow, Jesus offers this advice in the form of a command: Don’t. “Do not worry about tomorrow,” he said, “for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”1 We welcome divine wisdom from Him in whom “all the fulness of Deity lives in bodily form.”2 Still, calendar pages march toward us as they always have, relentless and single-file to a drumbeat of unchanging tempo. Tomorrows become todays, each in its own scheduled time; we cannot hasten them and live them prematurely, nor can we delay them or wish any away. How, then, do we approach tomorrow without adding to the troubles of today?

We can pray, plan and prepare, of course, seeking wisdom from our generous God, for He gladly gives it to those who ask.3 So, too, we let God’s works in the past—whether protecting us against, delivering us from, or sustaining us through the pain of reality—strengthen us for tomorrow; as said the psalmist, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.”4 But I think the most crucial thing for us as we face the future is to trust the character of Him who owns tomorrow and knows it as thoroughly as any day already transpired. We have no need to doubt Him and empower such doubt with worry, for “The Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”5 This is who He is; this is who He always will be. We rest in Him.

Father, in all things you work for the good of those who love you and have been called according to your purpose. This includes all my tomorrows. Thank you. I leave them in your hands. Lead me in peace, joy and purpose today. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

1 Matthew 6:34
2 Colossians 2:9
3 James 1:5
4 Psalm 77:11
5 Psalm 100:5

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Others

Messiah! The people were waiting for Him, the prophets searching intently, for all had staked their hopes on this Anointed One who was to come. He would be their Savior, their deliverer, their “God with us.” Yet somehow, those who sought Him missed Him. He came, just as He promised, but they did not recognize Him, this One sent from God. How does this happen? How could this possibly be?

Perhaps it was because when Jesus entered the world of His creating that first Christmas night—humbly stepping into human flesh for a specific time and a specific purpose—He focused on what really was important: others. Think about it, if the Christ1 had come in majestic splendor, could He have lived and taught among the people, caring for them with acts of compassion and opening Himself up to them with words of truth and love? Were He to dress in royal robes and adorn Himself in silver and gold, could He have shown us to how to give ourselves in humility for others? Had Jesus seated Himself aloft on golden thrones, how far would He have to had to have stooped to wash the soiled feet of others? And had He lived aloof from others, could He have bidden them, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”?2

The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus, though being in very nature God, “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”3 You see, Jesus showed His genuine heart for us by becoming just like us—not merely in human form with flesh and blood, but by being like us, truly like us. Born with no fanfare. The son of a laborer. A servant. Not as one who tells others what to do, but as one who models what to do. Nothing phony, nothing fake; just real, the kind of person who earns our trust.

In fact, Jesus is the One we can trust. He’s shown it. He’s lived it. And two thousand years later, He is still calling us to Himself—to be forgiven and live forgiven, to entrust our broken life to Him in whom we have eternal life, and to take this love of God and share it with others.

This Christmas Day and every day, may we say “yes” with grateful lives, so all may see this Savior, this deliverer, this “God with us.”

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christ in me is salvation.

1 “Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew word, “Messiah,” and the English term, “Anointed One.”
2 Matthew 11:28
3 Philippians 2:6-8