As we approach the New Year, many will ask us about our New Year’s resolutions, dreams, or goals for the upcoming year, and there is nothing wrong with that. We should look to the future. But I would argue that it is just as important, if not more important to look back … to remember.

Remembering is important to us. Why else would every media outlet, near the end of December produce a retrospective: a look back on the year’s greatest achievements, the greatest news stories, the most important people of the year, an in memoriam of those persons of note who had died that year.

Why else would one of our greatest fears be the loss of our memory?

And why else would God command us over 150 times throughout the Bible to “remember.” To remember his laws and statutes and to remember his love and faithfulness. Old Testament patriarchs were told to both create memorials of stones and tell their children what God had done so that they would not forget.

Yes, we should not dwell on past mistakes or regrets we can do nothing about, but I urge us at the end of this year, either before or after we have made plans and resolutions for the upcoming year, to take time to remember.

Remembers His commands:

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:6-9)

Remember His great love:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Remember His Faithfulness:

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. (I Thessalonians 5:24)

So at the end of the year when we talk to others about their hopes for the new year, let us also ask them what God has done for them in the past year. Let us help each other remember, and then let us record them, not only on our hearts but also on something we can see and, once again, remember that “the Lord is good.”

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 19

For Mary, so much had happened in the past year. She had been visited by the Archangel Gabriel and told she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph had agreed to still marry her, despite the shame that surrounded her condition. The two of them had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for Caesar’s census, and her child was born in a manger, in a stable. Now add to all this the adoration and excitement of the shepherds upon hearing that her son would be the savior of the world.

To ponder means “to consider something deeply and thoroughly; meditate.” It means “to weigh carefully in the mind; consider thoughtfully.”

Often during the Christmas season we get lost in the commercial side of the holiday, busy decorating our homes and buying gifts. But perhaps we can take a few moments and like Mary ponder what happened over 2000 years ago, and why one can believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

There are over 300 Old Testament messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, a statistical improbability that defies the odds (1/840 (now add 32 more sets of 3 zeros)). Of those prophecies, over 40 point to His birth. Here are only four of the Old Testament prophecies (and the number of years prior to Jesus’ birth that it was given) along with the New Testament fulfillment. May we, like Mary, take time to consider them deeply and thoroughly.

The Virgin Birth

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) 600 to 700 years

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

His Place of Birth

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Micah 5:2; John 7:42) 700 years

From the line of David

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5-6) 600 years

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. (Luke 2:4)

Herod’s reaction

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:18; cf. Jeremiah 31:15) 600 years

“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 2:15; cf. Hosea 11:1} 750 years

“So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:15)

Merry Christmas!

When I was a child, one of the longest stretches of time was the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seemed like Christmas would never get here. Time moved so slowly. The excitement and anticipation were overwhelming and the waiting almost unbearable as everything around us pointed toward Christmas. Added to this heightened sense of anticipation was a sense of awe. Light and lawn displays were bigger than life . . . stores had new toys and more of them … and Santa seemed very real.

Now, years later, those four weeks seem like the shortest of the year, and gone is much of the excitement and anticipation. Instead there is a fatigue that comes from attending yet another holiday party, stress over finding just the right gifts, and concern about over-stretching the end-of-the-year budget. Also gone, is much of the awe. Trees have to be trimmed, and houses decorated, but those light and lawn displays are now just another tick on the checklist that has to be completed and another drain on December finances.

Okay, I don’t want to sound too Bah Humbuggish or cynical. Despite all of these demands, most of us are still able enjoy the season and even focus on the true meaning of Christmas––the birth of our Savior, but perhaps we have lost much of the anticipation and awe that we had as a child, and we have much to be excited about and in awe of. First, let us never forget that on that one night, thousands of years ago, a Holy God chose to enter our world to begin the process of redeeming us. Then even though Christmas is our time to celebrate the birth of the Messiah and Savior, and is the fulfillment of over 40 Old Testament prophecies, Christmas is only the beginning of the story, not the end.

Jesus’s birth led to His death, which led to His resurrection, which will lead to his second coming. So as we celebrate His birth let us still live the rest of the year with childlike anticipation and awe of Christ’s next arrival––His triumphant return.

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 19

For Mary, so much had happened in the past year. She had been visited by the archangel Gabriel and told she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph had agreed to still marry her, despite the shame that surrounded her condition. The two of them had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for Caesar’s census, and her child was born in a manger, in a stable. Now add to all this the adoration and excitement of the shepherds upon hearing that her son would be the savior of the world.

To ponder means “to consider something deeply and thoroughly; meditate.” It means “to weigh carefully in the mind; consider thoughtfully.”

Often during the Christmas season we get lost in the commercial side of the holiday, busy decorating our homes and buying gifts. But perhaps we can take a few moments and like Mary ponder on what happened over 2000 years ago, and why one can believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

There are over 300 Old Testament messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, a statistical improbability that defies the odds (1/840 (now add 32 more sets of 3 zeros)). Of those prophecies, over 40 point to His birth. Here are only four of the Old Testament prophecies (and the number of years prior to Jesus’ birth that it was given) along with the New Testament fulfillment. May we, like Mary, take time to consider them deeply and thoroughly.

The Virgin Birth

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) 600 to 700 years

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

His Place of Birth

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Micah 5:2; John 7:42) 700 years

From the line of David

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5-6) 600 years

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. (Luke 2:4)

Herod’s reaction

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:18; cf. Jeremiah 31:15) 600 years

“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 2:15; cf. Hosea 11:1} 750 years

“So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:15)

Merry Christmas!

One of the most treasured community traditions of the Christmas season is the performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker. Most often a semi-professional ballet company teams up with a local children’s dance troupe to deliver this holiday staple.

I volunteer as an usher at the local civic auditorium in our city, (which boasts of a modest population of around 90,000)  and our renditions of The Nutcracker have been good, some very good . . . until this year. This year was beyond good. It was fantastic! The reason? The Moscow Ballet was on stage. Therefore, the dancing, the costumes, and the sets were beyond what I have ever witnessed before. And as I was sitting there watching the performance unfold, I was amazed to think that this professional and highly renowned ballet company would still invite our local kids to be a part of the production.

Similarly, God invites us, as amateur as we are, to join Him in the work He is doing. Only there is one big difference. Whereas the Moscow Ballet came to town three months earlier and showed the local dancers what they needed to be able to do by the time the curtain was raised in November, God uses us exactly as we are. We don’t have to work months to reach a certain level of expertise before we can take part. He will put our current abilities to use and then create avenues of development for us to grow in knowledge and ability in preparation for further work.

Many of us feel we must have years of salvation under our belt or degrees in theology to be of service, but we don’t. It doesn’t take a diploma to dish out a hot meal or say a kind word or sift through the ashes of a burned out home.

It doesn’t take a certificate of completion to share God’s faithfulness in our own lives or demonstrate God’s love for others.

And if we are willing to step onto God’s stage, despite our feelings of inadequacy, we will be in awe of the wonderful things we are now a part of. The Moscow Ballet does not need local amateurs to perform The Nutcracker. They could do it all themselves, but they want the children to be a part of the experience. Neither does God need us to accomplish His purpose. He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. But He wants to use us and invites us to be a part of his grand and beautiful work.