A New Year with the Same Old Tune

As we enter this New Year I am forced to wonder… Will anything really change in the New Year? We have a new president, with old ideas. We have another chance to start anew, yet we are doomed to fail because we are beginning just as we have countless times before. History always repeats itself because the starting point, mankind, is flawed and weak. We continuously look to redefine ourselves and change the way we are, but we cannot… Man cannot change his own nature for he is sinful. Sin can no more produce righteousness than darkness can produce light. Our nature and God's nature are opposites that do not attract. Man must be changed from within, reborn, with a new nature. Romans 3:10, 5:8

A Christ sent spiritual rebirth is the only thing that can save this nation from the path it is on. Yet, we have banned Christ from every aspect of our culture, government, schools, and lives. How can we expect to have a truly "Happy New Year" when our one savior is shunned and scorned in our society? We cannot! I fear that I have heard this song before. This is the song of New Year's resolutions, partying, infidelity, fornication, drunkenness, debauchery, lies, stealing, and greed.

No… This will not be a Happy New Year, just a painful imitation of years gone by.

May God save us from ourselves…

Assimilating the Gospel

The more I look at my fellow believers, the more I am disgusted. Not because I am some saint but because of the low bar we seem to set for Christians these days. We seem to tolerate so many sins that Christians are no longer distinguishable from the lost world we are called to bear witness too. We are comfortable with our "version" of Christianity, we seem to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We change our beliefs based upon of feelings and emotions, not because of the truth in God's word.

Our problem goes far beyond denominations or translations; it is because we have not assimilated the gospel. The gospel cannot have its full effect unless it has been assimilated into the lives of believers. The gospel should shape and redefine our very existence. We no longer live for ourselves but for the God we serve and the witness we live out in front of others. Somewhere in the journey through the centuries, Christianity has lost this. We can no longer afford to order the gospel by our lives. We must begin to order our lives by the gospel, or the blood of the entire world will be on our hands…

Recession Proof Christmas

I heard recently that this Christmas was going to be an abysmal failure because of the current economic crisis. After listening to the report, all I could feel was an immense sadness. Apparently at some point in the past we decided that celebrating the virgin birth of the Christ wasn't good enough. Now we are so consumed with materialism and greed we have constructed around Christmas that we have forgotten the free gift of the Messiah to this lost and decaying world. Christ came to this earth and took on flesh so that we may know Him. Instead of honoring the Son of Man for His sacrifice, we spit upon His name every time we replace His love with the empty promises of this world.

True Christmas hasn't ever been, and will never be dependent on how much we spend on each other, feeding our greed. It is about the Father sending His only Son to this sinful earth to be the eternal sacrifice for our sins, back to the Father. If anything else is added to this, it is heresy and is straight from the lying, twisted mind of Satan.