Tag Archives: Christmas

Your Shiny New Year

Devotional, Humanity & Sin, Living the Word, Spiritual Health, , , , , , , ,


Following every glittering testimony of faith from one raised in a stable Christian home- learning at an earthly father’s knee to love The Heavenly Father, happily participating in church life with the family, knowing a lifetime of Christian heritage- is a chorus of genuine amens and hearty hallelujahs! And rightly so!

But for many hearers, there’s a whispered, “please Lord, let that be my kid’s witness someday, since it will never be mine.”  There are those thinking of when they were children and rode the church bus alone every Sunday- and still are the only professing Christians in their families.  Many are remembering regular family participation in church- punctuated by long days and nights of familial dysfunction.  Many have no memory of attending church as a child.  Due to the troublesome vines continuously trying to choke it to death, some folks may not be able to distinguish the branches of their family tree.

The Good News is:  If you have kissed a hundred frogs and not one of them turned into royalty, if you are sleeping with pigs and slapping off flies, if you do not know your earthly father- much less your heavenly one, if you are running hard and fast from pain- afraid to slow down and catch your breath; there’s a GOD in heaven who made you, who loves you- and if you seek Him- you’ll find He was willing to take human form and die to redeem you from your natural sinful state and your proclivity to sin.

Sin has many natural consequences.  Some are merely difficult, others are horrid.  Most  important however, is the ultimate price of our sin:  It is spiritual death and eternal separation from GOD, and from all that is good and pure.  Good tidings of great joy:  Jesus Christ has come to buy back his own from the dark side!  GOD in The Son of God has paid in full for our offenses toward Him and for the harm we  have done others!

Now, respectfully, before all you precious theologians on every side of the many fences we’ve built prepare to take me to task- I thoughtfully read the book, too.  The Book says, if anyone wants GOD it is an act of His sovereign grace in that one’s life.  It says, if anyone is willing to trust in and sincerely believes on Jesus Christ, The Only Begotten Son of God, for personal salvation from sin it is an act of sovereign grace.  And if anyone consistently, yet imperfectly, displays the fruits of salvation and of The Indwelling of The Holy Spirit it is an act of sovereign grace.  And if anyone genuinely wants GOD he or she is elect.  And if anyone chooses GOD it is because GOD CHOSE first.  It says, there is not one thing, NO NOT ONE, that any of us lowly humans can do to better ourselves and our position before A HOLY GOD.  We can not even WANT God on our own.  We cannot be WILLING to obey on our own.  There is not one tiny work we can do without God either to save ourselves or to keep ourselves saved.  Everything is ALL of GOD and everything is owed to Him.  Justified- sanctified- glorified, ALL OF HIM! By Him, for Him, and through Him, ALL things came to be, and are coming to be, and will be, and are held together.  These things are in the book.  These things are in His Word.

Therefore, if you are one with a less than sparkling legacy and you truly want God, you will simply look to Him, as did the thief on the cross that solemn day long ago on Calvary’s Hill, and you will be saved! Then, you will go find your new brothers and sisters! You will link arms with them and in the power of The Holy Spirit, embrace the struggle against sin! You will go and celebrate the victory that was hard-won for you! Merry Christmas And A Shiny New Year!

Copyright 2023.    L. L. Shelton.

They With Longing Looked

Poetry, , ,

Angels stared in wide-eyed wonder

While our God, His voice the thunder,

Touched the earth as tiny babe,

Travailed with us within our plague;

 

Watched God feel and heal in power,

Teach with care until that hour

Love compelled Him toward the cost,

Where for our sins He’d bear the cross;

 

Saw Christ weeping in the garden,

Begging would there be a pardon,

Blood and tears mixed with the ground,

No person faithful there was found.

 

Angels looked as God ordained;

Let souls in glory ease Christ’s pain,

None to match His disparate sorrow,

Climbed the hill upon the morrow,

 

Raised His head in triumph claimed,

It is finished [in my name]!

Still they marvel, it is said;

The boy God sent us in our stead,

 

Grew in love so bold and pure,

The wrath of God for us endured!

Still they sing, The Great Love Story,

Christ in man, the hope of glory!

 

Copyright 2022.     L.L. Shelton.

Forever Christmas

Poetry, , , , , , , , , ,

Oh my friend! Oh my foe!

Zeal in heaven warmly glows;

For all who will admit defeat,

Learn of Him- commandments keep;


Love for God above all

And for each other is His call!

Kneel before Him, promise claim;

Raise your voices- in His name!

 

Your nature to do evil now

You may subdue in mighty power;

For He who keeps you as you sleep,

Is your fortress- wide and deep.

 

Perfect ever you will be

He is your own identity,

Should you stumble, you’ll not fall;

His Glory Brilliant- standing tall!

Copyright 2022.    L.L. Shelton.

A Note to The Westboro Baptists and to All Who May Have Misunderstood Christmas

Bible Talk, Church Culture, Living the Word, Politics, , , ,

While I may not be compelled to label you as goats, as you are and will be labeled appropriately by One greater than us all, I do stand with Danny Akin and others who have considered the possibility.

Are you unaware of the Absolute Truth and Authority of Scripture? Is it possible that you do not consider the entire Word?

Have you considered the Word of The Lord in Matthew 2:8, 9:4, and 12:25? God knows your thoughts! Are you as angry with yourself for your own evil thoughts, as you are at the openly homosexual for his? Have you considered the Word of The Lord in Luke 5:22, Luke 6:8, 9:47? Have you thought about His Word in Mark 2:8, 8:17, and 12:15? How about John 2:23?

Is one man’s sexual offense greater than that of another? I am sure from Scripture that God hates fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, and the like. He also hates gossip, envy, and divorce. God hates sin because He loves man and sin destroys man.

Is one man’s thoughtful or behavioral response to any temptation weighed differently in heaven than another’s? Is one man’s illegitimate desire or action more offensive to God than that of another? I submit to you that the answer is no.

And so we have Christmas! God came as Christ to be with man, so that the man who is with Christ will no longer be ultimately destroyed by his sin! Hallelujah! God with us!

I do believe there is Scriptural evidence to support our understanding that heavenly rewards may be adjusted according to our record here, and there is tremendous empirical evidence to support the fact that the natural consequences of sin vary greatly and are certainly destructive according to the degree of depravity displayed in the offense.

However, whatever the natural consequences of sin, our mandate as individual Christians is to love in Christ, all of humanity; and to call one another to account as well as others, in The Spirit of Love. (Luke 6:27-36)

Of course, we must consider that it is NOT loving not to call ourselves and one another to account when we are obviously offending God, according to His Word; as then we would be helping ourselves and one another along the path to evil, to compounded sin, or to hell.

This is why it is so important for each of us to remember that we are unable to effectively call another to repentance when we have sin that we have failed to forsake in our own lives, thus we must daily confess our obvious and secret sin, seeking forgiveness for all that is in us that has offended God and then receive that forgiveness. Only then, may we be ready to assist the next man. (Luke 6:39-42)

And one conspicuous way to assist each other is to meet the need we all share as human beings for love, grace, encouragement, companionship, and tenderness.  Some say that we cannot offer these things to those outside the church because we are not to fellowship with the unbeliever. If you are one of them, I submit to you that we have a tendency to misunderstand the term “fellowship” in this instance, as it is intended to imply that we must not engage in those things that are an offense to Our Wonderful God no matter our company or our circumstance, however we are encouraged by the example of Scripture to engage any human being in the love of Christ Jesus Our Lord.

Furthermore, we can offer these things to one another more readily without falling into sin ourselves if we are keeping up the spiritual disciplines in our own lives! My friend, and brother in Christ, Dr. Don Whitney, has written a most excellent and readable guide for today’s Christian called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. It has been a benefit to me and I highly recommend it to all.

May God help us this Christmas and always to remember that Christ is Christmas! And may He assist us in our attempts to aid one another in His Almighty Love!