Ignorance Will Never Be An Excuse

A person would have to choose to be ignorant to say there is no God, and there are reasons why some choose to be ignorant. Evidence of his existence and character are all around us, in creation and in people themselves. The Word says that in order to see him we have to be willing to see him. It says that we need to seek him but that doesn't mean there is no evidence until we do:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. (Romans 1:20)

Anyone who cares to reflect on nature itself, even just observable nature, will conclude that there is something far great than us at play. We may have the intelligence to be able to manipulate and use, even tame, some of the elements of creation but much of it is beyond our power. Yahweh loves beauty and diversity. Even in a fallen state we can see grace and compassion in the animal Kingdom. There are elements so powerful that man will never be able to tame them. We can see the nature and character of our Creator all around us if we would take an honest look. But we aren't honest.

We aren't honest because if we were we would be accountable for what we admitted and we certainly do not want to be accountable to something that will not let us do what we want to do. I really think that is part of the problem for those who choose to deny Jesus; they don't want to give up control. Unfortunately for them there is no excuse. Ignorance is no excuse. If we keep reading this same passage but switching in from NKJV to the CEV:

That’s why those people don’t have any excuse. They know about God, but they don’t honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. (v. 20-22)

No excuses because there is plenty of evidence to get people curious enough to go looking, and he promised that if we seek him we will find him. Those who choose to ignore the evidence often do so because they don't want to lose control so instead they "worship" nature itself. They substitute Yahweh, who keeps us accountable, for creation which cannot keep us accountable. They even give creation a name: Mother Nature. They will not acknowledge Yahweh but they will personify nature:

So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshiped God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever. Amen. (v. 24-25)

I share this because we need to understand where we are, who we live with and how difficult our task can be trying to convince people to open their eyes and take a look. In order to see, people must be willing to become vulnerable and to give up control. That is why it is often in moments of crisis, at the point when a person realizes they have no control, that they finally see the beauty and love of Jesus. Helplessness has a wonderful ability to strip away pride and leave us open to the truth.

But as for us, my fellow believer, I pray our eyes are always wide open as we worship him with thankful hearts today. We know him to be good, loving, compassionate, slow to anger, filled with grace, self-sacrificing, wise, powerful, always with us. Remember:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)

So This Is Christmas

Christmas? Bah-humbug!

I am getting to that point as we strip away any significance of the Christian celebration. Forget trying to convince the world to keep Christ in Christmas. Why should it? They don't believe. For them Christmas is about family traditions, having fun with the kids with the figure of Santa Claus, and having a great party at the beginning of winter. No, the real fight is to get the Christian to keep Christ in Christmas.

Society is a powerful machine shaped and molded by the media. Most people accept as truth whatever they watch on television, especially the news. Christians submit themselves to this same mind-shaping machine every day. Ask the average Christian how much they will spend on gifts this year and it will be no different than the person who does not believe. Ask them what Christmas is about and the two will give similar answers: the family.

As nice as it is to have the family together for Christmas, it is not about the family. Christmas is not about the food. Christmas is not about family traditions. Christmas is not about the magical time for the children. Christmas is about one thing:

In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

The Word was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)

The Word became flesh

and made his home among us.

We have seen his glory,

glory like that of a father’s only son,

full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

That's it. That is our celebration that we have allowed to become something it was never intended to be. Now it is more a celebration of the family, which Christians who worship the family are happy for, but it is not the true celebration. Now we don't even open our churches on Christmas day to worship God for this incredible start to his great act of mercy and grace. No, we would not want to disturb family time.

"Keep Christ in Christmas" we say as we stress out over Christmas shopping and running up our credit cards with stuff we can't afford. We are caught up in the machine just like our non-believing neighbour and we don't have the guts to admit it.

The Christmas message is still a message of the Cross. The Christmas message is about the Light that entered this dark world to die for mankind who did not deserve it. The Christmas message is about God's love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. The Christmas message is about God's reconciliation with man. The Christmas message is nothing without Easter. I do not worship a baby in a manger. I worship the risen King; the Alpha and Omega; the first born of us all.

Re-think Christmas this year and don't be a lump of clay for this society to mold.

Knowing The Ancient One

If you have shifted slightly in your faith and relationship with Jesus and you are trying to get back to where you are suppose to be, the best way to do this is to be reminded who Jesus is. Too often we make the mistake of thinking that Jesus' beginning was in a manger but Jesus is more ancient than time. We should remind ourselves again of the wonder of Jesus:

In the beginning was the one
    who is called the Word.
The Word was with God
    and was truly God.
2 From the very beginning
    the Word was with God. (John 1:1-2, CEV)

Ancient beyond our understanding. We need to remember that it was the Father's will to send this ancient one to our rescue and he accepted his Father's will, but his beginning was not the manger. He was ancient before he was born into creation. But it goes far beyond the fact that Jesus has always been. What is so incredible is his role in creation:

And with this Word,
    God created all things.
Nothing was made
    without the Word.
Everything that was created
4     received its life from him,
and his life gave light    to everyone. (vv.3-4)

These words astound me. Jesus gave us life to begin with and he came to give us eternal life on top of it. He is the instrument of creation. Everything that has existence came through him. All the beauty we see around us is because of him. We may have crafted what he created to make other things because that what we were created to do, but all the building blocks came from Jesus. Everything you see, touch and smell today came through him.

One of the saddest statements we can read in God's Word is this:

The Word was in the world,
    but no one knew him,
though God had made the world
    with his Word. (v. 10)

It is amazing that the instrument of creation entered into his creation but his creation did not know him. The creation had grown so cold and distant to the Creator that we did not even know him when he walked in our midst. Many still don't know him.

He gave us life to begin with, which we should be thankful for, but more importantly, he gave his own life to give us eternal life. He invited us into an incredible relationship of deep fellowship where we can come to the Father who desires to bless us as his children. We can only come to the Father through Jesus. He is the Light for the whole world. Words cannot describe the depth of the worship and service that Jesus, the ancient one, deserves.

Why should we worship him? Why should we surrender our lives to him? Why should be serve him in blind obedience? Because he is Jesus, and that says a lot. There is no other name that means as much as Jesus.