MORE THAN A SEASON?
INTRODUCTION
The
following anonymous writing was found in The Leader, 7th January,
2003:-
"By
now the tree should be down, (well it is in our house), the cards removed from
the doors and mantelpiece, the decorations packed away for another eleven
months, and the commercial trappings which have been with us since October are
finally beginning to disappear from the shops.
[4] All of these things looked so seasonal and in place just 12 days go. They added to the whole festive cheer of the
season and it just wouldn’t be the same without them.
Our
homes, our streets, the shops all decorated to put us in the mood for yet
another Christmas. And yet now only a
matter of days later, they seem so out of place.
Try
wishing someone a Happy Christmas now and they’ll look at you strangely. Try eating turkey and ham, pulling crackers
and singing carols now and it just doesn’t seem right. Something that was so proper just a few days
ago now seems out of place.
Why
is this so? Well it’s because we have moved on. Christmas is a season, a set
time, in which we do certain things, but as soon as it is over we move on to
something else. Already the shops will be thinking about Valentine’s Day,
Mother’s Day and then there is Easter.
In
our homes we are thinking about overdrafts, credit card bills in January,
returning unwanted or oversized goods, back to school, work or facing
retirement in this New Year.
Our
minds have moved on. Christmas was good while it lasted. Some of us we wish it could last longer, while
others are just glad to enjoy it and move on into a new year.
But
is that what Christmas was to you? Is it just a short season of the year in
which you decorate your house, send loads of cards to people you never see from
one year to the next, rush around buying food as if the December 26th
will never happen, and over spend yet again?
Surely
there has to be more to it than these things. When the boxes are closed and put away in the
attic for another year, is that it? Can
we just forget about it for another 10 months; until the shops in October
remind us once again that there are only 50 or 60 days to shop until Christmas
2003?
Surely
there has to be more to it than these things? The Baby who was born in
What
good is there in starting something if you don’t go on? What is the point of reading the first chapter
of a book and not the rest, or following the first part of a recipe and then
making the rest up as you go along? [1]
I would be pretty foolish if I watched the first part of a film and
not the other parts of it, or made part of a jigsaw and not the remainder, or
even ran the first part of a race and then dropped out.
Christmas
is only a beginning because it is all about a beginning. A beginning of God’s
presence on this earth in the form of a baby who was both human and divine and
who was given the name Jesus.
[2] Christmas is all about God with Us, not just for a few hectic weeks
every December and over into the New Year, but every day of every year.
He
is not someone whom we now pack away in our minds until next year, or the next
crisis, but is Someone who wants to be part of our
lives throughout 2003 and beyond.
This
gift of his daily presence* is not available in any shop or shopping channel on
your television. It comes to you and me
free when we simply ask him and allow him to come and be the centre of our
lives, through faith in the child in the manger who was the Saviour of the
world. [3] Happy New Year."
[*
That is, in a spiritual sense.]
-------
1. The
citizens of Coleraine, and its surrounding districts,
are privileged in that they are supplied with a free copy of a weekly newspaper
in which can be found (on page 2), "Thought for the Week".
I often use these (usually anonymous)
short writings as good introductory material upon which to further the
teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His apostles relative to the coming Millennial
Kingdom of Christ on earth.
It
is common knowledge, or at least it should be, that eternal salvation - that
is, eternal life in the presence of God - is a "free gift" of grace through faith in
Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2: 8,9;
Rom. ch. 5.) When we fully understand that, and accept Him
as our personal Saviour, then the inevitable result will be the wonderful
experience of conversion. We, at
that time, become true Christians; the Holy Spirit makes us true
members within God’s family; we become, as they say, ‘born
again’. (John 3: 3.) All our former sins are forgiven and a new
beginning takes place in our lives. We
are, as the writer above has indicated, placed in a ‘race’, and
we ‘would be pretty foolish if’ we ‘ran the first part of a race and then
dropped out.’ But this is
exactly what many Christians do! They
drop out of the ‘race,’ and lose the ‘prize’. (1 Cor. 24; Heb. 12: 1; Phil. 3: 13, 14.)
Now
it should be common knowledge to every believer, that a "prize" is not a "free gift"; and unless we run
according to the rules, it would be the height of folly on our part to
assume we will automatically qualify for it. (Eph. 5: 5, 6.)
It
will soon be that time of the year when preparations will take place for the
International North West 200 Motorcycle Road Race. The starting grid will be re-painted and
freshly prepared; the circuit will be marked out with the usual signs;
application forms will be completed by the competitors, and racing licenses
submitted for careful inspection; sponsors will have been sought and found;
motorcycles will be supplied and properly prepared; and, in short, everything
else necessary for a competitor to enter the race in order to
have any chance of winning a prize, will have to be done.
Now,
spiritually speaking, all this and much more has already been done for
every Christian. In fact he/she
is by grace, placed on the starting grid: we all have
at our disposal everything necessary to compete in the race to win the prize. How disappointing it must be for God to see so
many of His redeemed people remaining in the same position they were in at the
time of conversion, and, in some cases, without any desire to run in His race
to win His prize! There again, it must
be said that the fault is not entirely theirs, for many are not being
told that there is a race to run or a prize to be won. "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one
receiveth the prize? Even so RUN THAT YE MAY ATTAIN" (1 Cor 9: 24).
Oh,
what a tremendous responsibility rests upon all Bible teachers! What courage is required to boldly declare the
"whole counsel of God"! (Acts
20:27) What care and attention to
detail needs to be exercised in the study and exposition of the Holy
Scriptures; and, most important of all, what a great privilege it is to
be allowed to continue in the race, after so many past failures, and still have
a living hope of finishing as an overcomer at last.
"As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent. Behold, I
stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me"
(Rev. 3: 19, 20). See also:-
Heb. 6: 1-6; Rev. 3: 21; Tit. 2: 13.)
2. It is
now some weeks since I noticed, when walking past the old listed stone building
which was once part of the now derelict hospital complex, that vandals had smashed
almost all the glass in the upper windows. The thought entered my mind: ‘Would this have happened, if it were occupied and in daily
use?’ I had never seen a broken window
in that building before its occupants left!
So
the situation is similar in a believer’s life. While the Holy Spirit is indwelling,
wreck and ruin will be most unlikely. That
is to say, the obedient Christian will overcome all the
difficulties and trying circumstances of life no matter how potentially
destructive they may appear to be. In Psalm 51, - (Written, ‘when Nathan the prophet came unto David, after he had gone in
to Bath-sheba.’) - we
read: "Hide thy face from my sins, And blot out
all mine iniquities. Create in me a
clean heart, O God; And renew a right
spirit within me. Cast me not away
from thy presence; And TAKE NOT THY HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME"
(v. 11, 12, R.V.) .
And (In the N.T.) we read: "The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.
Him did God exalt with [at] his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour,
for to give repentance to
How
seldom, if ever, do we hear faithful exposition on the Scriptures cited above! On the contrary, the usual impression given
over and over again, is that a Christian cannot
lose anything! The Holy Spirit
is said to be indwelling every believer, regardless of
whether or not they are walking in obedience to the will of God. It is also widely assumed and taught that all
believers (on the basis of bare faith alone) will escape the Great
Tribulation: and it is also taught and believed that when we die we will go immediately
into the presence of God in Heaven - a doctrine which makes
‘death’ take the place of ‘resurrection,’ negatives numerous conditional passages
of Scripture and implies that resurrection has already taken place! (2 Tim. 2: 18): it ignores the texts which speak of
selective resurrection and selective rapture; and
all of these errors, (which are so prevalent in Christendom today amongst
‘Protestants’) - could easily have been avoided if a little more attention was made
of the context, and more faith exercised in what the Scriptures say.
(Lk. 20: 35; Phil 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35b; Rev. 20: 4-6; Lk. 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10-12; cf. Jas. 1: 12; 1 Thess. 2: 12; 2 Thess. 1: 4, 5;
Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21-29; 2 Tim. 2: 18. Etc.)
3. Let
us ask ourselves the question: ‘Is it possible for a regenerate believer to find
true happiness in a lifestyle of disobedience to the Word of God?’ God often gives people what they desire,
but is that the same as what God desires for us? It’s much easier to walk with a crowd than it
is to walk alone; but the wise disciple of Christ will weigh up and see the outcome
of the now popular course and will seek grace and strength to chose the right way. That is, the way of true and lasting happiness. May God, in His grace and mercy, grant both
reader and writer the wisdom and strength to walk in it.
4. The
Christian businessman/woman, engaged in running their business with a focus
only on healthy profits; who are prepared to compromise and lower their
Christian standards and principles in order to function on popular worldly
standards; the unemployed believer, drawing unemployment benefit which he/she
may not be entitled to, and at the same time, accepting additional payments for
undisclosed work; the double standards exercised, and the spiritual blindness
toward the eventual outcome of such lifestyles - are all what can be described
as: ‘seasonal and in place today’. But will it always be so? Most certainly not! Another day is hastening on - a day of reward
"ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS".
(1 Cor, 3: 13—15; Matt.
16: 25-27; Col. 3: 24; 2 Tim. 4: 14; Heb. 2: 2; Rev. 22: 12, etc,) Then it will be evident and easy to
distinguish then between the wise and the foolish. (Matt.
25: 1-11.)
All
who seek and find true repentance, forgiveness, restoration, and power to run
in the race according to the rules, will have a "Happy New Year".
Christian! "Hold fast that which thou hast,
that no one take thy CROWN" (Rev. 3: 11; 1 Cor. 9: 25; Jas.
1: 12; Rev. 2: 10, 11. etc.)
HAPPY NEW YEAR.