Breath of Fresh Air!

Imagine a country where corruption was a regular headline in the papers, where every day you heard of another crime against humanity and against the authorities. Imagine how hopeless you may feel when you look out over your fellow citizens and realize that the corruption in the leadership has trickled down to your neighbors. If you’ve read a newspaper in the past 20 years, you probably don’t have to stretch your imagination too much.

This time of year the world generally focuses on a stronger sense of generosity, of family, and warm greetings to friends. But soon after the festivities of the holidays are over we begin to focus on taxes and the drudgery that comes with paying tithes to the government. As you wrap your mind around the cycles we face on an annual basis--and the increased exposure to corruption--try to imagine what it may have been like for a Jew living in Palestine during the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor, as well as the influence of Herod, the Jewish “client” king of Judea.

Oppression and corruption was a normal way of life. The Jews, who had been beaten down by regret, guilt, and hopelessness, didn’t have a positive outlook on their future. Yet, something was about to happen that would kindle hope within those who were able to see how Immanuel, God with us, would fulfill God’s promises.

As we spend the next couple weeks focusing on the hope that came when Jesus came, I hope we’ll see that it wasn’t His birth that was going to change the world, but rather His life and death. His life directed us towards the kind of attitude and behavior that pleases God; His death made our hopes a reality.

Many folks may end up putting the emphasis on the wrong part of Jesus’ life this time of year, but we can still recognize how much His arrival refreshed those who believed in God’s age-old promise. Today, we must remember that the same characteristics and behaviors Christ modeled for us can have the same impact that they did in Jesus’ time.

Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.”

That “word” is still powerful! Let’s trust in it, and encourage others to do the same. John 15:20, “Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you.”