Read: Nehemiah 9:17-21; Psalm 86:15; Romans 8:38-39; Philippians 1:6
These are the in-between days. Christmas has been celebrated, and the New Year festivities will soon be in the rear-view mirror. With that in mind, may I combine a few thoughts from both holidays and tuck them into one devotion?
Let's begin with a few words about Christmas. Because my Fernando went to heaven in January, I have become the official Christmas wrapper for my home. A job he did for the previous 43 years with skill. How to describe his wrapping ability? Let's just say that some family members found it necessary to get out their pocket knives to get into the boxes he wrapped. They were taped with such precision. To say that my wrapping skills are different than his is an understatement. I'll spare anyone who is still reading the horror of my cutting ability and my taping skills. Suffice it to say that you will never see me at the mall offering to wrap your gifts for a price. The good thing is that all the little gifts made it safely from the table to the big gift bag, and only a few tore during transport. More about the difference between Fernando's and my ability later.
What about New Years? What can we say concerning this year, and what about the one to come? As is true with any year, there has been sorrow and pain for many we know, but there has also been joy as we have seen God's sustaining grace poured out. There are, of course, prayers that wait to be answered. Before I continue, may I say that the sicknesses and deaths that have been a part of the fabric of this year have been painful and there are on-going needs in the lives of many precious friends. We pray that God will meet each one with His compassion and care; yet, there is a different on-going kind of need that is also on my heart today. It involves the children and grandchildren of many of my friends. The loved ones who have turned away from the Savior. Even though their moms and dads have continued to pray for them throughout the year. Now once again, the ache remains. Sadly, 2024 has not brought the turnaround for which they have prayed.
Let's return, if we may, to the earlier wrapping examples. Whose wrapping ability are we trusting to secure the ones we love? Is it our own imperfect patchwork job in which we are trusting? Or, is it the secure love of God that is holding them and is continuing to reach out to them? Are we trying to do, with our efforts what God alone can do? That can so easily happen because we long to do something to turn their hearts back to the Savior.
Let's look at a few things the Bible says about God's love for His wayward ones. In Luke 15:1-7, we read Jesus' words about the seeking love of the Shepherd. As much as we love the ones who have turned away, Jesus loves them more. How precious is the love that pursues them. Who knows the people and circumstances that He sovereignly oversees in order to call them back to Himself! The entire Bible is filled with examples of God's love which He has wrapped around His own children, Psalm 86:15; Nehemiah 9:17-21. His on-going care is spelled out and how God's faithful love has been at work in the lives of His people. Even when they were being chastised because of their waywardness. They were not abandoned by the Lord. God has that same holy stubborn love for our wayward ones.
When we are born again, John 3:3, we are wrapped securely by God. If He has begun a good work in a life, He does not abandon that one. Why? Because a person who belongs to Him has become a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17. One who no longer has the need to try to be kept secure through the flimsy wrapping paper of his own feeble efforts; instead, that person is kept safe by the keeping care of God, John 10:27-30; Philippians 1:6. How beautifully different God's love is than man's. That is the difference between a person having religion and a person having a relationship with God. To have religion emphasizes what a man does to keep himself in God's good graces. When he sees a flaw in himself, he tries a little harder. He puts another piece of tape on the tear that he sees because he is relying on his own efforts rather than God's perfect gift, Ephesians 2:8-9.
How different it is when a person becomes God's child, having received God's lavish love, 1 John 3:1-2. There is no need to nor can we try to keep through our own feeble effort, what we have been given simply because God loves us. Praise God. Those same things are true concerning our wayward ones. If they belong to Jesus, having been clothed in His righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5:21. He will continue to pursue them because nothing can separate them from His love, Romans 8:38-39.
For some, however, things aren't so black and white. What if we don't know if our precious ones who appear to be far from Jesus have ever truly been made new? Then what? That is another kind of ache. I wish I could tie that question up with a pretty bow, but I can't. Except to return to the earlier scripture where Jesus announced the sweet truth that He had come to seek and save the lost, Luke 19:10. There is still time for our loved ones since Jesus has not yet come, 2 Peter 3:9. Their stories have not yet been finished, and the same One Who found us is still at work all over the world. Sometimes, as the year ends with no apparent breakthroughs in the lives of those for whom we have been praying, we might be tempted to stop praying.
Perhaps one more look into the Christmas story might help. Remember Zechariah? In Luke 1, we learn an interesting truth we wouldn't have known unless Gabriel had told us. Zechariah had been praying for a child, and that prayer had been heard. Surely the timing was way different than what Zechariah had expected, but finally, God's answer was revealed. Why didn't God give that righteous couple many children along with their son John? The answer to that question is unknown. Why do we sometimes see glimpses of God's work in the lives of our loved ones while seeing nothing on other occasions? That answer is also unknown; however, perhaps as we continue to pray, we can remember Zechariah and God's surprise timing as we call out to Him again in 2025. Perhaps during this new year, some of our precious ones will become wrapped in Jesus' love, Isaiah 61:10.
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