What Now? The Focus

What do you want for Christmas? Ice skates, tools, clothes, a new kitchen gadget, or maybe some toasty mittens for those frosty mornings. Then there is the New Year. What might your wish be for the coming year? Not a repeat of 2020 might be high on everyone's list. For many of us this week leads to the celebration of our Lord's first advent, His first arrival. The commercialized event can bring challenges to one's spirit to not be swept away with the egregious pace of it all. Christmas itself is a bit of an odd holiday. The day chosen nearly 2000 years ago was more political than spiritual but it indeed holds a long standing tradition. Celebrating Messiah's birth still seems like a good thing even if we are off a bit on the date. Which, by the way, isn't given to us precisely in Scripture. So, I will let December 25th be a special day. December 25th in the year 2020 will possibly be like no other in our life time. The CoVid19 residual fear and government restrictions still swirl around us and political tensions are yet to be resolved. Rumors are that 2021 will not be much better, at least at the start. Further restrictions, shutdowns, isolation, and economic hardships are in the forecast. So much for a "Happy New Year". For believers and followers of Messiah Jesus the "What now?" question can be a bit daunting. We want to move forward, but may question how. This is my last post to try to offer some perspective based on the prayer our Lord gave us in Matthew 6. His counsel in prayer applies to broader aspects of our lives as well. We conclude with a thought that should be ours on a daily basis. One that should be our focus in life and one that helps keep our vision clear.

"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:13b). The ending of the prayer brings our focus back to the majesty of the object or focus of our prayer. I understand the textual variants and some leave this phrase out. However, it is one of longstanding, one I learned as a child, and one that cannot be disputed as theologically true. Thus, today we will let it stand. Our tendency in life, be it our physical or spiritual lives, is to maintain comfort. Much of our prayer time is spent on the desire for our comfort or that of someone else. Relief from pain, sickness, distress, financial hardship or some kind of oppression likely fill our prayer journals. Our prayer of daily bread, forgiveness, even for God's kingdom to come may have our comfort at the forefront. We feel powerless and need God's power to make us feel better. To feel more comfortable in whatever situation we find ourselves to be in. Looking forward that may yet be our focus. "Lord give me a comfortable New Year".

Is that really to be the focus of our lives? John the baptizer put it simply, "He must increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30). Life is not about my comfort but about God's kingdom and God's glory. If  my discomfort results in God's glory I should be content. The Apostle Paul recognized this truth. He didn't always enjoy it but he learned to be content. In dealing with an oppression from the devil Paul asked for relief, to be more comfortable. However, he shares this response with the Corinthians. " And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Boasting in my infirmities isn't high on my New Year's list. Paul gives the believers in Corinth some other council as well, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). And the following, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). God's glory and putting His power on display is apparently more important than being comfortable.

Many of us live as pampered Christians thus our prayer lives may focus on the desire to remain pampered. None of these things are bad or evil but they are self centered. If my objective is to advance God's kingdom, which was the message of our Lord here on earth, my prayer life should coincide with that purpose. My life is to be about God's kingdom, God's power, and God's glory forever. Perhaps our prayers should include the desire for God's glory. "Lord, whatever brings You glory and best advances your kingdom, handle my cancer in what is best for You. I am your servant", rather than just, "Take away the cancer and heal me, let me be comfortable." Healing may be God's way of putting His power and glory on display. However, if another path is more effective in advancing His kingdom am I willing to be content or even desirous for the disease to progress? Not an easy thought to ponder. 

The new year may hold some difficult, even evil, occurrences as the weeks unfold. Should the progressive party prevail our religious liberties may be curtailed. Messages on God's view of marriage and the value of life could be hate speech. The ongoing pandemic will give more opportunities to target houses of worship to be shut down. Medical care could be rationed or required by our governing authorities. Our enemies may prosper and our allies suffer on multiple levels. I am not wishing for these and I am not a prophet, however, we would be naive to ignore the possibilities. In all of the potential of the days and months to come what will be our focus? God's kingdom, power, and glory or our personal comfort and a pampered life hidden in the shadows. If you study the Scriptures or even history, those who stood boldly for God's glory did not always fair well in this world. Yet, their focus was on advancing God's kingdom and glory no matter what the cost. How will we answer the. "What now?" question?  Will it be about just our comfort? Or will our focus be on God's kingdom, power, and glory? I suppose we also have the option to just leave out that final phrase of the Lord's prayer and take comfort in the shadows. But there is not much glory in that.