Tag Archives: Christianity

Stand Up to Die-The 23rd Day of Christmas

Posted on by
2

On the 23rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a challenge to speak so I can save (Esther 4:16).

Rachel Scott, Me Ling, Varia, Nijole Sadunaite. These are names you probably have never heard of, but they are all connected to us. They are Christian martyrs, women brave enough to take a stand for Christ knowing that doing so could strike them down. Many of us like to think we could be like these women, but I wonder how many of us would speak up in defense of Christ when faced with the possibility of death?

At one time or another we all may have said, “Maybe I was born for a time such as this,” personalizing what the uncle of Queen Esther said about the Persian queen who risked her life to save her fellow Jews. We believed that God may have placed us on a job, at a church, or in our family or neighborhood to positively impact that sphere, but in Esther’s day these words meant more than to do a service; they included dying for that service.

The only way Queen Esther could save the Jews was to approach the king uninvited to initiate her plan to reveal the scheme to kill the Jews. And going to the king uninvited could get you killed (Esther 4:11). Esther took that chance and eventually told the king she was Jewish and told him about the enemy’s plan to kill Jews, which would include her. Esther risked the comfort of her royalty to identify with her people, and she received the king’s approval. This is a picture of Jesus Christ.

Jesus veiled His glory to come to earth to identify with the people He came to save. God the Father said of Jesus “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice—the one that God the Father approved—and the only one who could save us. Esther was the perfect sacrifice and likely the only one who could save the Jews. Are we ready to be like Esther? Or how about Rachel or Me Ling, Varia or Nijole? Are we ready to give up our comforts to tell others about Jesus, to live our lives that will identify us with Jesus? Are we willing to die to save others from eternal death—an afterlife in Hell? Living our lives may seem easier than the speaking, but living our lives includes the speaking. We all must risk our lives to speak up for a Savior who went down for us. He rose again, and we will too.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Built Up After a Blow-The 24th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 24th day of Christmas my true love gave to me the power to build anew (Nehemiah 2).

You had any blows dealt to you lately? I mean those life changing hits that have thrust your body back, knocked you down and out? If you haven’t, I know you can remember a time when you did. Life was pretty messy, but somehow you got up, got yourself together and rebuilt your life. Maybe God used somebody, like He did Nehemiah, to be that Christ-like figure to help you stand strong.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian king and lived in a palace. He lived a life of comfort but wouldn’t rest, knowing the wall of Jerusalem lie in ruins. Having a sad countenance the king asked Nehemiah what was wrong. After hearing his plight, the king gave Nehemiah permission and all the resources needed to lead his people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. God gave Nehemiah, a powerfully prayerful man, the favor, power and tools he needed to rebuild in 52 days the wall that lay in rubble for more than 90 years. His enemies couldn’t stop him, no matter how much they lied and threatened him, and they even marveled “that this work was done by our God” (Nehemiah 6:16). Nehemiah typifies Christ as a restorer.

Jesus voluntarily left His high position in heaven to do God the Father’s will, so that we who believe in Him “might have life” and have it “more abundantly” (John 10:10). He said, “… Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus’ body was broken, destroyed, and restored to life so that through Him we might be restored and built up. It’s one thing to have peace with God (restoration). It’s another thing to actually flourish in that peace (being built up). Like Nehemiah, and Jesus on earth, through prayer and other spiritual disciplines we can flourish (Nehemiah 1; John 17; 2 Peter 1:1-10). When life deals us wind-expelling blows of lies and job loss, troubled children and bodily sickness, we have to focus on the power of Jesus. We have been given His Holy Spirit, who longs for and waits to give us the power we need to get up from the hits and build again.

What types of blows have knocked you out? How did Jesus help you build again?

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Childish Ways-The 25th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 25th day of Christmas my true love gave to me His faithfulness and restoration too (Ezra 10:10).

Children do childish things; they’re supposed to; they are children, and adults are charged with helping them to grow out of their childish ways as they grow in stature. These obvious nuggets have kept me for the last two weeks from being mean and screaming at my kids. When I embraced that my children continually show me their need for me, my heart opened with compassion, and now I do whatever it biblically takes to spur them on to maturity. This is the job of a parent, and I am so glad that God Himself is the greatest parent of all. When I read Ezra I see the great challenge of parenting: being faithful to guiding children that stray in order to restore them to the right place.

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, “The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites” (9:1).

This was after Ezra had led this remnant from years in Babylonian captivity back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. He gathered people from various tribes, including the Levites so they could have “ministers for the house of our God” (8:17). And before the return, Ezra led the group in a fast “to seek of (God) a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance” (8:21). They knew the right thing and did the right thing, but they eventually snubbed God and showed their childishness by marrying and following the abominable ways of other people. But God is faithful. He not only restored them to their land but restored them to Him (10:10-12).

Faithfulness and restoration are the constant themes in Ezra and typify the chief work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was faithful to His mission to leave heaven to come to earth to teach us about salvation through Him and provide that for us by dying on the cross for our sins. Through Jesus we are restored to God, having been separated from God after Adam ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The blood of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, covers those of us who accept His death, burial and resurrection in the pardoning of our sins. God the Father sees that Jesus’ blood covers our sins. And when we pray, Jesus Christ still intercedes for us while seated at the right hand of God the Father.

I need to be covered. Just like the Israelites, I know to do right and do right, sometimes, but there are times when I lose my head and start acting just as childish as the children I’m supposed to be teaching. I remember how God dealt with the Israelites, how He deals with me, allowing them to turn away from their waywardness and walk with Him. He is my great stabilizer. When in my sin, I seek to quickly remember His mercy and thank Him for His grace and allow them both to carry me to maturity. I remember what He does for me and offer the same to my little men, wanting them to know through me God’s faithfulness and restoration.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Build a Bangin’ Body-The 26th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 26th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a temple for his honor and glory (2 Chronicles 2:1).

I remember the days when I would spare no expense, going on trips on a whim and purchasing items that fancied me. Being naturally frugal, I managed to keep myself in check, occasionally pausing to ask if I really needed what I wanted to buy. Sometimes I think this frugality creeps into my spiritual life, preventing me from extravagantly taking care of my body, the temple of God. When I read the details after the following verse, I got convicted: Continue reading →

The Underdog Rises-The 27th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 27th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a Savior from the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 4:1).

We like cheering for the underdog, but none of us wants to be the underdog. I know I don’t, and when I find myself in that position my mind goes to Mark 9:35 that says, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Jesus said this to his disciples who were debating about who was the best among them. He gave them this lesson in humility, and they didn’t get it, and neither did Leah, Jacob’s first wife who he treated as the last.

I have always felt sorry for Leah. Many of us know her story. Her father tricked Jacob into marrying her instead of her beautiful younger sister, Rachel, who Jacob wanted to marry. She wasn’t very attractive; her husband didn’t want her and nothing she did made him want her; and she spent the first seven years of marriage watching her husband work so he could marry her sister. She definitely was the underdog and knew it (though I wonder how complicit she was in the trickery and may have contributed to her being undesired. I don’t know, but that’s beside the point right now.).

The only time Leah was on top was when she got pregnant and gave birth to sons, something every man wanted to carry on the family legacy. After she had Judah, her fourth son, “[t]hen she stopped bearing” (Genesis 29:35). And then she took matters into her own hands. After seeing Rachel’s maid giving birth on behalf of her barren sister, Leah, too, gave her maid to Jacob so she could try to have more sons. Leah was dissatisfied with Judah being her last, thinking he represented the end of her being able to conceive. What Leah didn’t know was that Judah may have been last at that moment, but he was destined to be first:

“The sons of Judah were Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur and Shobal.”—1 Chronicles 4:1.

This is the beginning of the genealogies of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Even though Judah was the last son when Leah took matters into her own hands, he has the first genealogical listing, representing his prominence, but chiefly representing the preeminence of Jesus Christ, “the lion from the tribe of Judah.” While Leah jockeyed to be first, she had no idea that the Savior of the world would come through her womb, the first and the last, all we ever need, whether we’re the underdog or the top dog. When we get to the point where we stop conceiving, let us not take matters into our own hands trying to conceive a plan, project or even a baby that may be out of God’s order. Our last conception may very well be our best and the one God will have rise to the top.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith