A King's Glory for a Slave's Wage...

We cannot begin to understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  It is unfathomable, it is deeper than we can imagine, it is undeserved and most of all, it was voluntary!  In studying Philippians 2, that scripture cut me deep.  I was reading the text and I had read it before but never understood it the way that God showed it to me recently.

Philippians 2:5-8: "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

What we see here is a great glorification of the selflessness of Christ.  In order to get the complete effect of the power of this scripture, we must look at it from the perspective of Jesus and dissect it verse by verse.

Verse 6 says this: "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped..."

When we understand that He existed, pre-existed, in the form of God, we understand how great the sacrifice is that He made.  This phrase has been heavily debated,  the Greek "morphe Theo i.e. the form of God means that Jesus' nature/essence is the same as that of God, the Father.  This is a testament to His deity and His divinity.  He is pre-existent and he shares/shared the same mode of divine existence as God (for a great treatment of this, see "The Incarnation" by Edwin Hamilton Gifford).  His nature cannot change. 

The thought is that the nature of something doesn't change although its appearance (schema) might.  An example is wood.  No matter if it becomes lumber for a house, a pencil for writing down your thoughts or a log for the fireplace...its nature is still the same, that of wood.  So the nature of Jesus Christ is divine, He IS God in the person of the Son. The bible says that Jesus Christ is the same YESTERDAY, TODAY and FOREVER.  Jesus said of Himself, before Abraham WAS, I AM!  He has always been God!  

Now let's look at verse 6b: He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped...

Equality with God is not speaking of equality in nature, that is obvious.  John 1:1 says that Jesus, the Word, was WITH (face to face) with God and WAS (in His nature) God.  The equality should be thought of as "an equality".  This means that Jesus shared the same position/existence in glory that the Father did.  The angelic choruses that God heard, He heard.  The glory in heaven that God the Father received, He received.  The beauty of the heavenly realm, He experienced.  YET, he did not see that as an advantage or a "prize" ( Greek: harpagmos) and thus saw no need to grasp for it when it was time for Him to come to earth to carry out the redemptive plan of the Father.  Therefore, he gave it up.

Verse 7: but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

He emptied Himself, not of His Godhood but of that which was separable from Him...He left glory and His equal position in glory.  He did so by taking the form of a bondservant.  The bondservant position, i.e. that of  a slave, is the lowest position that he could have possibly taken.  He could have come as the king that He is, he could have come as an emperor or a great warrior...but he came as a slave!  He gave up a King's glory to take a slave's wage.

Not only did He give up His kingly glory, He took the form of a bondservant.  The same word, morphe, is used here for the "form of a bondservant".  Which means that he took the nature of a servant all the while keep the nature of God!  This is where we see the term hypostatic union come into play.  The God-man, Jesus Christ, who took the form of a bondservant also maintained His God nature as well.  Many will say that he emptied Himself of His Godhood, but I will disagree because if one person in the Trinity ceases to be God, then God ceases to be God because they are a unity.

He was made in the likeness of men, took on the appearance of man and lived among us.  John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  He was not a spirit as many have theorized, He was God in the flesh.

Verse 8: Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Here is where the sacrifice is greatest.  Not only did Jesus give up His kingly glory, not only did He take on the lowest possible form that He could...He was obedient to God the Father Who sent Jesus for one purpose, to give His life as a ransom for many.  He says in Mark 10:45 that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.  He was obedient to the point of death, EVEN the most humiliating death known at that time...death on a cross.

Do you see what I see here?  I see Jesus Christ as the supreme example of self-renunciation of rights and humility.  The greatest example of humility that the universe has ever known.  We are to emulate His example.  Reading this particular passage makes me realize how disobedient that I am, how selfish I can be and how inadequate I am.  Thank God that my sufficiency is not within me but it comes from Christ!  He gave up a King's glory to take a slave's wage.  Who am I to ever be selfish or deny God or say no to a task that God has given to me?  God bless you and it is my prayer that we would all realize Christ's great sacrifice and be more giving and selfless as we seek to be imitators of God and as we are constantly conformed to His image.

Only Fitting...

It's amazing how God can take something common and use it to illustrate a point.  When I think about the earthly occupation of Jesus, working in His "step-father's" carpentry shop, we can see that not only is God all wise, He knows how to communicate to us. 

There is a neat little book called "The Hidden Years at Nazareth" by G. Campbell Morgan which is free on Google Play books.  The book makes an attempt to discuss what Jesus did for those 18 or so years before he began His ministry.  The book presupposes that Jesus started working at 12 which was the age of accountability in Jewish culture.  While it is not biblical i.e. does not include scripture because scripture is basically silent about the life of Christ except for his birth, his encounter with the teachers at 12 in the temple and the inception of His ministry at 30, it is quite an interesting read.

The work of a carpenter is quite interesting.  They take wood and smooth out knots in it.  One reason that knots develop in wood is when branches die or fall off.  These knots have to be sanded down before the wood can be used.    Carpenters smooth rough edges down to create opportunities for the wood to be bonded to other pieces of wood.  Most of all, they take wood and give it form and use.  Wood is a raw material that has no use until it is given one.  Carpenters know what type of wood can be used for what purposes and they know the strength of each type of wood as well.

Now, let us turn our attention to Jesus.  It is fitting that He came to earth as a carpenter.  It is symbolic of the work that He would do in the lives of those that accept Him!  He has smoothed out knots from losses in the lives of believers and made it look as if there had been no loss at all.  He has taken those of us that were rough around the edges and sanded those edges down so that we can become part of a larger fellowship, the Body of Christ.  I thank God that most of all, Jesus took the raw material that was my life before I met Him and gave it form and made it useful!  Psalm 127 says "Except the Lord build the house, the workers labor in vain."  Thank you Jesus for giving me a purpose and giving me a reason to exist!  I am not the only one that has this testimony, there are millions that ought to be grateful to the Supreme Builder of the universe!

God knows how to communicate better than anyone in the universe and we should always be looking for messages from Him.  His message today is that the carpenter's Son is still in business long after Joseph, the one that taught Jesus carpentry, has passed on.  He's still building, He's still creating and He's still taking formless, useless raw materials and making them into something that would bring Him glory!  Thank you Jesus.  may God's richest blessings be upon you!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Jesus is present throughout the entire bible.  My pastor once preached a message where he revealed Christ throughout the Old Testament and entitled it, "I'll be home for Christmas".  What he was saying was that from the beginning of time Jesus was walking down time up until the point where He was born in Bethlehem.  It was beautiful!  I have recently been preaching a series of Christmas sermons and God has blessed me through His word and revealed how even through the prophets and the Old Testament scriptures, Christ has ALWAYS been present.  Posted here is a synopsis of each message from December 8th through December 22nd.

"Houston We've Had a Problem" December 8th 2013 Isaiah 9:6-9

The Apollo spacecraft was made up of two independent spacecraft joined by a tunnel: orbiter Odyssey, and lander Aquarius.  April 13, when the crew was 200,000 miles from Earth and closing in on the moon- Mission Control received a low pressure warning on one of the Odyssey’s hydrogen tanks.  The routine was to warm the gas and stir it within the tank to settle it.  When Swigert flipped the switch, an explosion happened and the oxygen levels bottomed out on the space craft and the power went out.  There is a famous line that was uttered by Swigert, “HOUSTON, WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM…”  We often misquote this when something bad happens, we say “Houston, we have a problem…”  They were up the creek, 200K miles away from the earth and no power to even propel their craft into a “return to earth” pattern.  A highly anticipated mission was in danger of leaving three astronauts stranded in space.  The mission was going well until this little setback.

While this seems bad, between the astronauts and the men and women working at Mission Control, the crew was returned to earth unharmed.  THERE WAS A PLAN IN PLACE TO ENSURE THAT THE CREW WAS RETURNED SAFELY IN SPITE OF THE PROBLEMS THAT THE MISSION ENCOUNTERED.

Isaiah 9:6,7 is GOD’S ANSWER TO THE IN-FLIGHT PROBLEMS!  Through human eyes, when we look at this scripture we see that God has always had a plan!  1Peter 1:20 “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you …”  Ephesians 3:8-10 speaks of the manifold wisdom of God revealing the mystery of Christ and God’s eternal purpose of salvation being carried out in Christ

Satan tried his best to upset the plan but God prophesied in Genesis 3:15 that the “seed” of the woman would bruise the head of Satan!  The Seed of the woman is Jesus!  God told Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his “Seed”- that seed is singular and it refers to the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ!

BEFORE THE “SEED” COULD BE BORN, A LOT HAD TO HAPPEN.  THE PROBLEMS WITH THE MISSION STARTED IMMEDIATELY!  Adam in the Garden, the father of the human race…sinned from the very beginning and introduced death to the planet!  “HOUSTON, WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM…” 

King Jehoiakim of the Solomonic line caused the biggest issue.  Jeremiah dictated a prophecy to his scribe Baruch, Baruch read it in the temple and then before the elders in the palace…the elders took the scroll to Jehoiakim concerning the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar but the king cut the scroll with a knife and threw it into the fire!  Because of his insubordination and his trust in man, God told him that a he would never have a descendant on the throne of David!  “Houston, we’ve had a problem…”

We are in a quandary here!  Matthew 1:11 says that Jeconiah is in the line of Jesus.  Jeconiah is the son of Jehoiakim.  God promised Jehoiakim that he would never have a descendant on the throne of David.  God promised David (in 2 Samuel 7:12,13) one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever.  Here is the real issue: Joseph is in the line of Jeconiah which is a cursed lineage!  Houston, we’ve had a problem!  

Or do we??  God’s plan for salvation would not be interrupted by glitches caused by the human condition!  Satan could not overthrow God’s plan by intervening in human affairs and leading men into sin!

Isaiah  says to us a child is born- unto Mary, was Jesus born.  Joseph, whose line was cursed, could not be the biological father of Jesus but there was NO problem with Mary being the biological mother!  God did a miracle and impregnated a virgin with His Son, Jesus!  The power of the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and God implanted the Seed, the Savior of the world, the Great I AM, the bright and morning star into the womb of this teenaged girl from Bethlehem!  The child was born BUT the Son had to be given!

God would not go back on his word so God allowed Jesus (God in the flesh) to be BORN to Mary, who is from the proper lineage- she is in David’s line through Nathan.  BY Joseph, Jesus was the LEGAL heir to the throne of David (through adoption) but BECAUSE of Mary, the He was exempt from the curse of Jehoiakim! 

The child was born to us…but the Son was given to us!  The Son, the Word made flesh, the Alpha and the Omega is God condescending, God coming to live among man, God the Father saying that there is no other alternative except to send God the Son to do what no one else can do, to live the life that no one else could live and to DIE THE DEATH THAT NO ONE ELSE COULD DIE. 

BOTTOM LINE:  Regardless of the issues with the humans in Christ's lineage, God had a way to send the Son into the world without breaking His word!  He also displayed His grace in that those whom he chose to work through were sinners and yet he still chose them and used them to do miraculous things!

"Picking up the Pieces" December 15th 2013

Imagine if you would, a vase: Very costly, very rare.  This vase has the handprints of the Master Potter of the universe, God Almighty, all over it.  It was turned on the Potter’s wheel, formed and shaped in His hand; in His image and likeness.  It was fired and heated and finally, from the dust of the earth, it was created!  The vase was referred to as “Very good” when the Potter saw the work of His hands.  God was pleased with His perfect work. 

 This vase was created with the entirety of heaven watching.  Some were not happy and had a plan to destroy it.  There was one in particular, who took the form of a serpent and was determined to break the vase.

After some time, that serpent caused the vase to be shattered!  It lay strewn in millions of pieces.  In the mind of the serpent, there was no hope of the vase being put back together.  But in the mind of God, there was not only hope, there was a plan.

In case you are wondering, the vase is symbolic of mankind.  We were created in the image of God…but the image was marred by sin; the shattered vase is sinful, fallen man.  The fellowship between God and man was disrupted.  Because of man’s collusion with the serpent, the vase was shattered.

How would God bring this back together?  A glimpse can be seen in Genesis 3:21 “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”  The skins had to come from somewhere.  Blood had to be shed.  Hebrews 9:22 says that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.  God set a model…in order for sin to be atoned for, blood had to be shed.

Throughout human history, covenants with God were made, bulls and goats were slaughtered.  BUT GOD ALWAYS KNEW THAT THE ONLY WAY TO TRULY PUT EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER…HE HAD TO COME AND DO IT HIMSELF.

A pregnant Mary and a nervous Joseph went back to Bethlehem to be counted.  Augustus thought that he was in control but it was God that orchestrated this event.  The prophet Micah prophesied in Micah 5:2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David, the “house of bread”. 

The bible records that there were shepherds in the field that were tending their flocks.  Shepherds give the idea of safety.  Shepherds lead their flocks to still waters and cause them to lie down in green pastures.

 When the angels appeared to them, they told of the birth of Christ and they praised God saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, PEACE among men with whom He is pleased!"  Christ’s birth is cause for rejoicing!  Jesus would take the power of death away from the devil (Hebrews 2:14) and he would take the victory away from the grave. 

The Greek word for peace is eirene.  It is not simply speaking of relationship (although it does include that)- here, what is conveyed is a state of peace; a state of wholeness; a state of all things coming together. 

Here is the crux of the message…JESUS CHRIST, THE PRINCE OF PEACE, IS THE ONE THAT PICKED UP THE PIECES THAT SIN LEFT SCATTERED ALL OVER THE EARTH. 

Jesus brought Jew and Gentile back together:  The unifying factor for everything is Jesus who broke down the dividing wall and made the two into one.  The bible says in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

Jesus brought or will bring every prophecy and promise to fruition: 1 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes…”  Every promise that God ever made is fulfilled in Christ. 

Jesus brought reconciliation: This little baby, brought into a meager existence; into this poor family whose earthly glory was long gone…the kings of Israel were forgotten in this new, modern world where the Romans dominated.  Jesus would be the One that reclaimed the throne of David and He is the one that will rule on it forever.

Further, Jesus bridged the chasm between man and God that sin caused.  2 Cor 5:18 says that through Jesus, God has reconciled us to Himself!  He has brought near those that were far off, He has caused us to become friends when we were once enemies!  The shepherd that God raised up is NOW OUR PEACE!

BOTTOM LINE: Jesus brought together what sin tore apart by bring peace to the earth through His birth!

"Silent Night" Matthew 2:11-12 December 22nd 2013

There is a period of time where God is said to have gone silent.  Turmoil marked this period of history.  There was no prophetic word coming from heaven.  There was no pillar of cloud to guide the people.  There was no rock to get water from.  Everything dried up. 

This period is known as the inter-testamental period or the time in between the last book of the Old Testament and the ushering in of the Messianic age.  During this silent period, there was a great struggle for power.  The book of Daniel is a key piece of scripture to help us understand this time.  He says in the 7th chapter of his book that there were four beasts- historically, these were representative of kingdoms.  The Lion was Babylon, the Bear that defeated the Lion was Persia, the Leopard that defeated the Bear was Greece (with its four heads representing the four generals of Alexander the Great) and the fourth beast which was different from all of the rest, represents the Roman empire.

Under Roman rule, Judea was one of three provinces of Palestine (Galilee and Samaria other two).  Herod the Great became governor of Galilee and was eventually made ruler of Judea.  Herod was a cruel and brutal ruler and he was an egomaniac. 

Word of the birth of Jesus had spread all the way to Persia!  But not by mouth…the stars and planets were lining up to welcome the king!   The wise men or Magi were Persian astrologers.  They studied the stars.  It is possible that they had been waiting for this day to come!  The magi’s stop in Jerusalem naturally this ruffled the feathers of Herod.  He was given the title, “king of the Jews” and yet the Magi were asking for the one BORN king of the Jews!  His ego caused some problems so he tried to use the magi to pull an ambush on the baby Jesus.  What Herod did not understand was that this King could not be taken out!  This king was not appointed by men, He’s been king since before time began!  It did not matter what Herod did, God’s silence did not mean that God was not working!

The voice of God was about to be heard again.  The silence of God does not mean that God is not doing anything.  Psalm 121:4 says that the God of Israel does not sleep nor slumber!  This intertestamental period, this period of silence was simply God not speaking corporately to His people.  For 400 years, there was no word from above.  But God spoke to individuals in the year leading up to the birth of Christ!

He sent Gabriel to speak to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist- BUT Zacharias was silenced because of his unbelief.  He sent Gabriel to speak to Mary and let her know what was about to happen- BUT she did not speak to anyone but treasured the words of Gabrield in her heart.  He spoke to Joseph in a dream that he should stay with Mary and name the baby Jesus.  He spoke through the Holy Spirit to Anna the prophetess and Simeon the prophet in the temple…but they remained silent until they laid eyes on Jesus.

Then on a cold night in Bethlehem, before the shepherds showed up, before the Magi showed up…The baby Jesus, Christ the Lord, took His first breath of earthly air in His human body; His lungs filled with oxygen for the first time; and when He cried out, as all newborns do, God’s silence was broken.  God was again ready to speak to His people.

Hebrews 1:1,2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”  The one that made the world was now coming back into the world to undo the damage that sin had done!  There was no more silence, now the Logos, the Word made flesh was a reality.

BOTTOM LINE:  Christ's birth broke the silence of the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

May God bless you this Christmas Season!

Best Man Holiday...a study in warped theology

I recently and grudgingly went to the theater with my wife to see "Best Man Holiday". I saw the trailers and immediately knew that this would not be a movie that would edify me spiritually. You know the saying, garbage in- garbage out, is true. I try, but don't always get it right, to consume those things that will uplift my spirit, not lead me into temptation or lust and will help me develop a deeper appreciation for God. You know, Paul gives us great advice in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." So, a renewed mind must be constantly renewed.

 Let me say that I don't knock black filmmakers for their efforts but it was plain from the content of this film that the "writers" have a casual knowledge of God, one the denies the power of God and acknowledges the existence of "a god". Maybe he's out there somewhere in the cosmos but there is a "higher power". You know the colloquialisms that we resort to when we don't understand that God is the Almighty God, there is NONE beside him.

Sitting through this movie made me fairly uncomfortable. From Terence Howard's crassness and outright pornographic outbursts to Nia Long's reluctance to give up the...well, if you saw the movie, you know what she said, it was not a very Christian movie at all. They tried to tug at your heart strings with Lance's "faith" and his wife's illness but that too was contrived. Here is a man that claims to love God and yet his basement is a man cave full of liquor and even weed (which was probably imported by Terence Howard). He allowed drug use in his home, albeit in the basement, while his kids were upstairs and his wife, dying from cancer, was also a participant. Not as a medicinal marijuana user, as someone tried to convince me she was, but as a person getting high and reminiscing about the good old days with, you guessed it, Terence Howard's character. A man of faith, a disciple of Jesus Christ, would have no such thing in his home. I am sorry. That's the culturalized Christianity that we are being fed- we don't have to put on the new self (Ephesians 4), we can still be the old us and God understands. We can still be the same person, we just need to pray, read our bibles occasionally and spout off some pious phrases to those that we see. Theirs is a religion of piety and not a true relationship with Christ. Give to the needy, go to church, look the part...but don't be transformed by the renewing of the mind. I am sorry to say that real Christianity does not work that way.

Then there is Harper. This brother is so lost. He claimed at one point to Lance (Chestnut's character) that he should pray because, "he listens to you...he doesn't listen to me." He also is seen at times throughout the movie trying to pray but giving up. He's a picture of the lost soul, looking for anything to redeem himself. He tries to validate himself through his work but he's fired from his job. He's looking for that big break but it eludes him (until the end of course because in this version of life, everything has a happy ending), he's looking to "find himself" without realizing that it is not within that we should look for redemption but to God through Christ. He's conniving and he's also confused. He doesn't know if he loves his wife, which he should, or if he still "loves" Nia Long's character. Part of his confusion stems from his lack of spiritual life. He says, towards the end of the movie that he's basically an atheist. In paraphrasing his words to his friend Lance he says, "I don't know if I can believe in something that allows bad things to happen...".   This was how he reacted to Lance's "faith" in the face of his wife's death. There is not a "something" that is out there in outer space, there is Someone that tells us that we will have trouble in this world but to be of good cheer. That someone is Christ!  We have been conditioned to believe that God won't ever let bad things happen to us but nothing could be further from the truth.  God allows tests and some of His most trusted servants were tested- Job was tried by Satan himself, Peter was sifted as wheat...by Satan himself, Paul was imprisoned, even Jesus was "tempted in every way"...the blessing is God will not allow us to be tested/tempted beyond what we are capable of handling (1 Corinthians 10).

I don't think Harper realized that ALL of his issues stemmed from his lack of relationship with God. He was basically trying to figure everything out on his own. It doesn't work that way. Life without God is no life at all. It is in God that we live, move and have our being.  Every situation would destroy us if not for the power of God steadying us in the face of trouble. This man is a portrait of the lost. Chasing his tail, forever living in a conundrum, never finding lasting peace.

Overall, the best part of the movie was the two little girls singing "O' Holy Night". Those lyrics cannot be tampered with or debated as they attest to the greatness of Jesus. I was thoroughly unimpressed after scores of people had told me that I would be crying because the movie was so good. It was emotional but it was not spiritual. I left the theater feeling dirty to be honest because of the crude sexual humor, the numerous sexual comments and the foul language. The worst part of it all is that some people brought their children to this film...which I thought was a terrible idea!   Anyway, I am not saying boycott the film, etc. What I am saying is that it did not match up well with my personal values. They gave us a cosmopolitan version of being "Christian" which doesn't really emphasize Christ's supremacy but the supremacy of man.  It is an egocentric rather than theocentric, which in the end is simply religiosity.  I wish I had seen something else. I am at the point in my walk with Christ that I cannot afford to lose time or consume anything that is not going to help me along. This definitely didn't help. God bless you and keep you.

Why I need Jesus...

As a college professor, I get exposed to a lot of things. Co-workers that don't cooperate, administrators that don't understand and student that don't want to work for their grades. One thing that irks me the most is students not wanting to give anything back for the amount of work that I pour into my classes. I also get to see students make TONS of mistakes, many self inflicted, and then look for someone else to bail them out. I get to hear all of their excuses: WiFi not working, dog ate my work, dog died, grandmother died...the same grandmother that died last year at this very same time of year, doctor ordered bedrest...for an ingrown toenail. The list goes on and on. Students are always looking for a bailout plan. They create terrible schedules and then expect some administrator to wave a wand and fix what they have done. They slack off for weeks before a test, fail the exam and immediately ask if they can "turn in corrections for bonus points...". They wait until the last minute to check their grades and then realize, "Wow, I am failing this course!" Excuse after excuse, mistake after mistake...and I get to see it all and hear it all. I could write a book and become very rich off it but I refuse to profit off of the apathy and laziness of someone else. It does make for interesting conversation fodder with family and friends though .

So, seeing all of this, I realize why I need Jesus to live within me. I need Jesus so that I will know when to extend mercy and grace and when to execute judgment. My least favorite time of year is issuing grades. The compassionate side of me wants to pass every student because I look for the good in everyone and yet I have to evaluate them based on their works. This is the same principle we see illustrated in 1 Corinthians 3 when believers, not judged to go to hell because they are saved, are judged to receive rewards in heaven based on what they with what God gave them and how they built on the foundation that Jesus Christ is and laid. Every man's work will be tested by fire and found out. I need Jesus so that when the person who's messed up so many times finally gets it right, I can respond with praise and not sarcasm.   I need Jesus so that I can give a reality check to the one that has been slacking all semester and decides to get it together with one week of school left. I need Jesus because without Him, I would have lost it by now and may be out of a job! Newspaper reads, "Tuskegee Professor decks student for asking the dumbest question ever..." I need Jesus so that my words will be gracious and my spirit compassionate towards those that have screwed up in the worst way and yet need mercy and not judgment. This is a job that, if done with Jesus, becomes more and more enjoyable by the year. Without Christ, my job would be miserable.

Now, let us all put our own lives in perspective.   I can understand, even if it is only slightly, how God feels about us. We screw up constantly, and by our own doing, and we look to God for forgiveness. In His love, He forgives us. In His divinity, He cannot be driven to madness like we humans can. His patience and lovingkindness are everlasting because he realizes that we are but dust (Psalm 103). Does God get exasperated? I don't know. The bible speaks of God getting angry with the Israelites at times for their failure to obey Him so I imagine that at times, we can give God a headache...metaphorically speaking. We also see this in Genesis 6 when God says, point blank, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever." Does God get fed up? Ask Korah and his contingent (Numbers 16) or better yet, ask Noah. Even still, God gave Noah ~120 years to build the ark and hence the people had 120 years to repent!  

Ephesians 5:1 says that we should be imitators of God i.e. we should mimic God when showing love to one another. We need Jesus so that we can love the way that God loves and see people as God sees them. Let's pray that we are kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other as God has forgiven each of us. May God bless each of you during this Christmas season!