When Fears are Stilled

I’m not gonna lie, the past month has been a tad wearisome. Challenges with aging parents and a work accident for a son got added to the onslaught of national nonsense we are all dealing with. Everyone is recovering (well, not the nation just yet). 

One of the strategies of the enemy, both the enemy of our souls and in battle strategy, is to wear the other side down with an endless barrage. These don’t need to be city-leveling munitions, they just need to be relentlessly unsettling. Think the litany of bills rolling out to control our population (C2, 8, 9, 15, 218…how many did I miss?), theft via taxation and government driven inflation, a death-obsessed culture, all financed by your own taxes.

You know I could go on. 

Eventually, most get tired and cower into a defensive shell, forgetting their own superior weapons. "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls". Hebrews 10:39

FEARS STILLED

Those of you who attend worship services have likely been singing powerful Christmas hymns the past few weeks. Last Sunday, we closed with In Christ Alone, not typically a Christmas song, but it encapsulates the entire gospel story. It was convicting, and a great encouragement to me.

In the midst of life's storms, we need to be reminded to check the lines of faith tethering us to the Rock of hope. Incidentally, lifting our voices together, whether in conversation or song, is one reason we must not neglect gathering together.

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

IN HIS DEATH, I LIVE

The joy we sing about this time of year comes from the fulness of God arriving, pleased to dwell among us (Colossians 1:19), and the glorious salvation paid by Christ upon the cross. 

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied –

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

Through that death of Christ we have salvation, the ultimate hope. No amount of bills, taxes, or censorship - the power of hell and schemes of man - can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:37-39)

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand:

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

HOLD FAST

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23–25)

I pray you all have opportunity to gather, encouraging one another. Thoroughly celebrate! Push back the darkness in moments of joy with family, amidst turkey and treats. Most of all, point to the hope of this season; the Word becoming flesh, dwelling among us, full of grace and truth!

Merry Christmas!

Greg