Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009. It is Christmas Eve and I am blown away by the speed of its coming. This definitely has been the fastest year of my life yet. All my presents are wrapped. Which for me is huge. Usually I am wrapping something at 1am on Christmas morning. However, I still need to get some stocking stuffers...but that is fun. This year I am painfully aware of how much I need Jesus and how glad I am that He came to save me. You would think that being able to work full time for Him and being able to be a part of a new church that He has put together would make me completely satisfied with life and closer than ever to Him. In point of fact I would say that in some ways, the excitement and constant movement of this job can make me miss how much I need Him on a daily basis. I love my job. It is, in my opinion, a great job. I am blessed. But I need to remember that working for Christ and being with Christ, minute to minute, can be two different things.

In much the same way I could be a hard-working husband and dad who, because of his hard work, could make enough money to buy my kids an X Box, an iPod touch and get my wife a diamond ring for Christmas and never spend time with them. I could be a "success" at Christmas time and be a failure at actually hanging out with the ones I am buying nice gifts for.

We watched a Christmas movie last night as a family where a successful business woman is talking to her dad who has a book store that is just getting by. She asks her dad, "Don't you want more money?" Her dad responds, "Sure that would be nice...but I have everything I need. A family that loves me, a steady job. Make more or desire less."

Success is actually being able to say that I spend time with and know Jesus. Success is being able to say my marriage is solid and my kids know I love them. Success is being content with what I have.

Christmas is about Jesus. Not stuff. Christmas Angels who sang great songs of job about the Saviour's birth did not sing commercial jingles. They sang of God's goodwill toward men where before there was wrath. They sang of God's favor being extended to a race of people who chose to become His enemies. They sang of God being made an approachable baby so we could know Him.

Jesus, I pray that I could be a man who honors You this Christmas Eve and tomorrow on your birthday into this world you came to save. Thank You for the life that You pour into us every day. I love you, Lord.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Entering Real Rest

Hebrews 4
A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3Now we who have believed enter that rest...

This passage tells that the only rest for the restless human soul of Bob Evans is to believe God's Word and do what it says and then I can enter His Sabbath rest. I am a "striver" by nature. I want to fix it myself. I cannot do that. Nothing I do, no amount of human effort or strife will accomplish what I need. I need rest. I need faith that God can handle it - that His way is better than my own. I need real rest. I can relax and watch TV or I can recharge and get some real rest and believe that God is here and I am in Him and He is in me. I need that kind of rest.

I think that is why Jesus said, "without me you can do nothing." We can't do life on own. But do we believe that? Really believe that we are useless without Him?

God says pride and its lack of belief in the Truth that we are nothing without God is the reason that God said, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "

And yet the work is done. God did it all. Jesus paid it all. He said, "it is finished." His work has been finished since the creation of the world. God has it all taken care of.

Yet I do it my own way and come up with my own solutions. I am one stubborn man. So recognizing that I must ask myself : What is God asking me to believe and I am not believing it...and by belief I mean acting on it. Belief and faith is only faith if it results in action.

Nuff Said