7  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then,who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! – Matthew 7:7-11 (ESV)

Ahhhh… to be eight years old again.

I look forward to Christmas Eve night.  This is the night Mom and I get to play Santa. (Hey, if any of you still believe in the jolly old elf, my apologies for just outing him.)  We set up the gifts, eat the cookies, drink the milk, and take a bit out of the carrots – always careful to leave a remnant as evidence that Santa and a reindeer (probably Blitzen) have been here.  We write “thank you” on the note our son left with the snack, reminding him to stay on the nice list until next year.

But the best part is watching my son.  His excitement reaches fever pitch about bedtime on Christmas Eve.  His sense of expectancy is such that going to sleep takes a while.

It seems most fitting that, on the night before Christ’s birth, that we should all be filled with great expectations and eagerness.  Not for the presents under the tree, but for the arrival of God Himself.  We should be buoyed up by knowing He is coming back and, until then, He resides inside of each of us.  We should continue to seek God, vigorously and joyfully, with great and hopeful expectation.

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up” (Psalms 5:3, KJV).  If we believe in God, truly trusting Him with our lives and taking Him at His Word, then we have to expect that He will do whatever He says He will do.

But, more than that, we should not just expect God to shower gifts on us.  He is our Heavenly Father, not our spiritual sugar daddy.  Rather, our expectation in seeking God should be God.  Period.  Without limitations or denominational boxes.  Just as He reveals Himself in His Word.  Looking up, knowing He is there.  Knowing Jesus is returning.

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12  But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. – Matthew 25:1-13 (ESV)

Expectation is indeed a mark of great faith.  Be ready always.  Keep looking up.  And expect God.

Always.

13  By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. – 1 John 4:13-18 (ESV)

Life can be quite distracting.  Life is messy, filled with ups and downs and busyness and stuff to do and people to see and places to go and schedules to keep and work to do and commitments to honor and overtime to work and… and… and… and…

And somehow God gets lost in the shuffle.  And when we lose sight of God, when we no longer seek Him first or fervently – or even regularly… It isn’t that more bad things happen in our lives.  It’s the fact that we are now left of center (Christ being the center of our lives, remember?)  And if our faith is skewed or weak, we are more vulnerable to fear and worry and doubt.

Especially when life hits the fan.

Everybody has faith.  The problem is that, for some people, that faith is fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of losing control.  Fear of flying.  Fear of dying.  Fear of spiders and/or snakes.  Fear of loss.  You name it.  If you can imagine it, there’s a phobia for it.  (In fact, the Greek word translated “fear” in Scripture is phobos.)

You see, fear is worst case scenario faith.  It is the assurance of bad things unseen, and results unwanted.  And, if we are not staying rooted in our faith in God – our Steadfast Heavenly Father, Love Himself, the Almighty Creator of all, the Great I AM – then we are vulnerable to fear.

The greatest danger of fear isn’t the consequences we dread, but the fact that fear blocks faith.  It leads to worry and doubt and anxiety.  Fear is faith against God.

4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)

Notice that rejoicing in the Lord is “reasonableness”.  This is because, when we fear, we are choosing to believe in a negative we cannot be certain of, because we do not know what the future brings.  However, when we walk in faith in God, we can trust in and rest on God’s unchanging character, His unwavering promises, His steadfast love, His mercy and grace and peace…

Peace – the peace of God guards our hearts.  Protects us from the irrational thoughts birthed in fear.  Protects us from the lies we choose to accept instead of the glory we should be seeking.

Regardless of circumstances, seek God first.  Trust in Him.  Love Him.  Rest in Him.  Believe in Him.  Keep your faith intact and your spirit in tune.  Don’t ponder the painful possibilities.  Dwell on God and His Word and His Truth.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)

Some things never change.  Actually, it is more accurate to say that a few – very few – things never change.  One thing that never changes is the fact that change itself is inevitable.  Another thing that never changes: the fear some people exhibit toward change.  We tend to like the steady course, to experience the familiar and comfortable.

When we become Christians, we change.  And perhaps that more than anything is why some people resist fully following Jesus Christ.  He gets into your heart and changes your perspectives, your desires, your focus.  Some of your friends may change.  Your entertainments will probably change.  Habits?  Them too.

But don’t get hung up on the changes that happen when you begin seeking God.  The farther down the path you go, the more you begin to crave the wonderful changes the Lord makes within you.  You see with new eyes, feel with a new heart.

“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:6-7, ESV).  How can one not change when God Himself has taken up residence within one’s self?

Not only that, but we are adopted children of God!  Talk about change.  My wife and I adopted our son from China in 2008.  Before that time, he had a Chinese name.  His mother and I were nothing more to him than a couple of strange Americans with round eyes who talked funny and smelled of cologne, beef and sweat.  Strange indeed.

But that all changed for our son (and us as well) once we adopted him.  As soon as the papers were signed and the money distributed, he was our child.  I was no longer some big fat American stranger.  I was now Daddy.  His name changed.  His diet changed.  The language he heard changed.  When he came to America, everything he knew – sights, sounds, smells – changed.  His nationality changed.

He is still the child God created him to be.  In essence our boy is who he always was.  But everything changed for him.  For the better.  He is no longer an orphan.  Having parents is no longer an abstraction to him.  It is a reality.  He is our child legally, physically, emotionally…

When God adopts us, it is the same thing.  Without the home study, the nerve-wracking waiting and the tens of thousands of dollars and yuan.  He are changed.  We remain who He created us to be, but our identities change.  We are His.  Having a Lord and Savior is no longer an abstraction to us.  We now have a heavenly Father – Abba – with whom we have a real relationship.

That sounds like a pretty good set of changes, right?  Well, if you’re one of those people who resist change, you’re going to love this.  God never changes.  He is rock steady.  He is Who He is, and Who He is is Who He had always been and always will be.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, ESV).

God is steadfast – never wavering, always true to His Word:

God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? – Numbers 23:19 (ESV)

God is all He says He is.  He always has been.  He always will be.  He is Love.  He is Truth.  He is filled with Majesty and Grace.  He is the righteous judge.  He is our heavenly anger.  He is the Great I AM.

Ok, so maybe only one thing never truly changes: God.  You can put your trust in Him.  You can rest in Him.

“My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”
by Edward Mote (1797-1874)

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, and blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28 (ESV)

I am currently living with the foremost expert on penguins at our local elementary school.  My second grade son has read about them, studied them, and watched Happy Feet about 2,945 times (2,944 of those viewings with his dad).  There isn’t a penguin fact he can’t recite from memory – whether you ask him to or not.  We can be discussing pizza and he will blurt out, “Daddy, do you know why penguins are white on their tummies and black on their backs?”

Penguins live in communities, called rookeries.  They come together with a simple purpose: survival.  However, they are designed to serve a greater purpose for all Antarctic life as both predator (of small fish) and prey (of bigger seals and whales).  Even if their larger purpose is merely their place in the food chain, they still play an important role as part of God’s grand design for His creation.

God created the simple penguin with a purpose.  How much purpose do you suppose people – His most beloved creation – are called to possess?  And what is our purpose?

Our purpose is simple: love one another.  If we follow the lead of Christ’s love, all else will follow.  If we are seeking God, love must propel our journey.  This is how we propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ: by loving others, and doing all to the glory of God (for that is our original created purpose, to bring glory to the Lord), praising the Lord and giving Him thanks continually.

As Christians, we are called by love another, serve one another, and support one another.  Penguin rookeries are sometimes inhabited by more than one species of penguin, living together harmoniously.  Why is that so hard for believers?  We have the perfect designed example of the Triune God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit, each singular in personage yet united in purpose literally One Substance.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 and you will discover that the church is the body – a community, a unified whole.  And the first church was not divided by denominational notions and theosophical beliefs.  There were no Catholics or Baptists or Methodists or Charismatics or Evangelicals (although a dear brother of mine once pointed out that Jesus was a Nazarene).  When we stand so proudly and firmly on our own theological precepts that Christians who hold different interpretations become our enemies, something is profoundly wrong.

“…if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25, ESV).  And, let’s face it, God’s house is definitely one divided.  We cling so tightly to our theological beliefs that we wring love right out of the picture.  We – and I am saying “we” as the larger whole of Christianity and no one group or individual specifically – seem to have forgotten our calling, our purpose, our reason for being here: to love.  Regardless of religious affiliation.  Regardless of political leanings.  Regardless of sins, past or present.  Regardless of nationalities or borders or philosophies or influences or whatever it is that serves to divide us.

We are all sinners saved only by the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

We are all hopeless without the love and grace of the Lord.

In these things we are all equal.

We all need to focus on less on what we think is wrong with everyone else, and focus on the one unifying factor we need to bring us all together: God.

This is why I (half-jokingly, but only half) refer to my beliefs are firmly “Calminian”.  I have experienced Christianity from many different religious / theological perspectives over the years.  I’ve been Methodist.  I’ve been Charismatic.  I’ve been Baptist.  I’ve been Disciple of Christ.  I’ve been independent.  I’ve been part of a franchise church.  I’ve been evangelical (whatever “evangelical” means).  I’ve been mainline and mainstream.

Through it all, I have been blessed to know many God-loving people of all Christian stripes who I am honored to call my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Some speak in tongues.  Some are vehemently against it.  Some read the ESV or NIV or NLT Bibles.  Some believe the KJV is the only Bible.  Some go to church on Sunday morning, some on Saturday night.  Some attend at beautiful cathedrals, some in modest country churches, some in converted warehouses, some in school gyms and auditoriums.  Some meet in homes as small house churches.

None of that matters to me.  And it shouldn’t matter to you.  Whether you view communion as consubstantial, transsubstantial or substitutionary doesn’t change the fact that God loves you.  Who you are – who I am – is defined not by what we do or what brand of Christianity we prefer.  I really enjoy Coke Zero.  I don’t hold it against Diet Pepsi drinkers.

Who I am – who you are – is defined by God, our Creator.  All of us, each of us, individually and collectively… we are sinners saved by the grace of a loving God Who humbled Himself, became flesh and died as the perfect sacrifice for our sin, then ascended gloriously into heaven, overcoming death and thus nullifying the wages of sin.  In other words, the only things that truly divide us as Christians are the walls and fences we ourselves build.

We are all called to follow Christ, to be imitators of Jesus.  In other words, we are called to love.  Unconditionally.  As Christ loves us.  We all have biases to overcome. Love runs counter to sin, so it simply is not natural for our sinful selves to lead with love.  I mean, truth be told there is something about those Diet Pepsi drinkers that bugs me deep down.  (Just joking…  Diet Pepsi is a fine product and I mean no malice against it or any other soft drink.)

But, every day, we need to take up our cross and follow Christ We must love others.  For that is our purpose.  To honor and glorify God in all we do by loving others, being the light on a hill, shining the message of Christ to the world around us, wherever God places us.