Author: DwightClough

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

They didn’t have a cradle. They didn’t have a crib. They didn’t have expensive baby clothes. But what they did have, they gave.

What is a manger? It is nothing by itself. Yet, given to Christ, it has become a powerful message that has rocked every generation for centuries.

God transforms plain things into works of wonder. A picnic lunch became a miracle meal. A jar of oil became an investment property.

What do we have? Our homes might not be spotless, our cars might not be fancy. It may seem like we have nothing to give but the plainest of gifts. But let’s not hold back! Let us give what we have to Christ. Our plain gifts, every one of them, is an opportunity for God to work wonders.

Who knows what He might do!

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: A manger is an open box or feeding trough for farm animals.
New question: What do Elijah and Enoch have in common?

Jesus, at this time, filled with joy, prayed this prayer: “I thank You, Father, ruler of heaven and earth. Who understands the mysteries of Your kingdom? Not the intellectuals. Not the educated. Nope. Instead, You’ve made it plain to little children because that’s what makes You happy.” Luke 10:21

When I was a boy, I was enthralled by the bubble lights on our family’s Christmas tree. They were shaped like candles, with some sort of bubbling substance—alcohol perhaps—inside, boiling from the heat of the light bulb. When I grew up, I wanted to buy them, but for many years I couldn’t find them anywhere. My guess is they were probably a fire hazard.

Too bad.

I always wanted to share them with my children before they grew too old to appreciate something like that.

There are many things that only children understand. One day when my children were young, we were sitting on the edge of a slightly raised platform at church. No one else was around, so we took off our shoes and counted all our fingers and toes.

Adults understand that almost everybody has ten fingers and ten toes. But children understand the wonder of making that discovery.

Innocence. Discovery. Wonder. These are precious things.

It is no coincidence that I lingered so long by the Christmas tree when I was a child. For the only heart that is really ready to receive the Christmas Child is the heart full of wonder.

To me this is precious: God has little time for our jaded sophistication, but has open arms for our wide-eyed wonder.

Enjoy this season of wonder and awe!

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: As a three year old, Jesus probably lived in Egypt.
New question: What is a manger?

This goes along with the Biblical prophecy: “The virgin will have a son, who should be called ‘Emmanuel,’” which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:23

This is a switch. Throughout the Old Testament, God makes it clear that we are allowed only so close. In Exodus 19, for example, there were serious penalties for even touching the mountain where God was visiting. But here in Matthew, God chooses to do more than just visit. He chooses to move in with us, to hang out where we hang out, to live among us common folk.

I had a professor in college who was like that. He brought his wife and kids to class one day. Then he invited any of us who wished to come over to his house. So I went, along with a few other students. Wow! They were nice. They were regular people, so much unlike those who showed up for class and then disappeared into that mysterious world of the rest of their lives.

Why did God move in with us? The answer is clear. He wanted to be close. He didn’t want to go on being God at a distance. And so He did what it took to shorten the distance between us and Him. He remains God, beyond our understanding, beyond us in every category, yet Christ shows up as our elder Brother, as Family, as our Friend.

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: The Magi (Wise Men) visited Jesus at least several weeks and more likely up to two years after the shepherds visited.
New question: Most likely, where did Jesus live as a three year old?

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, scholars from the East arrived in Jerusalem asking around town, “Where’s the recently born king of the Jews? We followed His star and we’re here to worship Him.” Matthew 2:1-2

Why is it that some can recognize the presence of Christ, while others miss it entirely?

All my life I have been fascinated by these scholars—these “Wise Men” or the Magi. Who were they? How far did they travel? And how did they know? How did they know that this was no ordinary king? How did they know that the star signified more than just a new regime, but rather a king who needed to be worshiped?

There was a star. Surely other people saw it. Yet no one else followed the star so far as we know. Why?

These kings or astrologers or whatever they were arrived at city that was clueless. The greatest events of history were happening in nearby Bethlehem, but nobody seemed to know anything about it. It took someone from the outside to point it out.

I don’t know the answers to most of these questions. I’m not sure God provides answers to them.

But I do know that the One who was born under the star still wants to be found. He wants to be found by every part of us, including the parts that forgot to look. He wants to be found not only by the religious part of us, but also by the scared part, the tempted part, the angry part, the apathetic part, the hopeful part. Let’s take the journey to Bethlehem. Let’s find the One who came to put us back together.

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: Although the traditional answer is three, the Bible does not say how many Magi or Wise Men came to visit the child Jesus.
New question: How soon after the shepherds visited baby Jesus did the Magi (Wise Men) visit?

I plan to get back to the topic of forgiving others, but wanted to take the next few posts and focus on Christmas…

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, scholars from the East arrived in Jerusalem asking around town, “Where’s the recently born king of the Jews? We followed His star and we’re here to worship Him.” This announcement caught King Herod and his buddies off guard. His mind started racing. A new king? The promised Messiah? Over my dead body! Matthew 2:1-3

The world is full of people who are disturbed by the news that a King has been born.

Herod is so crazed with power that when he finds out the news that the Messiah has been born, his first response is to try to find him and kill him. The people of Jerusalem also somehow seem to know that this Messiah came to save them from their sins, and they wanted no such salvation.

Why do we resist letting Christ be King? I suggest it’s because we believe a lie. Herod believed the lie that he could hold on to power and that power would protect him. But he died, just like everyone else, and all his power was stripped from him.

Where are we unwilling to let Christ reign? In our fears? In our lusts? In our pride? In our greed?

We all have a line someplace in our souls. On one side we say “yes” to Christ; on the other side we say “no.” In between is the lie. That is our spiritual journey. Follow the “yes’s” until we get to the lie. Then let Jesus tell us the truth, so that another “no” can be turned to a “yes.”

I’m not saying this is easy. It requires great courage to find the border of our faith—but that is where Christ takes us—out into the deep. But it is out in the deep that we let down our nets and discover what we never dreamed was there.

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and held it for several months.
New question: According to the Bible, how many Magi or Wise Men came to visit the child Jesus?

Myth #6: Forgiving an offender removes protective boundaries
Truth: Forgiveness is not reconciliation.

In an ideal world, we would always reconcile with those who hurt us. But we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a fallen world. Sometimes reconciliation is possible; sometimes it is not.

Forgiveness	Reconciliation
Forgiveness is based on truth.	Reconciliation is based on trust.
Forgiving others changes your heart.	Reconciliation changes the relationship.
Protective boundaries stay in place with forgiveness.	Protective boundaries are partially removed with reconciliation.
Forgiveness depends on your choices.	Reconciliation depends on the other party’s choices.
Forgiveness is possible through Jesus.	Reconciliation is sometimes impossible.

Forgiveness does not automatically restore a relationship. For example, if someone harmed one of my children, I would look to Jesus for the grace to forgive. But I wouldn’t willingly allow that person to have any further access to my children. Relationships are built on trust, and if trust is not deserved, then a relationship cannot exist.

Someone I care about was raped. Although I think forgiveness is an important part of the healing process, I did everything in my power to protect the victim from having any contact with the perpetrator. I also championed the prosecution of the man who committed the crime. Simply because we may choose to forgive does not mean that the legal system should forgive. No. They have a different responsibility before God. It isn’t our job to dispense justice, but it is their job to dispense it. We are not vigilantes; we are citizens.

More next time.

These thoughts are adapted from the course Spiritual Self Defense. More info here:

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: The prophet Samuel anointed both King Saul and King David as kings of Israel.
New question: Who captured the Ark of the Covenant and held it for several months?

Myth #5: Forgiveness takes place when we declare the offender forgiven.
Truth: The words “I forgive you” in themselves are not a magic incantation.

These words do not automatically result in forgiveness. Forgiveness is sometimes thought of as an act of the will, summoning the willpower to say those words aloud. But true forgiveness goes deeper than that. When true forgiveness takes place, the anger isn’t buried; it’s gone.

How is this possible? It’s only possible when Jesus grants us the truth that sets us free. That is, He shares with us God’s perspective on what happened and where we stand after we sustained the damage that we did. Once we see things from God’s perspective, forgiving others is easy. Until we do, it’s impossible.

More next time.

These thoughts are adapted from the course Spiritual Self Defense. More info here:

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: Bethlehem is the hometown of King David.
New question: King Saul and King David were both selected for their role as king by what Old Testament prophet?

Myth #4: If we forgive, we are condoning sin
Truth: Forgiveness is not about rationalizing or minimizing the offense.

Telling ourselves that “it wasn’t really that bad” or “he didn’t really mean to…” or “she was under a lot of pressure when she…” does not resolve the anger or result in forgiveness. The offense is what it is.

Forgiveness is not the same as condoning someone’s behavior. Sin is sin. The Bible says, “Woe to those who call evil good.”

Forgiveness is not denial (“It didn’t really hurt.“) or minimizing (“I’m sure he had a good reason for raping me.”).

Rather, forgiveness is about looking honestly at what happened, and coming to an understanding that God’s grace is bigger than what happened.

More next time…

These thoughts are adapted from the course Spiritual Self Defense. More info here:

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: Daniel, Zechariah and Mary each spoke with the angel Gabriel.
New question: Bethlehem is known as the birthplace of Jesus. It is also the hometown of what important Old Testament person?

Forgiveness Myth #3: To forgive, we must bury our anger.

Truth: To forgive, we must face and acknowledge our anger, not bury it.

Yoda’s advice to his Jedi followers is almost the worst thing you can do with anger. Many people believe that Christians should bury their anger, deny it, suppress it, “forget” about it. None of those things work. The anger remains and festers inside like a cancer. Eventually it comes back out as illness, depression or an explosion of violent emotion.

Denial is a cheap substitute for grace. Lying to ourselves about what we really feel is what we do when we don’t know what else to do. But Jesus is strong enough to handle the truth. He knows what’s really inside each of us anyway.

The first step to forgiving is to acknowledge how angry we really are. Only then can we find grace big enough take that anger and replace it with peace.

More next time…

These thoughts are adapted from the course Spiritual Self Defense. More info here:

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: Joshua, Elijah and Elisha each parted the Jordan River and crossed over on dry ground.
New question: What do Daniel, Zechariah and Mary all have in common?

Forgiveness Myth #2: If we forgive a perpetrator, we give that person power
Truth: Forgiveness does not empower the offender.

Most of us instinctively think that we will empower the offender by forgiving. The opposite is true. When we forgive, we empower ourselves, because the offense no longer drains us of the energy required to keep our anger alive. In fact, if the enemy can inspire us to hate our neighbor, then he has won. This is why we turn all the debts owed to us over to Jesus. Then we can bless and not curse. (Romans 12:14)

More next time.

These thoughts are adapted from the course Spiritual Self Defense. More info here:

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Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. (Although Matthew and Acts each have more chapters, Luke has more words.)
New question: What do Joshua, Elijah and Elisha have in common?