Good Wednesday morning! The cold is moving on ...at least that's what they claim. We have a wonderful morning out there today. The temperature might have a minus sign in front of it and the wind chill is particularly risky outside, but we have the warm love of Jesus in us! The big, cold storm is moving east, hooray! Icebergs in the Hudson, glaciers on Wall Street, a foot of snow on JB's tree stand; yeehaw, let the next ice age begin! Speaking of ice, it's rather thick on my window panes this morning; kinda hard to see what's going on out there. I guess that's better than having to go out in it! :-)
Have you pronounced doom on anyone today? Is that the message we are to bring to a world already weighed down with a zillion problems? Perhaps a message of peace and joy might be of more help to those living in darkness. Jesus came to be a light to the world, not a cloud of gloom and doom. While we don't ignore the reality of condemnation for those who refuse to believe, we do have something better to tell; a tale of joy, peace, and Christ's love for us. Isaiah tells us that all of us have gone astray like sheep, but the Good News is that we can all be saved through Christ Jesus!
Sheep, like all livestock, can a be a wayward and smelly lot. When God sends a message to His lost 'sheep', that isn't a very flattering reference for us. We want to think of the bright white, odorless, and happy sheep of comics or dreams as a better picture of our state. However, God sees the reality; the stinking, dirty, aimlessly wandering in search of basic needs, animals lost in the barren wastes of this world. We don't like to think of ourselves that way! Good news! You can find help in the Good Shepherd. Admit your sin to Jesus, ask forgiveness, and be free of the guilt!
The cleanup may take a while, the sin we were born in goes deep. Don't despair if every bad habit isn't immediately taken away. You and I face a lifetime of cleaning and purifying, often through trial. In this new life we have a champion to help us though. Jesus will guide us, strengthen us, and carry us over the worst patches in that dreaded valley of death's shadow. We all must walk that valley; why face it alone?
Have a gre... don't tell me you're still in bed waiting on the spouse to get up and turn up the thermostat? I tried, the cat wouldn't do it. Merry Christmas!
Bucky
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