There is wrapping paper everywhere, broken toys, dirty dishes in the sink, red clothes in the laundry basket, grandpa looking for his glasses that one of the children stepped on, sadness that no one got you that "one thing" you really wanted. It's the day after Christmas.
What do you do with that?
There were angels, a star, shepherds, an inn keeper, and the sound of a newborn baby who was promised to be God with us. The next day, they are all gone, and it is just the tired mother and father with their baby, in a stable in the midst of an overcrowded city, so far away from home with no supplies for them or the baby. It's the day after Christmas.
What do you do with that?
Once, you had found a new faith in Jesus Christ…and a day (or year, or 20 years later) you have read the bible several times, you have served on every committee the church has, you have gone on 3 mission trips and gone to 40 Christian concerts, served on the prayer team, the children's, youth and senior citizen's ministry teams.
Your belief is as strong as ever, but your zeal has faded, maybe your faith too. Belief and faith are not the same. You may believe that God is almighty and can do anything, but you may not have faith that almighty God will do anything. Your spiritual life is not what it once was. It's the day after Christmas - or the day after salvation.
What do you do with that?
What happened? Where did that passion for Jesus and his church go? You still do "stuff" at church but are content to just do it because you have always done it? Or maybe you don’t "do' much anymore - or maybe you don’t even make going to church a priority like you once did.
As I was thinking about these things, and how we sometimes grow stale in our Christian walk or our relationship with the church, a book came to mind "Who stole my church?". I grabbed it off my shelf and opened to a page I had dog-eared. (Read top of page 80) He goes on to describe always retuning to the needs and opportunities that caused the church to start in the first place or look at the needs and opportunities of today that may be different and see if realignment is needed.
Grand Prairie & 3rd - need for renewal
Have you ever felt like crying out to God for a renewal or put in biblical terms felt like the one who laments? Lamentations 5:19-22 You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
I rarely long for the days of old. I love some of the days of old but don't need to go back to them. I long for good new days. Some people cannot let go of the days of old - church members are notorious for this. "My church is not the way it used to be!" That is a true statement. And it never will be - but it can be awesome in its' new day. The church has not changed as much as you and society have changed. Once you were the young families of the church - in a day when most women did not have a job outside the home, so a lot of social time revolved around the church. Now you don’t like driving at night so you wouldn't attend a social event if it were offered? Hmmmmmm. Obviously, I was only targeting a single demographic but we could do the same for every age group and find some truth like I just mentioned - in each one.
If my spiritual life is like the day after Christmas - messy, tired, broken and very lack-luster or stale - what can I do?
Recognize your condition and praying would be a good starting point.
Psalm 51:10-12 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:16-17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
ILLUSTRATION
Jesus said to Martha, ”I AM” the resurrection and the life," not “I WILL BE" or "I WAS." Before Easter morning, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. After Easter, Jesus continues to be the resurrection and the life. Because of Who Jesus is, Easter is ever present with us. Easter is not merely a past event to be memorialized on a single day on the calendar. It is, as He is--ever present.
APPLICATION
As believers, we know this from personal experience. We experience His resurrection power through personal spiritual RENEWAL. We observe His resurrection power in the face of every new believer we meet. For us Easter is ever present. On Easter Sunday, the rest of the world catches up to us.
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life . . . '" (John 11:25).
Isa 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE IT'S SPOTS?
A Sunday school teacher asked her class if a leopard could change his spots. All the children shook their heads no except one little girl who nodded yes.
The teacher asked again if a leopard could change his spots, and again they shook their heads no except the same little girl who nodded yes.
The teacher asked what she meant by that, and the child said, "If a leopard doesn't like his spot, he can just move to another one!"
APPLICATION
The little girl got it right. A leopard who doesn't like his spot can certainly choose to change it. Of course, the same holds true for you and me. If we don’t like where we are, we can choose to change our spot. That doesn't necessarily mean moving physically, but may be mentally and spiritually through renewal.
Romans 12:2 (Mental renewal) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (Spiritual Renewal) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Jon Swanson renewal story
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
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