Daily Manna from Heaven

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” -Genesis 49:10

In 1954 C.S. Lewis, the late professor of Medieval English at Cambridge University, published a satire on Christmas which he called, “Exmas and Christmas.” In this essay he talked about a strange island called “Niatrib” which is really Britain, his home country spelled backwards.

In Niatrib a festival evolved which became known as Exmas, one that filled the markets with crowds of people who wore themselves out with shopping, festivities, and the weariness of sending cards and gifts. All of this rush and weariness, Lewis described as “Kafuffle”—a word which he invented.

The whole process was further complicated by the fact that the residents of Niatrib kept careful records of the value of each gift which was received so that they, in turn, could return a gift of equal value the following Exmas. Kathryn Lindskoog describes it, saying, “Everyone becomes so pale and weary that it looks as if calamity has struck. Exhausted with the rush, most citizens lie in bed until noon on the day of the festival.

Later that day they eat far too much and get intoxicated. On the day after Exmas they are very grave because they feel unwell and begin to calculate how much they have spent on Exmas and the Rush.”

Lewis believed that a few people in Niatrib really know about the true meaning of Exmas which they Crissmas, c-r-i-s-s-m-a-s, but they are so overwhelmed by the “kafuffle” of the season that the real significance does not mean much.

Unfortunately, Lewis’s “Niatrib” has become “Everytown,” and many of us are citizens who become so overwhelmed with the season, we have little time to grasp the reality of the event. C.S. Lewis was not a cynic who was down on celebrating Christmas, but he was death on prostituting a sacred event, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, into an occasion for celebration and commercialization.

In an article Lewis wrote a couple of years later, he denounced the commercial racket, saying that it causes more pain to people than pleasure. He asked the question, “Can it really be my duty to buy and receive masses of junk every winter?”

This may be too late this year, for perhaps you have already worn yourself out with the “kafuffle” of the Exmas Rush, as Lewis described it; but it is not too late to stop everything, pour yourself a cup of coffee, find your Bible and turn to Luke, chapter two. The story of Christmas, the real, authentic version, is so simple that for centuries men have embellished it with make-believe additions.

It is the story of God’s reaching down to touch earth with the presence of His Son, and earth’s reaching above our passionate failure and sinful degradation to become God’s children. Lewis put it so succinctly: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.” That is it, precisely!

Are you a descendant of Lewis’s mythical tribe of Niatrib, wounded by the festivities and perplexed with the doubt of unbelief? Christmas means HOPE, hope that there is ultimate meaning to existence, hope that there is God’s forgiveness, hope that we are not forsaken in a world of spiritual pygmies and ethical infants.

Long ago the aged Apostle John recaptured the essence of the incarnation as he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

Yes, let us discover the reality of Christmas.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” -Romans 10:13

How do you find God? Here’s a second question? If you have a child who gets lost, what do you do? You look for that child. Right? Neighbors and friends mobilize until that child is found. But are the two issues of finding God and finding a lost child the same?

Has God gotten lost and needs to be found? Or, rather, is it that we have gotten lost and need to be found by Him? The prophet Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

Paul indicated the world and said, “There is…no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

God isn’t lost; we are! We are the ones who by our choices and our actions have wandered far from a loving Father. We are the ones who need to come home. OK, we admit that we need to find God. But how do we do it?

Frankly, the issues isn’t as difficult as many think it is. The fact is, most people aren’t looking very hard. Too often we search for Him about like a thief looks for a policeman. Yet there are times when people are diligent in their search for God; they are just looking on the wrong place. Religion has been described as man’s search for God. It’s a reflection of our hearts and natures which cry out for union with our Creator and Maker. It’s the inevitable outcome of looking at life realistically and saying, “There must be more to life and death than just earning a living, growing old, and then dying.”

Long ago, Jeremiah as God’s spokesman wrote, “This is what the LORD says…’I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:10-13). Those words which were spoken to God’s children in exile also apply to the person who wants to find God today.

The Bible clearly tells you how you can find God. Here it is:

Step #1: Look for God in the right place. The Bible tells you clearly how you can connect with God. Start by reading the third chapter of John in the New Testament.

Step #2: Acknowledge the fact that you have lost your way. This is probably the most difficult part, because we hate to admit that we are lost. This was the whole point in God’s sending His Son. Jesus said that He had come “to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). He also described Himself as the Good Shepherd Who “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). The Gospel is that a loving God sent His Son to find us and bring us back into fellowship with the Father.

Step #3: Ask God to accept you as you are and receive you as His child. Remember the words of Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”? (Jeremiah 29:13). God said if you would seek Him, He would be found. In other words, He will find and save you.

Step #4: Take it by faith. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). You can find God, and when you do, you will never again be lost. It’s just that simple.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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by Max Lucado

Some years ago a rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The worthless animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. He left her with dozens of gashes and a dangling ear. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep.

But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What that dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”

God would say the same about the rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unthinkable, unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.”

Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof: God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of God’s will, but not out of his reach. You honor God when you see them, not as his failures, but as his projects.

God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven. He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel. For this reason Paul wrote, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it’ ” (Rom. 12:19 MSG).

Revenge removes God from the equation. Vigilantes displace and replace God. “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord. You may punish too little or too slowly. I’ll take this matter into my hands, thank you.”

Is this what you want to say? Jesus didn’t. No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God. Yet, “when he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly” (1 Pet. 2:23 GOD’S WORD).

Only God assesses accurate judgments. We impose punishments too slight or severe. God dispenses perfect justice. Vengeance is his job. Leave your enemies in God’s hands. You’re not endorsing their misbehavior when you do. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Forgiveness is not excusing.

Nor is forgiveness pretending. David didn’t gloss over or sidestep Saul’s sin. He addressed it directly. He didn’t avoid the issue, but he did avoid Saul.

Do the same. Give grace, but, if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit. Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time. Offer the child molester a second chance, but keep him off the playgrounds.

Forgiveness is not foolishness.

Forgiveness is, at its core, choosing to see your offender with different eyes. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven. You see your enemy as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.

By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? This is a huge issue in Scripture. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace.

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By: Dr. Harold Sala

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” -John 8:32

Suppose you are a young man whose best friend has a sister whom you have heard about but never met. Your friend describes her jet black hair, and lovely eyes, her outgoing vivacious personality and her fun-loving disposition.

The more you hear about her, the more interested you become. Week after week, he tells you about her, and you find yourself wanting to meet her. So you say, “How about introducing me to her?” And he replies, “I don’t think you believe she really exists.” You reply, “That’s dumb; of course, I believe she exists. Remember, you showed me her picture!” Should that happen, you would begin to wonder about your friend’s sanity.

Now, apply that same logic to the individual who denies the existence of God. For a long, long time men and women have talked about God and His interaction with men and women. Then when Jesus was born, He told us that He was the image of the Father. “Anyone who has seen me,” He told Philip, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Yet in spite of this some refuse to acknowledge God even exists.

Friederich Nietzsche was one of them. At the close of the last century, he declared that God was dead–not much different from declaring He had never existed. In simple terms, he put God entirely out of existence and life. And how satisfying was this position? Well, Nietzsche died in a mental institution, if that answers the question. Yet there is something which baffles me.

I once visited the village where Nietzsche lived and worked during the very time he came to the conclusion that there is no active, personal God. It is located in the Alps, and on a beautiful lake. I walked the very path around the lake where Nietzsche walked and saw exactly what he saw. The autumn leaves were gorgeous; the snow-clad mountain peaks surrounding the village were breathtaking. I saw them. Nietzsche didn’t. When people refuse to see the evidence, a blindness sets in which numbs the mind and heart as well as dims the eyes.

Francis Schaeffer wrote of Nietzsche, “I am convinced that when Nietzsche came to Switzerland and went insane, it was not because of venereal disease, though he did have this disease. Rather, it was because he understood that insanity was the only philosophic answer if the infinite-personal God does not exist.”

Let’s face it: Everyone who pushes God from His existence doesn’t end up bereft of his senses, but he or she does end up separated from God, just as was Nietzsche, and without the hope of life after death.

The fundamental axiom of existence is God, something which science, or philosophy, or psychology fails to recognize. The fact is that the carnal or fleshly man is at war with God; but denying God, either philosophically or practically, leaves nothing which satisfies.

Today there are vast numbers of men and women who intellectually acknowledge God’s existence but live as practical atheists. Their hearts are in rebellion and their actions deny the truth of what they assert.

“”Mommy, why don’t we go to church like my friend does?” a little girl asked her mother. “Well, dear,” replied the mother, “we don’t believe in God.” There was a pause and the little girl asked a second question, “Mother, does God know we don’t believe in Him?”

Interested in getting some answers first hand for yourself? Don’t take someone else’s word for it; don’t even take my word for it. Go to the source book itself, the Bible, and there you will discover God Himself.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.” - John 1:4,5

For more than 70 years my father-in-law, Dr. Guy Duffield, was a Bible teacher, author, and minister. In his lifetime he wrote books on preaching, on doctrine, and on the practical Christian life. When he was well into his 80s and living in a retirement facility, a young woman from Lebanon who worked where Dr. Duffield resided met him and showed great interest in the fact that he believed that the Bible is a supernatural book.

Knowing essentially nothing about the Bible, the young woman asked him to explain in simple terms why this book is different. Patiently, Dr. Duffield tried to answer her questions, then she put a question to him he really didn’t expect. “In all of your years preaching the Gospel,” she began, “what is the greatest single revelation or truth that you have ever confronted?”

In his years teaching and preaching, he’d answered lots of questions, but this one caused him to stop and think. “What is the greatest revelation I have ever had?” he thought.  Finally, he began, “It is the fact that Christianity is God’s revelation of Himself, to us while religion is the record of the men of the world searching for God.” Actually, it is this fact which separates Christianity from Buddhism, Islam, Shintoism and the rest of the religions of the world. It is upon this that the truth of Christianity hinges, as well.

The first four books of the New Testament are often referred to as “the four gospels.” But actually, there are not four gospels—there is but one Gospel, recorded by four men. The Greek word for gospel comes from two words which mean, “Good news!” That word was first used to describe the message when two armies had been engaged in battle, and when one of them triumphed, a runner was sent back with the “good news” of the victory.

“Good news” or “the Gospel” was not only the term used to describe the first four books of the New Testament, but essentially to describe what Christianity is about. God sent His son to our world to identify with our pain and suffering, and to die in our stead to bring us back into fellowship with the Father.

Anyone who has made a study of comparative religions immediately notices that the motivation behind God’s sending His son, according to the Bible, is that He loved the world; but other religions uniformly describe God as one who is angry, who must be satisfied by offerings, often including blood which must be shed to assuage His anger and retribution.

Another distinguishing characteristic of Christianity is that faith in God becomes personal and intimate, a relationship with a living person—not a stone deity at whose feet we lay flowers or burn incense. “I know whom I have believed,” wrote Paul.

The Gospel centers in a person whose name is Jesus Christ. At the age of 30 He began His ministry, teaching, healing the sick, and on occasion, even raising individuals from the dead. He said things which no mortal could ever say and be sane, such as, “I am the bread which came from heaven.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am the good shepherd.” And so forth. He clearly taught that He was God, the unique Son of the Father who created the world, and He told His disciples very clearly that He would be put to death, but on the third day, He would rise from the dead.

Did that happen? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best documented facts of all history, and upon this—the empty tomb—Christianity rises and falls. If Jesus did rise from the dead, this glorious story of a loving God who sent His son into our world not only becomes believable but captivating and compelling. Yes, the greatest revelation is the reality that God has revealed Himself to us and we have beheld His glory and His truth.

*** The preceding article is authored by Dr. Harold Sala. Permission to reprint is hereby granted by Guidelines, Inc. ***

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