If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
TO PONDER:
I intended to start Christmas shopping earlier this year but…
I intended to get fit this year but…
I intended to volunteer at the local homeless shelter but…
I intended to complete the house painting but…
I intended to invite that new person at church/work over for dinner but…
I intended to …. (you fill in the blank!)
Good intentions, no matter how well-meaning, are simply meaningless without action. As people often remark, ‘talk is cheap; actions speak louder than words’.
James recognises the disconnect that often exists between what we say and what we do. That’s why he reminds us that living faith and loving action go hand in hand. The gift of grace that comes down from above (1:17) radically changes our heart, transforms our lives and shapes our actions. It’s a faith that is hands on, willing to roll up the sleeves and get dirty to serve others as people whom Jesus loves. Living faith always moves beyond good intentions to tangible acts of love and mercy.
What is one good intention that you could put into loving action this week?
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, take my good intentions and turn them into concrete acts of love and mercy, that your name may be praised. Amen.
And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”
TO PONDER:
There are times in life when we come to a crossroad. Something happens. Someone says something. Things don’t work out. Change is needed. Perhaps we acknowledge the reality of addiction for the first time. Or recognise the deep sense of unhappiness or restlessness that permeates our lives. It leaves us wondering, ‘What do I do now?’
Sometimes life brings us to a crossroad whether we are ready or not - the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a shattered dream, a betrayal, our children growing up and moving out. We are left asking, ‘What do I do now?’
These crossroads are places of discernment and ultimately repentance. Places where we recognise that Jesus’ coming means our lives and the world cannot continue in the same old ways. ‘What shall we do, then?’
John’s message is simple: Go and be a people who act differently in the world. Start with the very next thing that you do. Give when it seems ineffective, love when it makes you vulnerable, be satisfied with your life even when it seems you do not have much. In this way, we give witness that Kingdom of God has come and the world is forever changed by Christ’s birth among us.
What crossroad are you at in life and what is the next thing God is calling you to do?
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, your coming brings a new focus and direction at every crossroad of my life. Use me to prepare the path for others that they might also meet you at their crossroads and be changed forever. Amen.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
TO PONDER
I think we sometimes overcomplicate the Holy Spirit. Now that is not to say that the Holy Spirit of God is not mysterious, often working in strange and miraculous ways in the lives of people, but one of the things that the Bible is very clear about when it comes to the work of Holy Spirit is to help God's people understand what has been revealed in Scripture.
Even Jesus disciples who walked alongside Jesus for three years didn't really understand all that had happened until the Holy Spirit came on them at Pentecost.
My grandfather was an amateur hand radio operator. He once said to me, the Holy Spirit is like the tuning dial on a radio receiver, he helps dial us in so that we can hear God speaking to us more clearly. I've always liked that analogy. Maybe today you might let the Holy Spirit 'tune you in' to hear God speaking to you more clearly through His word, revealed to us in the Bible.
PRAYER
Lord Jess, you are the way, the truth, and the life. Holy Spirit, help me to see the way, hear the truth, and live the life that Jesus offers more clearly every day, so that others might also be drawn into his life. Amen
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
TO PONDER
Are you a good listener? I'm not sure if it is the world changing around us or if it's just me getting older, but it seems to me that it has become increasingly difficult with each successive child in our family, to teach them how to listen properly. It's almost as if I have to develop a colourful and engaging powerpoint display with pictures and diagrams every time I want to talk with them about something, if I expect to hold their attention for long.
We see it in social discussion and issues debates in the media and online, we seem less prepared to listen to each other than ever before. If we lose the art of listening then we are going to very quickly find ourselves a long way down a very difficult path.
Because as we refuse to listen to those whose ways and thoughts are different from ours we also begin to tune out God who calls us to serve others, not ourselves; who asks us to forgive rather than to seek revenge.
Following Jesus is not easy, his ways are consistently different to what comes naturally to us, the only way to follow him is to quick to listen to his voice and not to argue about what he says.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, sometimes even your own people argue about what you are saying to us. Help me, and your church throughout the world, to learn to listen to to you with truely open ears and hearts that we might hear what you are saying to us rather than what we might wish you were saying to us. Amen
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
TO PONDER
A number of years ago, before my own father passed away, there was a bit of a fad gifting craze going around. I wonder if you ever encountered those children's books which had a built in recording device so that you could buy the book and record yourself reading it and then send it as a gift to loved ones who lived a long way away. Our family got in on the craze and had our children's grandparents and aunties and uncles all record a different page of the books and then gave hem to our kids for Christmas.
What's special for me about those books now is that they still hold a recording of my dad's voice.
Hearing your dad's voice was also important for Jesus. at his own baptism, Jesus, and the crowd gathered around him heard a voice from heaven proclaim, "You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Maybe you have, or had, a father who was pretty generous with positive words and encouragement, maybe you have, or had, a dad who was fairly absent or didn't have much in the way of positive things to say. Whatever your earthly father may be like, we all can claim God as our Heavenly Father and he longs to speak those same words to you, "You are my son/daughter, whom I love; I am pleased with you." Just open up your Bible and let his speak those words to you each and every day.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, sometimes when I look a myself, all I see is the things I've done wrong, the mistakes that I have made and all the ways I just don't measure up. Give me ears to hear your voice which tells me of your love and dedication to me and help me to help others hear that voice as well.
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
TO PONDER
The human race are a fickle bunch. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the story of the boy who cried wolf. Basically, while caring for the sheep, he thinks it might be funny to shout to the local villagers for help to defend the sheep agains an attacking pack of wolves. He plays this trick repeatedly until the people of the village stop listening because they are tired of rushing off, only to find their time has been wasted. Of course, when wolves really did end up attacking the sheep, no one responded to the boys cries for help.
I sometimes wonder if that's not a bit how it was for the Israelites. God had promised a messiah, but it had been hundreds, if not thousands of years between the first prophecies which talked about messiah and the eventual birth of Jesus. Did it become like the story of the boy who cried wolf? Although the Israelites knew the prophesies and had been studying them for years had they been told and reminded of this promise so often but then waited so long for it to actually arrive, that they didn't recognise it when it happened?
Is this possibly something that has happened to you? Have you heard the Christmas story so many times that it tends to just go in one ear and out the other? Have you stopped recognising the significance and the importance of the story of a God who came down from Heaven and became part of creation in order to redeem it? If that's you then take this opportunity to pray and to ask God to give you ears to hear the love, joy, hope and peace he wants to bring to you not just at Christmas, but every day of your life.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, forgive me for when I have failed to take your voice and your story seriously. Please help me to you more so that I can share you more with my friends and family this Christmas. Amen
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
TO PONDER
One of the games my family like to play when watching animated movies and cartoons is to try and guess the actors who voice the characters. There is usually a lot of excitement when we recognise a voice of someone we have seen or heard in another movie and I have often wondered at how quickly we can sometimes recognise voices of people we have never met but only seen once or twice before on other movies.
There is no doubt that voices are unique, sometimes voice matching technology has even helped to identify criminals but there are plenty of people who can do pretty good imitations of others voices. In those cases how do you tell a fake from the real thing? Well you just have to be really familiar with the original. If you want to be able to distinguish Jesus' voice from all the other voices vying for your attention then you need to spend time listening to him, spend time reading your Bible, spend time in prayer, take time with other Christians to share what you are both hearing from God. The more intimately familiar we are with the voice of Jesus, the easier it will be to know his voice and to follow where he calls.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd, help me to know your voice in such a way that I might always hear when you call. Help me to trust your voice so completely that I never hesitate to answer when you call to me. Amen
His [John's] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
TO PONDER
Yesterday we looked at the story of John the Baptist's ministry in the wilderness and along the banks of the Jordan river. Today's reading looks at the beginning of that story.
John might have been a man who heard God's voice and went about following God's instructions but his Father, Zechariah, had a bit more trouble. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, hand been barren and one day while Zechariah was serving in his role as priest in the temple, an angel appeared to tell him he had Elizabeth would have a baby that would proclaim the coming of God's Messiah.
You probably know the rest of the story, Zechariah had trouble believing the words of the angel and as a result he was made mute until the day that baby John was born. When the words of the angel finally came to pass and John was born, Zechariah was able to talk again and he sung the verse for today in praise to God.
Sometimes the words and promises of God can be hard to believe, even if they are spoken directly to us and delivered by an angel. This is because sometimes what God says is to good to be true, sometimes it is because it seems too outlandish or risky, sometimes it's hard to believe simply because it is not what everyone around us is saying. But one thing is for sure, the Word of God accomplishes exactly what he sends it for. We can choose to believe it or not, but how much better to have that Joy that Zechariah showed in todays verse, right at the beginning instead of having to wait for God to prove himself. It's one thing to hear the word of God but don't forget to believe it also!
PRAYER
God, help me to grow in my trust of your word and your promises. When they seem too good to be true remind me that you are the source of all good things. When every one around me is telling me something different, help me to know and listen to the voice of Jesus, the good Shepherd. Please help my voice to also be one that helps other to hear you calling to them. Amen
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.
TO PONDER
There is something inspiring and impressive about those feats of engineering that produce massive structures like the Stockton bridge in Newcastle, the Harbour bridge and tunnel in Sydney, and the Sea Cliff bridge in the Illawarra. The effort, time and resources taken to build and maintain them is enormous but they make a way to travel from one location to another where there was no way before.
John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. Repentance is about 'turning around' or going a different way. In other words, turning you back on the way you have been taking and choosing a different path.
Bridges and tunnels often take you through difficult terrain. Repentance is not always easy and the path Jesus invites us to take is not always easy, but it does offer a smooth path through the difficult terrain of this life and the broken relationships, disappointments and heartaches it can bring.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, please help me to hear your voice calling me to repent and allow you to smooth the way for me in the rough parts of life. In Jesus name, Amen