God is not Santa Claus

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and hear, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you; God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1: 1-5, NIV)

I've written about my 17-year-old's failed knee surgery. He will soon have a second surgery and possibly a third in three months. The heartache I experience as I watch my son struggle with his anger at God and the world has led to my own doubts and anger. As I was venting my woes to my sister, she replied, "Meta, God is not Santa Claus." I've heard this phrase used regarding the market driven Christmas tradition that focuses on presents and material goods rather than the true source of joy we find in our Savior; but I had not applied it to my own complaints.

Our world is full of suffering, broken relationships, crime, abuse, injuries and disappointment. You might ask as do I, "Why my child? Why me?" Jesus told us we would have suffering in this world (John 16:33). We don't understand its purpose but must trust that God knows: "now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthian 12:13). I may never in my lifetime know the reason or purpose for my son's injury, but God sees the whole picture, and I choose to trust in His wisdom.

It is now Advent, the time before Christmas in which we prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The
word, Advent, means "coming" or "arrival." This is a season in which we reflect in hopeful expectation as we wait for the arrival of Jesus. As in Charles' Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, and my adoption story, Great Expectations: An Adoption Story and Devotional, life often falls short of our expectations. Unfulfilled expectations may lead us to keep yearning for something with which to fill the sorrow left by reality. We may expect God to be like Santa Claus and ask Him to give us what we think we need. But our hearts will not rest until they rest in Christ (St. Augustine). As we prepare for the coming of the Lord, let's live in hopeful expectancy for the Messiah who will carry our burdens and give us rest. Jesus says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11: 28-30).

Prayer: Hymn, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, by Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
By thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

Am I thankful, triumphant and sweet-smelling?

Am I thankful, triumphant and sweet-smelling?

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

As the mother of an adopted child, I marvel at the fact that each of us who is saved by Christ's blood is adopted into a new family.  We have been given new life by our Redeemer. By the power of Christ's blood, we who trust in Jesus Christ, have been adopted and renewed. We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), holy and blameless, because of our redemption through Christ (Ephesians 1:4-6). As adopted children, we belong to a new family, a united family of believers. Our new condition is not a result of anything we have done - it is because of the sacrifice and grace of our Savior alone that we have been given this gift of love, a gift we do not deserve.

How do I respond to Christ and share my new state with others?  In 2 Corinthians, we read:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, and aroma that brings life.  And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.  On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Paul first thanks God. When I am grateful, I am more able to wear my gratitude as a fragrance that is enticing to others. As a member of God's family, we can be Christ's instruments to share His love with others.  Christ has won the victory for us; we are no longer in bondage to sin. We can get up after failing, dust off our boots and take on the aroma of Christ in our behavior and attitude. How encouraging this is to me!  I try, fall, but will get up and walk again bearing the aroma of my Savior as His adopted daughter. I want to be an aroma that brings life. With Christ in me, I can walk in His triumphal procession and share His Good News with others. I may not be equal to this task, but if I ask Him, Christ will intercede for me and enable me, His adopted child and His new creation - rather than to issue a sour smell, to leave behind a fragrant reminder of His love. Christ makes it possible for us to be thankful, triumphant, and to bear His fragrance.

You may be a person who plans out your life years in advance. You've set clear objectives and neatly laid out how you expect things to run.  We need to remember that our plans are often quite different than the way reality plays out.  How do you react when roadblocks, changes, and delays alter your vision into the unexpected? If you're like me, you try to control the situation by actively doing things.  This keeps your mind occupied and makes you feel that you can somehow manipulate the unexpected.   Or, you may react passively and withdraw, filled with a sense of hopelessness.

Scripture reminds us that although our plans may change:

I the Lord do not change. (Malachi 3:6a, ESV)

and

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

When life throws us curveballs, we can be comforted in the knowledge that God is with us:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

What can we do with our frustration when things don't pan out as we had planned? We can learn and grow in faith through the experiences we face. We can embrace change, because it brings us into a closer relationship with God.

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV) reads:

 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I love this prayer Paul said for his Christian friends in Ephesus.

What truly is rich and glorious? It is easy to get caught up in a fear about what we have and must constantly repair or what we don’t have and long for. I often think, “If I only had a bit more money, I could fix my house up or travel more often, etc.  Do these material things bring me strength? No!  I derive strength from my Lord and Savior.  When Christ dwells in my heart through faith, His Spirit entrusts me with a power I do not possess on my own.  When I am rooted and established in Christ’s love, I wonder at the sacrifice Christ paid for me. I recently went to a writers’ conference and took a class on power speaking. While standing in a circle, the instructor asked us to reach with our arms and place our hands toward the center of the circle with eyes closed. We were to stay this way until we heard something from God. I am of Lutheran heritage. We are quite reserved and value solitude in prayer with God.  Although this made me a bit uncomfortable, I played along.  Sure enough, God started to send adjectives my way!  The first word that came to mind was actually a noun – health.  When I am nervous and anxious, my health suffers and I sleep poorly and get indigestion.  The second word that popped into my head was “scattered.”  When I’m anxious, I’m scattered.  My mind flits to all corners thinking, “I need to do this and then complete that….and then another thing until the anxiety increases exponentially. The last word that stuck with me and would not leave my mind was “grounded.”  I realized that when I am established in Christ’s love and rooted and grounded in Him, I don’t fuss and fume and become scattered.  My strength becomes centered in my Savior and He gives me peace and focus. His love surpasses all knowledge!  I pray that you “may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!

Journal about your adoption experiences

During the long and distressing journey to adopt my daughter, I sought the healing power of words to assuage my pain. Writing enabled me to articulate the confusion brought on by transactions with dishonest Vietnamese officials. It presented an avenue to express my yearning to hold my daughter and endure the painful longing that ensued from what seemed a never-ending wait. Furthermore, writing provided my daughter with a record of her heritage. In the realization that she would not have contact with her birth family, I felt that writing about our adoption trials would give our daughter an understanding of her own history and a glimpse of her significance as a child of God, created in His image to be His daughter  in the family of Christ.