Relax & Enjoy The Holidays; Keep Up His Good Work
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.’ (1 John 4:5); ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’ (Romans 12:2)
The holiday season, especially the two-week period of Christmas and New Year’s, is a time most people use to wind down and relax. Even when I was working, the days in these two weeks that I did go to work were a bit less stressful as many others took off part or all of this period. It is a good time to relax; families often come to visit or folks go visit their families, and events like Christmas parties, Christmas Eve services, and New Year’s Eve watches (folks getting together to watch the Times Square ball drop) are always fun to attend. But is it a time to take ‘time off’ from being a Christian?
There should never be ‘time off’ in performing our work for Jesus and His Kingdom. Taking ‘time off’ in terms of going on vacation, or having breaks thanks to holidays, is good, but even then we as Christians should ensure we continue to be Christians and do Christian things, and act like Christians. We can have fun and relax, but not to the point we leave our Christian self at home in the closet and parade off in our secular desires. As Christians, we continue to witness, ask others for their prayer needs and help others by sharing the love of Christ. We need to recharge our batteries, but the Holy Spirit does not need such rest.
Two verses today to give the proper perspective; when one is outside Christian influence, they do not have a Biblical Worldview but a secular worldview. When one speaks in terms of pro-abortion, or using force to get their way, they are of a secular worldview. This is man’s attempt in control, and it is a pattern we see throughout the Bible and history. Cain wanted Abel (and God) to see his vegetation sacrifice was better, and ended up killing Abel in the process. The Sanhedrin wanted Jesus and later the Apostles to bend to their will, and used force in an attempt to have them accept their way.
Group-think or ‘woke-ism’ is the world’s viewpoint and many do listen, ‘go along to get along’, get with the ‘in’ crowd. All this is what 1 John 4:5 says. If one says ‘I’m a Christian, but <fill in the world viewpoint here>’, it may be very likely that person is not a Christian if the viewpoint goes against the characteristics of God.
But through Paul in Romans 12, God says be a non-conformist, in the sense of not following the world’s viewpoint or the secular worldview. Instead, follow God’s Biblical Worldview. Don’t think in terms of ‘but what will my friends and family think’, but only what will Jesus see in me? Will He approve what I am talking about, will my viewpoint be in agreement with Him? There should never be a ‘but’ statement when pronouncing your Faith. God is in control, and as our Founding Fathers (who are not the bumbling, stumbling fools the woke crowd tries to paint them as) understood.
Our Founding Fathers understood God gives free will to all men, that we have the freedom to choose between God’s way or the world’s way. While there are some choices that may not be so drastic (do I have chicken soup or ramen noodles for lunch?), the important decisions of the day often demonstrate how well we are in tune to God’s will for our lives, and if we are in a position of leadership, do we request or demand someone to follow our desires? To force compliance is not, with some very rare exceptions, in accordance to God’s will. Salvation is freely given, but it is never compulsory. Are there consequences if one does not accept Christ? Yes, but the choice is up to the individual, and the decision is theirs.
Let’s go back to Abel and Cain; they were able to formulate their own decisions on what was acceptable to sacrifice. It’s important to note God found Abel’s sacrifice more favorable but did not reject Cain’s; we find that later God accepted sacrifices of grain to go with sacrifices of animals. Today our sacrifice is in our tithing; a sacrifice applied to our toil, as Cain’s essentially was. God simply stated it was Abel’s animal sacrifice that was the best sacrifice as it gave up life, and best emulated God’s sacrifice of Jesus His Son upon the cross. Later God, who knew Cain’s heart, told Cain to check his sin and control it but allowed Cain to have free will, and as we know Cain chose poorly and allowed sin (his desire to control resulting in Abel’s death) to overcome him.
Be careful not to slip into secularism; know God and His Word and His Will. While He will not force you into alignment with Him, by being in His Word, you will want to be lined up with His ways and edicts in whatever you do, and He will let you know it!
