Tag: Romans

Christmas carols in the Scriptures – O Holy Night

O Holy Night, the song that sings of the Christ child’s birth and the heavenly connection, offers us a glimpse of the sacred gift Jesus brought to earth. Find phrases from Scripture that draw us into the depth of this most holy night.

O Holy Night

The first verse of this beloved hymn and Christmas carol brings us to the hope-filled moment of the Messiah’s arrival into a world grown weary. That Holy night when God’s gift to humanity, His beloved Son, took His first breath.

Gift of love

The second verse speaks to the gift of love Jesus brought to us and taught to us. A gift reflected in an oft-memorized Scripture passage.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV

The next phrase of the song speaks of the law and love and the gospel of peace.

Love fulfills the law

Two verses from Romans illustrate the connection between the law and love.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 NIV

“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10 NIV

Gospel of peace

Verses from Colossians help make the connection to the gospel of peace.

“In [Christ] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:14 NIV

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him, and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:19-20 NIV

Christmas

I have felt a certain level of intensity coming with this Christmas. Sure this year has been intense and challenging, but something beyond that, a sense that things are ramping up. The deepest issues seem to be surfacing, you know, the ones you thought you’d dealt with and healed from. Those hurts you bump against that you haven’t thought about in a while until something makes contact and you are reminded of their presence.

The manger and the cross

In this season of Advent I’ve felt a strong connection between the manger and the cross. How God sent Jesus into our world knowing full well His journey would continue to the cross.

Maybe rather than cover up our issues and hide them all wrapped up under a pretty façade of false control, maybe we’re supposed to bring them to the manger. Maybe the gift God wants to give each of us this Christmas is to take our heavy loads, our burdens from us and draw our attention to new life in Christ.

Receive the gift

Can you see this Christmas as an opportunity to release the heavy weight you’ve been carrying and receive the gift Christ has for you?

I woke up this morning with all the weight of the burdens I’ve been carrying. As I’ve contemplated this idea of bringing them to Jesus this Christmas, my heart feels a bit lighter. I’m not cured or healed, but the weightiness is gone.

Release your load

Have you felt an intensity leading up to Christmas?

Maybe Christ is calling you to release your load, too.

While I was writing my worries down, my stressors ran out of steam. Writing them out, telling them to Jesus, lessened the weight of them.

Do you have burdens you’ve been carrying? Maybe they didn’t seem that significant when you first picked them up, but a prolonged period of holding onto them has made them feel heavier. Or maybe they’ve been heavy from the moment you picked them up.

Is God calling you to release them this Christmas?

For me, that meant sharing the load with Jesus. Telling Him what I was worried about. Maybe that would help you, too.

This Christmas may you draw closer to Jesus and the gift of His Presence.

Christmas carols in the Scriptures – Hark the Herald Angels Sing

A bike and the Bible – The Gospels, Acts, and Romans – part 14

We’ve finally made it to the Gospels, Acts, and Romans, on this journey through the Bible. Join me as we take a quick ride past these first several books of the New Testament.

If you’ve followed this trek you’ll know we just made our way through the Old Testament. On the bike ride this brought us to a trestle high above a creek.

The Gospels

The Gospels – Mathew, Mark, Luke, John – are where Jesus came to earth, walked the land, healed the sick, and taught about the Kingdom of God. This is where we encounter the tangible Jesus, living among the people.

Viewed from above

The creek at this point of the bike ride was viewed from the height of a train trestle far above the water below. Matthew’s Gospel starts with a genealogy which at first glance appears far removed from the story of Jesus. Many people are confused by this list of names, still others skip it entirely, and some like me initially get lost in it until we find some familiarity and discoveries in it.

Matthew Mark Luke John

Matthew gives us Jesus’ lineage and Kingdom teaching. The genealogy in the first chapter of this Gospel links Jesus to King David, whose story we discovered in 1 and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament.

Mark walks out the gospel with Jesus on the move in ministry.

Luke shows us the shepherds and a whole lot of “carefully investigated” details. (Luke 1:3)

And John just confused me the first several times I peeked inside. What was this Word stuff right at the beginning of this Gospel? After reading Genesis I recognized the connection to John’s Gospel and the beginning of the Bible.

As I continue to look into these four books of the New Testament that share details of Jesus’ life and ministry, I start to understand a little more about the Gospels and the love of God.

Look around

Once I grew accustomed to riding on gravel I could look around and see my surroundings instead of just the rocks under my bicycle tires.

When I glanced out past the trestle across the vast forest of trees I recognized parts of the trail I had ridden over. This section folded back around so I could see out over a segment of the path on which I had already traveled.

Bigger picture

Taking a step back gave me a more encompassing view of the bike trail.

I hope that if you’ve followed along on this ride that just rolled through the Old Testament that you, too, have started to grasp a bigger picture of what’s in the Bible.

More tunnels

I relished this moment on the ride because soon we were riding through two more tunnels.

Acts and Romans

Tunnels. That’s what the books of Acts and Romans felt like to me at one time.

When I first read Acts it was a cure for insomnia. I couldn’t get through it. Too many details. Too many storylines. After spending more time with my Bible open I began to recognize the names of people in Acts and connect them to other places in Scripture.

Where Gospels leave off

Acts takes up where the Gospels leave off. In fact, Acts is the move of the people in ministry, the early church, after Jesus heads back to heaven (resurrection and ascension) at the end of the Gospels.

Connections to books around it

If we skim Acts we’ll see names from the Gospels and names mentioned in the books of the Bible that follow. No need to spend much time in it now, just note the connections to the books around it. This basic knowledge will help anchor more of the content of the Bible.

Tunnels

I think just being accustomed to riding through several tunnels on the trail helped me travel through these next two.

Although some of the details in Acts were hard to remember, I was starting to grasp more aspects of Scripture so I knew the feeling of being in the dark wouldn’t last.

This tunnel and the next one were not as long as the first few. I think I was able to see the light shining through as I entered one of them.

Having a glimpse of visible light was helpful at this point in the Bible – for the book of Acts and the one that follows, Romans.

Romans

My first glimpse at Romans was probably similar to my experience with Acts. A lot of information that I couldn’t keep track of. This book was different from the Gospels and Acts. Romans is the first of the letters in the New Testament. This one happens to be a letter to the church in Rome written by Paul whose story can be found in Acts. See how these connections work?

The Book of Romans is Paul’s teaching about Jesus. This is another book that becomes clearer to me each time I return to it.

If you are reading along in your Bible, I encourage you not to get bogged down by Acts or Romans. We’ll keep rolling through the New Testament to glance at the next section of letters. Ready?

For a reminder of where we’ve been:

A bike and the Bible – Daniel and the Minor Prophets – part 13

For a refresher on 1 and 2 Samuel (and King David):

A bike and the Bible – Joshua to 1 and 2 Samuel – part 8