A month or so ago we experienced another great Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season. That’s what we hear about Yuletide. But it’s true for every season of life, not just the holiday season. There are seasons of jubilation and joyful expectation. Jesus is the reason. Seasons of anxiety and sadness. Jesus is the reason. Seasons of pain and agony. Jesus is the reason. Every season He authors or allows. Every season in your life agrees with the purposes and plans of your Savior Jesus Christ. 

Some seasons are so wonderful, you wish they would never end. No worries, praise the Lord. But some are so taxing, you pray for them to end quickly, yet they drag on and on. Here’s your sign: Stop being offended, and stop the pity party. As impossible as it may seem, surrender your afflictions to Jesus and meditate on Him. Get in the Word. Listen to a good sermon. Play praise and worship music. Saturate your mind with the things of God (HT: the late great Dr. Charles F. Stanley). As tough as the trial is, you know it’s not about you. It’s about God’s perfect, personal plan for you. He will accomplish it, and when He does, you will look at the result in awe and wonder how you could have ever doubted that He would pour out such overwhelming blessings on your life. And why does He do that? So that you will be able to advance the kingdom of God. So that when others look at the beauty and favor in your life, you can point to Jesus and say, “He did that.”

We have just finished a short season of fasting. Why do we fast? You get many different answers. One may be that you want God to do something big, for you, for your family, for your church, for your community. And that’s good. But He wants more of you. He will do more for you, and He wants more of you. And in the process, you get more of Him, His truth, light, and presence. So you surrender your flesh with its appetites to Him, to demonstrate your most deeply held faith that He will break that family member’s addiction, or restore that rotted out relationship, or bring that lost child back home from the wilderness of despair. Your focus becomes claiming God’s power in your life. 

What better focus could you have? 

Taste and see,

Lamar