Moses: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” …
God: “I will be with you”.

Moses: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me…”
God: (shows him how to make miracles)… “This is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of your fathers… has appeared to you”

Moses: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow in speach and tongue”.
God: “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say”

Moses: “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else”.

I feel Moses’ hesitation because of his perceived limitations. But, at this point, I think God became irritated of the excuses because in 4:14, it says “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses…“

You want to see God burn in anger? You think he’s angry only when you sin?

Tell him you can’t do it. That you’re not capable. That you have limitations. You just cant. Then you’ll see fire go down from heaven and roast you alive.

You are made by God the way he wants you created. He gave you strengths and limitations. Nonetheless, he has great works, a purpose, a task specially fitted for you. When you sense God calling you to do something in the church, in your workplaces, in your family, in your career and feels that you can’t do it … remember Moses.

- Dr. Rick Warren, Author of The Purpose Driven Life

* * *

Ok, now wasn’t that an eye opener? I mean, we know this, but we’re just sucked up inside this holiday tradition.

- we spend way too much in seasons of Christmas

- we buy people stuff that WE like but THEY don’t need.

- we feel guilty for not buying people presents

- we even feel annoyed for receiving gifts with lesser value than the gifts you gave!

Commercialism on Christmas season simply sucks. I mean, really sucks. We lost it. This is not supposed to be. Giving generously is fine. But obliged, guilt-driven, price-tag focused giving is not. Sadly, this is Christmas now a days.

So, friends, it’s ok if you’re not giving us gifts this Christmas, you don’t have to feel guilty about it. We, however, sincerely thank those who gave and sure appreciates whatever you gave. We’re giving away simple gifts this Christmas to some friends — but will not to others. That doesn’t mean we don’t love you, we simply want to save and wouldn’t want to spend a lot this Christmas.

The best way to celebrate this season is to be with the family, worshiping Jesus for who he is — a God who decided to be a man on Christmas morning in his love for us all.

When I met Jesus — for who he really is — 10 years ago, one of my battle cry was “Jesus is enough”. He is enough to give comfort, joy, eternal security. He is enough when we feel inadequate. He is enough when life seems to fall apart. He is enough even if you’ll loose everything.

Matt Chandler is a very popular pastor in the US. He leads a successful church, The Village Church, that ministers to thousands of people. He is a well-known speaker in conferences. And, with his words, it seems that at 35 years old, God has given him victory after victory in this life.

Not until the morning of Thanksgiving day. He had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. They found a tumor in his frontal lobe and has undergone surgery last Friday. He recorded this video before this operation.

If you’re about to loose everything, is Jesus enough? Watch this video and be encouraged — or even be led into repentance for trusting on what you have even knowing that Jesus should be enough in our lives.

So how should we spend the Christmas season. Let’s go back to basics. A note from LifeChurch.tv’s Facebook account:

Christmas has become, for many of us, a season of eating, shopping, hosting and spending. We run ourselves ragged in an effort to please the people around us and make everyone get along long enough for all of the holiday pictures to be taken. It’s exhausting and it’s all a bunch of focus on the things that Christmas was never meant to be. We’re not gonna take it anymore. We’re going to make this year different.

This year, (let’s go) back to the basics. This year Christmas (should) be about worship, giving, and love. Those are the things that the first Christmas was all about. When Jesus was born he was a gift from the creator. He was the symbol of God’s love for us. These two realizations caused the shepherds who first visited him to worship in awe of the wonderful miracle of the Messiah.

So as we head into the holiday, let’s conspire to change Christmas. Let’s leave behind the stress and spending and trade them in for worship, giving and love.

This week, we’re talking about Hell. As my wife said, it’s a good topic, no body wants to talk about it, so let’s bring it on. While preparing for my grace group tonight, these thoughts run through my mind.

- We’re all going to die. Oh, yeah, we are. Whatever life altering procedure you do, we’re all going to die.

- There are 2 major views of death. I came from a tradition that says when you die, you sleep (a.k.a the doctrine of “soul sleep”). I changed camp. Most evangelicals believe that when you die, you continue to exist and will either directly go to heaven or hell (a.k.a. the doctrine of “Immortality of the Soul”). I will have a few Adventists on my grace groups, and if this question will be raised, I’m just going to say, “You continue to believe what you know is true, I believe mine, and it’s alright. Because whether the soul sleeps or is awake when you die is not the real issue. The real issue is, what are you doing now that you’re alive so that you’ll know exactly where you’re going in the after life?

- Heaven is real.

- Hell is real. But we don’t want to talk about it. Because we want to live as if it doesn’t exist.

- You won’t see your buddies in hell. You won’t drink beers with them, won’t laugh with them, won’t party with them. In hell, you’re going to be all alone. All by yourself. Nobody to talk to. In utter darkness.

- God doesn’t want us to go to hell. In the first place, hell is created for Satan. But because of our sinfulness and God’s holiness, we’re going there. And if we do, that doesn’t mean God didn’t do anything to save you. He did EVERYTHING you can imagine when he sent Jesus on earth and die a criminal’s death. You just don’t want to do anything with Jesus today. You simply want to do what you want to do with your life. And God will let you. Go. To. Hell.

Pray like you never prayed before.

Pray like you mean it. I mean, something that comes from your heart. An authentic cry for help.

Pray like you really expect God to answer. Because he does answer. He does care. He does know what’s happening.

Pray even if some spiritual police mocks you for praying only at times of need. Pray.

Then rest in his arms and say, “Yet not my will Lord, but yours.” At the end of the day, God knows exactly what we need. We may not understand what’s happening. But God is still God. He is sovereign.

In the midst of these storms, may we find peace in the one who is immovable, certain and strong – Jesus Christ.

I’m praying for them, Lord. Please give them emotional and physical strength to hold on and keep their hopes alive. We know that help is coming. It may be taking long, but it is coming. Please whisper this to their hearts. Embrace them with your love at this very moment.

I’m praying for us — for us that are safe, spared from the disaster. Move our hearts from just having pity to real compassion. Convict us to DO something, not just SAY something. Allow us to realize that we are your hands and your feet. Give us the burden, a genuine burden to love.

We are not sure yet, Lord, of what you are telling us because of this tragedy. I’m sure in due time, you will reveal this to us. Whatever it is, may it draw us closer to you. May it become an avenue of self evaluation. May this become a way for us to consider a relationship with you that may have been lost in the past, or even inexistent in the first place.

Be our guide. Be our strength. Be our God. We love you Jesus. Let your children here in the Philippines shout that out loud!

Christmases these days seem to dwell more on the everything else—the carols, decorations, media production, the gifts, the shopping, or even the ‘spirit’ of Christmas—and leave out the main essence of the season.

Or am I hating it because I’m not a child anymore — they say Christmas is for kids.

Nonetheless, behind this candid admission, I’m still hoping that the “superstar” of Christmas would grab our attention — my attention — in the midst of holiday distractions.

May Jesus take the center stage. Remember how important Christmas is, in its real essence: there would have been no EASTER if there was no CHRISTMAS.

So how’s your Christmas holidays?

The whole gift receiving thing

Take note that I didn’t say “gift giving”, that’s for a reason. And let me tell you why our generation has screwed up the Christmas season big time because of this practice.

* What do we teach our kids and what had we learned when we were kids? Gift receiving, that’s right! We are told that if you are good, Santa — actually that’s mom and dad, sorry for the spoiler for those of you who still do not know — will give you gifts. And so the kids are excited for the gifts that they will receive. What happens when dad is fired from his job and the kid will not be receiving a gift this time around? How will you explain to a kid that Christmas is NOT about receiving gifts anyway?

* Exchange gifts happen during Christmas parties. We have “quotas” for the gift price, right? Come to think of it, the focus is the kind of gift that someone will receive. It has to be within the range.

* And yes, families, friends and loved ones, we all give gifts to one another this season. But this is what I have noticed during the gift buying process (does not apply to all, but this is a general observation) 1) we only give gifts to those who we consciously or unconsciously believe we will receive gifts from, and 2) we are so conscious about the price of the gift, thinking that if the receiving person notices that gift is cheap, s/he might be offended. On both cases, the focus is receiving.

Cliche as it is, Christmas is not about receiving, rather it’s about giving. The reason why we celebrate Christmas is because of the “Christ” who was sent as a gift of God to man. “For God so loved the world that he gave…”

The traditions and peripherals

If you still have not noticed, Christmas has become all about snow flakes, Rudolf the red nose reindeer, Santa, Jingle bells, Frosty the snow man and a whole lot of stuff and characters

Not that these things and traditions are bad, but I just don’t get the connection between these things and the “real reason for the season”.

The most disappointing fact is that there are actually a lot of people who don’t want to equate the season to Christ anymore. This is very apparent in western countries, at least in the US as I know — the seat of post-modern thinking. They even refuse to greet “Merry Christmas” and instead use “Happy Holidays”. Have you noticed this in movies and marketing materials on TV and print ads? When they say “Happy Holidays”, they mean, I don’t care about the reason why you celebrate Christmas because I have my reasons, but don’t “force me into this Christ thing”.

Sigh…

We lost the meaning of Christmas, really.

The gifts, the parties, the tree, the lights — all these are meaningless if the center of the season isn’t Christ-mas.

My ideal Christmas season

While the following ideas are almost impossible to happen in this commercialized, post-modern “it’s all about me” generation, let me just end this short series by how the story of the grinch ended — a happy one.

I’m dreaming — not of a “white Christmas” — but a Christmas season where:

1. The focus is Jesus.

Stripped down, simple yet celebrative and contemplative. Everything is focused on what happened on that night in Bethlehem.

We thought that Easter is the most important aspect of our Christianity since it is the season where we commemorate the suffering and death of Jesus. I will argue that it’s not. God’s sacrifice started on Christmas day when Jesus decided to become a creature even if he is the creator.

My all time favorite illustration to show this fact is to say that it would be humiliating for human beings like us to become ants. That, impossible as it may seem to happen, is only a transformation of a higher form of creature to a lower form of creature. What Jesus did is different and more humiliating than we can ever imagine. He was the creator who became a creature. Everything is done on Christmas day so we can have Easter — when Jesus would die for your sins and my sins so that upon having a relationship with him and accepting him as Lord and Savior of our life, we can live with him forever.

I believe that the reason why for most, Christmas is about everything else other than Jesus is because of lack of relationship with him. The Christmas season could have been the best time of the year to remember that.

2. We actually give without thinking of receiving

Gift giving in it real essence is just emulating what God did. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” (John 3:16a)

What if we give gifts without thinking of what we can receive? What if, instead of giving well-wrapped gifts to your office mates, friends and relatives, we spend everything that we normally spend during Christmas season to buy food and clothing for the poor — people that doesn’t have any capability whatsoever to give a gift in return?

God is the model of this. When he gave Jesus to us, he wasn’t expecting anything in return. The Bible said, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. In the book of Isaiah, it is said that our most sincere attempt to do good is as filthy as a rug in the eyes of God. Why? Because we are all sinners and God is holy, holy, holy. How then can God expect anything from us?

That’s why when Jesus came on Christmas eve as a gift from God, He is not thinking of anything in return. He did it because he love us. He did it because there’s no other way than Jesus. He did it because he is our only chance.

How will you respond to his love?

This Christmas, my prayer is for us to go back to it’s origin — the very reason for this act of grace by God, and sincerely search our hearts and answer that simple yet profound question.