The best gift is...

Wouldn't it be great to have someone just tell us everything was going to be all right in our life? There are moments in time when things just seem to spin out of control and all we want to hear is that it is going to be well with us - we are going to make it through, survive, and rise above this current unease or unrest. We are loved by God and kept by Jesus Christ - therefore, what spins today is still in his control. Some of us just need to hear, "Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!"

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven. (Jude 1:20-23)

There are people in our midst that make it their mission to view the grace of God we have received as a license to continue in sin - to spin out of control - to let the world dictate what they should do and say.  We need to know without any doubt that grace NEVER licenses us to continue in sin - it never encourages us to spin out of control.  We need to be carefully built up in the faith - in order to counteract the things that are contrary to a life of peace and rest.  We are reminded of the necessity of "continuing" - whatever is begun in our lives at the moment we say 'yes' to Jesus is something we must continue with all through our lives.  When one is on a trip to a destination, the best method of arriving at the destination is to "continue" in the course laid out.  If we stop, we never realize the joy of the destination.  If we continue moving away from where we started, we get closer to where we are headed.

The opposite of living a life that spins out of control (freely pursuing sin just because we think we can receive the grace to cover over that sin anytime we like) is to stay right at the center of God's love.  I have never experienced the terror of a tornado, but those who have speak often of what it is like when the "eye" of that tornado passes over.  For just a period of time, the very center of that tremendously destructive force is calm, peaceful, and a place of rest.  All around that "eye" there is a pulling force of wind that is attempting to tear up all in the path of that storm.  We need to stay in the middle of God's love - thereby avoiding the pulling of the forces that exert pressure on us, pulling us into things that will cause us to spin out of control once again.  No other place is as safe as right in the middle of God's love - it is a stabilizing force, a peaceful place.

In addition to moving "away" from sin and "into" the center of God's love, we are to keep ourselves open to receiving God's mercy.  Open arms are welcoming - they invite us into their embrace.  To live in such a way that we are always open to receiving God's embrace - this is where we find our spinning ceases.  We are to be tough on sin, but easy on the sinner.  It is the sin that stinks - not the sinner.  We often find ourselves throwing the baby out with the bathwater - we can't or won't deal with the sinner because we have an issue with their sin.  The practicality of loving the sinner while not condoning their sin is difficult for us to grasp.  We cannot seem to separate the two.  It might help to remember that God looks at us, not our sin.  He is moved by our need, not the sin.  He is touched by our helplessness, not the sin. He desires to end the spinning - not to just slow us down.

The challenge is to "go easy" on those who "hesitate" in the faith - those that might set out on the journey, making good progress for a while, then kind of "stall out" for a while.  They are no longer making progress toward their destination.  They may have been caught in the "fringes" of sin once again - pulled in unaware of the destruction that awaits.  Our part is to love them, reminding them of the welcoming arms of Jesus - of the gift that beckons to them to be unwrapped and embraced.  Grace is most appreciated when it is most needed.  We often don't know we need water until we are parched with thirst.  If we know someone spinning out of control today, maybe the best gift we offer them this Christmas is grace! Just sayin!