It’s hard to believe there are only two Saturdays remaining in 2024.
In the next hour or so I’m heading over to Temple Baptist Church, Amarillo (where I’m serving as interim pastor) to pick up my order of delicious homemade Christmas cookies.
The Christmas cookie project is a fundraiser for the church’s mission trip to Honduras next summer. I ordered completely to support the mission project; it had nothing to do whatsoever with my sweet tooth! (That may have been a tall tale).
This season has been full of music!
Last weekend, I got to sing in 3 performances of “Bright Angel Hosts” with my home church—First Baptist Church Amarillo.
Next weekend will be 3 Holiday Pops concerts with the Amarillo Master Chorale and the The Amarillo Symphony. (That one I get to share with my favorite daughter).
And those are just the ones where I’m on the stage. I’ve been in the audience for several others.
It’s really easy to get caught up and carried away in the special events of the Christmas season. But I’m also thinking this morning of what it means to continually focus on walking with Jesus.
My hymn this morning was “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”
No one knows for sure who wrote this song. Maybe that’s a good thing, because it makes it easier for it to become OURS— each one of us.
It’s a prayer where I ask God—plead with God—to help me walk ever closer in step with Him every day in all the seasons of life.
My Scripture for today was Luke 7. The incident that stood out was the anointing of Jesus by a “sinful woman” in the home of a Pharisee.
The verse that really struck me was what Jesus said in 7:47:
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Here’s what I noticed: She loved much BECAUSE she had been forgiven much, not SO THAT she could be forgiven.
I recently heard a pastor say on a podcast that one of the ways he avoids being the voice of judgment and condemnation is to see himself as the biggest sinner in the room—the one who has been the most forgiven.
We are more likely to want to walk closely in step with Jesus if we are so deeply moved by how we’ve been forgiven that we can’t help pouring out our love on Him.
That just reminded me of a song that Tova Dad and I recorded on our “Distant Music” album.
My prayer for all of us this week is that we’ll pour our grateful love out on Jesus.
Be amazing today, my friend.
