A Christmas question: "With whom is God pleased?"

" 'And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!' " -Luke 2:12-14

The 2 questions that jumps off the page at me are first "why is this statement made in the presence of an infant?" and second, "with whom is God pleased? With me?"

"With whom is God pleased?!?!?!?!?" Is he pleased by my helping some stranger jump start their car last week, or by me hosting my family last weekend, maybe the God of the universe is pleased with me because I somehow manage to carry the title of "pastor" in my job description? WRONG! Maybe He's pleased with me because of my selfish attitude towards my wife, or my frustrated responses towards people, maybe the God of the universe has no reason to be pleased with me! or does He? With whom O God are you pleased?!?!!?

The answer that sinks into my heart melts the very prideful thoughts of the original question: A cross on Calvary, God in human form, blood on my behalf and righteousness imputed to me. The God of the universe would be please with those who trust in Jesus Christ and have surrendered their lives to Him, The God-Man entering into human history to reveal to the world the plan of God to place the sin of all mankind on the back of the sinless One that we would not live by our righteousness but by His! So with whom is God truly please? Jesus! By whom have my sins been paid? Jesus! What righteousness gains me favor? Jesus'! Who reconciles men to God? Jesus!

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." -1 Corinthians 1:30

This Christmas season I plead with you all to remember this: Jesus Christ was born into the world so that God might be pleased with you because when you place your faith in Him no longer does God see your righteousness but He sees that of the Son. Therefore, God can and will be pleased with you by nothing you have done, but by He in whom you trust. With whom is God pleased? With those who've met His Son.

This post can also be viewed at www.dbcstudents.org.

The blogging resumes...

Coming from a guy who cares more about which shotgun shells I'm using than whether or not I've updated my Iphone this year it's amazing to me that I find myself crawling back to the blogging world. However, I'm making a commitment to Ricchuiti that I will blog weekly if he will run it on the techy side of things. So here's to you Ricchuiti!

Why blog?
That is truly the question I've asked myself for a few weeks now, but my reasoning is simple: I want to use any means possible to encourage and equip the leaders and students God has chosen to surround me with. Therefore, this will have a specific audience of students in the Denton area, specifically those at DBSM as well as leaders in DBSM. I hope to honor Christ through every word, to challenge your faith with every line and to share my love of Christ with all who might stumble into this post. My hope and prayer is that God will in some small way use this to show His grace to you and display His glory and honor to your heart and to your soul. My hope is that this will encourage us as a body of students and leaders to live lives given to Him daily and to daily display the Gospel to all who we might see. To those at DBSM I am daily challenged and gladdened to serve in your presence, God has truly been gracious to me to surround me with such people. I love each of you more than you know and more than I ever tell you. Thank you for being a part of my life and for always being so genuine and honest with me. See ya soon;)