Dayspring Biblical Counseling Center

04/10/2020

“He Will Lift Us Up”
The year 2020 is only one quarter done, but it will go down in history as one of modern man’s most chaotic and challenging. The Big Three concerns are, of course (especially for the USA),
1) the global COVID-19 pandemic and the terrible cost in lives;
2) the unfathomable economic impact of the global shutdown (there’s likely a high cost in lives here, too), and
3) the political challenges of a Presidential election year.
And these challenging issues are not just impacting “other people”—they can be very personal. That’s why I would bet that most Christians are thinking—and many are asking—the big question: “What does God want from us and for us?” The answer is immensely important in our lives, yet one thing we know with certainty: we are assured in God’s sovereignty.
How we view God—and the nature of our relationship with Him—is fundamental for living above the chaos of these challenging times. For the Christian, I think there are two things we should prioritize: first, keep our hearts and minds fixed on Christ no matter what we go through. Second, a renewed and fervent prayer life is central to overcoming anything we encounter.
This month we begin to explore the importance that submission, sacrifice, and servanthood play in overcoming our difficulties and the trials of life. It was Jesus who taught us, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” [Matt. 20:16] That’s one of the reasons I believe that sacrificing ourselves as servants will result in the blessings of God, for humility overtakes pride in God’s Kingdom all the time. The submitted servant who sacrifices his life for God and others will likely experience the grace he needs to overcome the pressures of life. The following story exemplifies the struggle we all face as we learn what it means to be a servant—exemplifying the life of Christ, i.e., a life of humility.
SERVANTHOOD
As the young man sat in my office telling me that the problems in his marriage were not his fault, and that he didn’t know what to do to fix things, I asked him this simple question: “Do you really love your wife and children?” Looking me straight in the eyes he answered, “Of course I do. I love them more than anything or anyone on earth. Now that’s a strange question to ask.”
Pushing him some I asked, “When you say you love them, what do you mean?”
“I mean I love them so much that I would die for them.”
“Wow, it sounds like you love them as much as one person can love another.”
Then I said, “But would you mind if I take things a little deeper? You say you love them so much that you would die for them, but do you love them enough that you would live for them?”
The young man paused and looked puzzled, so I said, “This is what I mean: would you give up your desires, wants, needs, and even your “rights”, in order to serve them, your family? Would you put your family’s needs and desires before your own? And start showing them real, selfless love—no matter what it costs you? This would show that you are serious about putting them before yourself in life, which is what it means to say you love them, even to your death.”
There was dead silence for a moment as the gravity of what I was saying broke through. In his face I could see the struggle as God’s Spirit battled against his flesh.
Then, in a low and humbled voice he said, “Wow, you are right. My love has been selectively selfish. I mean, I’m very selective about when I will meet her needs, while all the time acting like I’m really godly, but actually I’m only serving myself. But if I’m getting what you, and especially God, want from me, I would be selflessly giving her and the kids the kind of love that Jesus did. I can now see that being a real servant to them is something I’ve talked about but never really taken seriously. I have always done just what I wanted, but now I can see that I’ve been nothing but selfish and bull-headed!”
Like so many Christians all over the world, including us, this brother’s life reflects a lack of what Scripture describes as having a servant’s heart unto death of self. Looking at his life is like looking in a mirror only to see our own selfishness. As Disciples we are to be like our Savior, who, being God, did not consider being God a reason not to come DOWN to earth and save us. [cf. Philippians 2:6–11] So He gave up everything—His attributes, privileges, and well-deserved rights (He being the only person in history to actually deserve any and all rights—unlike us, for we deserve NONE)—so He could be a servant. And His life of servanthood ended in execution—a path we are unlikely to ever go down.
What Jesus did by giving His all was more important than we might understand at first glance. Because by laying down His RIGHTS—an attitude and action that is completely counter to our modern world where our personal wants, needs and “rights” are not just taken for granted, they have actually become idols of a sort despite us not really deserving rights at all—He left us an example that no one else could ever have given. He showed us that the best kept secret in this world, and sadly, maybe most of all in the Church, was that we were created to serve, no matter what the case may be.
From the time of creation Adam was to serve Eve and she was to serve Adam. And they were both created to humble themselves and serve their loving Creator, even unto death its self. You see, the fact of the matter is we were created and called to serve God and each other as our Savior did for us. And to this we are called no matter what we “feel” is our personal right.
When it came to holding on to the rights that were so perfectly and rightly His, He humbled Himself and gave us the glorious gift of His Spirit—the Spirit who would give us the grace and will to fulfill all that He called us to. He gave us His Holy Spirit to attain the unattainable, so that, like Him, we, too, could be servants.
Next month we will explore some other aspects of this topic. Paul’s words speak the mind of Christ on these subjects, “For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness [through the cross of Christ] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” [Rom. 5:17]
This word of encouragement should give us all hope to live by grace. And may his words keep your heart fixed, through the grace of God, all month long.

03/29/2020

Hi...I'M Peter Garich, I'm the Director of Dayspring Counseling Center. I started DBCC 25 years ago. We have ministered to couples, families, Individuals and anyone who has ever needed help getting their relationships with God, Christ and each other back on track. We have probably ministered to thousands of people over those years and it has been a blessing and a joy. We praise God for all those folks who have walked through our doors sometimes in broken and literally destroyed in their FAITH. People who have been addicted to drugs and alcohol (or better said, in a state of sinful idolatry). In the past years we have worked with other Pastors and counselors like Elysee Fitzpatrick [a well known counselor and Christian writer of famous women's books ] I have also humbly collaborated with Dr. Ed T. Welch, author and Director of Counseling at CCEF .. And who authored " Addiction: Banquet in the grave.
I pray that our gracious Lord is keeping you all well and safe as we all go through such difficult times with the corona virus. May or healing Lord shorten the effects of this virus and bring healing to the whole world. And we can help you in any way please email us at [email protected] or phone us at 619 203 7699. We will do what we can to help you in the name of Jesus Christ. May God be with you and keep you all the days of this paramedic.AMEN .

03/25/2020

What are you thinking about if you are totally shutoff and locked down at home because of This pandemic from the virus that has taken over the world. And if
like by age(over 62) or because of an underlining medical issue (like hep. C, or fybromyalgia, or an immune system deficiency) , or if you fall into a risk category because of any other reason. Have you thought much about God and how He figures into this situation? If not then here are a few insights from Paul Tripp Ministries, and written by Paul Tripp himself. I hope they help you as they did me. The next post will be the Dayspring News Letter at the beginning of next month.

Like most of you, I’m hunkered down in my house, not going outside, and distancing myself from everyone except my wife. It’s particularly crucial for me to observe strict isolation orders because I fall into the high-risk category.

02/08/2020

BELOW IS THE DAYSPRING COUNSELING CENTER NEWSLETTER 2020 MAR.

02/08/2020

“GROWING IN GOD’S GRACE”
Feb. 2020 News Letter

“I can't do big things, but I want everything I do to be for the glory of God.” Doiminic Savio,“ Faith is what I live by in everything that I do. I strive to give glory to God in every aspect of my life.” Kel Mitchell “Our high and privileged calling is to do the will of God in the power of God, for the glory of God”
J.I. Packer,
The Apostle Paul teaches us much the same enlightening and uplifting messages when he writes, “. . . whether you eat or you drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God Almighty.” (1 Cor. 10:31) The thoughts and actions expressed above of lives lived to glorify God are not an option even though it is a life of conflict between the Spirit and the flesh.[Gal.5: 17,18] We’re commanded to seek His glory throughout Scripture. Graciously we have been assured that we can attain this lofty endeavor—for He has also equipped us. The moment we’re regenerated God gives us His Holy Spirit. And as His Spirit works within us we are empowered to live for His glory and our joy. Because of this new life we are also pledged to enjoy Him forever. And remember, the magnificent joys of forever began for us personally the day we were born of the Spirit, and will go on throughout eternity. Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever is a reality that’s in the here-and-now and not just some distant hope. Yet, we also live in the already and the not yet, and all this is to the glory of God.
In light of this truth let me pose the following question. What makes glorifying God so important? The answer to this life-altering question is somewhat simple, yet deeply profound. Being created in the Image of God, and not being gods ourselves, we were created to glorify God in all we think and do! (Mt. 22:37–39) It’s also true that the life that glorifies God cannot be separated from the life that worships Him. Paul points us clearly to our need to worship in Romans 12:1–2. The Apostle states, “In view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him, which is our reasonable and spiritual act of worship.” As far as God and Scripture are concerned, worshiping and glorifying God are two realities of the Christian life that cannot be separated.
How we walk this path of glory and worship will become clearer as we know more of Him, His love for us and His manner of life. Our level of intimacy with Christ, a richer knowledge of the life He lived, and the life He now has for us helps us in our quest to live for His glory. The manner and means God employs to move us along this path are many. Since it’s the chief end of every Christian to glorify, worship and enjoy God forever, and since He has equipped us for this journey, then it’s important to understand the nature of the road He’s put us on in order to get there. To accomplish this, the book of Hebrews encourages us with these words, “let us run with perseverance the race that’s marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not lose heart...endure hardships as discipline: God is treating you as sons.” While this passage is full of truths that admonish and encourage us, there are just a few I want us to focus on. To begin with, the writer assures us that the race we run is designed specifically for each one of us. God created us as unique individuals and knows exactly what each of us needs to grow. In other words, He has a race and road that I must take—one that’s different than yours—so that I can mature in my faith. Next he tells us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. For He not only ran and completed His race, but has assured us that we will complete ours, preserving to the end—“Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.”. Since God brought Jesus through all He endured, we too are confident of the same assurance to finish. But Jesus’ race was not without the obstacles of life that tried to deter Him, and neither is ours. The same as He was faced with the hardships God had ordained for Him—overcoming them as He lived for His Father’s glory—we too must face and persevere through ours. There are further insights about the struggles Jesus went through as He moved ever closer to fully glorifying His Father. Earlier in Hebrews the writer lifts the veil of Jesus’ humanity, allowing us to view the deepest agonies that even the Son of God endured. Just a glimpse of our suffering Savior helps us endure all we must. We see that, “during the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a son, he learned obedience from what He suffered” His’ submission came in the garden as He prayed for God’s will to be done over His. This is one of the most amazing passages in Scripture, for through it we are allowed to see inside the torment and agony of our Lord struggle for obedience. It should break our hearts that Jesus—the Son of the living God—had to go through such anguish. He did this so we could partake in His exaltation and glorify Him forever. Through these verses we see that Jesus learned obedience and submission through all He endured. As He laid down His life in an act of submission, He had to experience the road of blood and tears. What is made so absolutely clear here is that not even God’s Son would pass through this world without going through all that sin’s vicious curse could bring, yet He never sinned. One of the blessings we received by all He went through was that He endured the worst so that we could be spared such agony. And yet, even though we were spared from the depths of His suffering, we too would still run the gauntlet of hardships—for we would all suffer as our Savior did in his’ agony [Rom. 8:17].
This brings us to the final truth we will focus on. Just as God’s Son grew through all he suffered, we too, as sons, must endure and persevere in ours as well. This happens so “we may share in His (God’s) holiness.” (Heb. 12:10) One word that helps us understand our shared holiness with God more clearly is that of character—godly character. Just as hardships and holiness go together, hardship and godly character do, too. Remember, “Hardships not only build character, but they reveal it as well.” The hardships we endure are designed to get at our hearts—the seat of our character—so the issue of godly character is extremely important. The maturing and building of our character is exclusively a work of the Holy Spirit for it is He that preserves us unto the end. The hardships we go through are the instruments He uses to accomplish our maturity. The source of Jesus’ maturity was also suffering as Scripture says, “Jesus grew in obedience through all He suffered.” So we see that it was the sin of man that caused his’ suffering but He chose to die for us. He came to earth to live, died and was resurrected for our sin. This is why He was called the “suffering servant, for He suffered to save us. But there’s another source we must deal with: ourselves. Although many hardships come from external circumstances—including the sin of others—ultimately we must face our own ungodliness. The only way this happens is through our submission to the Spirit of God as He works within us. One of the gifts He imparts to us is the conviction of His Spirit—showing us our sin and giving us the grace to be changed. At the same time, one of the curses of being a sinner is that we are self-centered and in denial of the depths of that sin. We do not like to see ourselves in all our filth, much less acknowledge, confess and repent from it. We will sit in resignation to our flesh unless we respond to God’s grace and conviction.
Some time ago a woman and her husband came to me because the wife was facing her deepest fears. She was being allowed to see the depths of the sin that blinded her. The occasion was the potential loss of her loving relationship with her husband—a loss that was breaking her heart. The woman’s besetting sin was a deep-seated fear that captivated her, and a lack of truly trusting God as wanted her idol. She was fearful that she would never know the intimacy of a godly marriage, while at the same time she ran from trusting God for what such a commitment would bring. For years she’d struggled with a plaguing knowledge of these two opposing sins, yet was never compelled enough to deal with them. But then she was faced with a hardship that forced her to the brink and to her moment of truth. Either she would face her inner demons, and her character would grow in the grace of God, or she would shrink back and live in the bo***ge of sin’s grip and a broken marriage. Nancy Groom writes insightfully of this woman’s spiritual battle, “We almost all struggle with fear in our relation-ships. The intimacy for which we were designed is continually being sabotaged by our fear, and we keep running away from what we long to be running toward. We desire oneness but we flee the closeness. Our deep desire for love collides with our need for openness and vulnerability in sharing love with another. We want closeness but we fear being rejected or ignored . . . too often we retreat to the area of the manageable instead of trusting God in the uncharted territory of our fear for love” Miss Grooms’ words are extremely insightful as she clarifies the heart of this woman’s struggle for love, closeness and intimacy. She also speaks to the fear to which we can all fall prey. But what will help us, we ask? What, or who, will finally bring about the love and intimacy we all so deeply desires to vanquish our fears? In a word, it is the love of CHRIST ALONE!! Only He can enable us to step through the mist of every tormenting fear that binds us and take hold of all we were designed to be. And in the oneness of the Trinity we see our unity and find the reality of two becoming one in love and the bond of unity in peace.
In His' Grace,
Peter Garich M.Div., Ph.D.
Director of Dayspring Counxeling
DONATIONS Go To "5396 Greenbrier Ave. San Diego CA. 92120"

01/11/2020

"GRACE ALWAYS PREVAILS"
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them all, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassion never fails. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” … For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.
[Lamentations 3:19–24,31–32]
Having read these verses over the years, I’ve often thought that the Lord Jesus may also have thought about them when He faced death, even death on the cross. Although this is just my own speculation, these words of Jeremiah do speak to much of what Jesus faced on that hill they called Golgotha. These verses seem almost prophetic when you think about all that Jesus suffered, and yet He also was raised from the grave. They speak of the suffering and hope He experienced when His life was so close to the grave. For to Him this meant that His Father was going to raise Him back to life—“Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.”
You see, Jesus was entrusting Himself into His Father’s hands, believing that the resurrection would surely happen and that His “… throne, O God, will last for ever and ever … and Your years will never end.” [Heb. 1:8a, 12b] These are realities that bring absolute hope to all whose sins weigh them down, and to all who are sinking in the slough of despond.
Peter wrote about the way our Savior faced these trials in his first letter, a letter written to those who were also going through extreme trials (like wild beasts tearing them to death!). Peter tells us that Jesus gave us an example of how to be hopeful in the midst of our trials, and how to trust in the Lord’s faithfulness. As Christ suffered, died, and then rose again to eternal life, He gave us a way to live our lives in God-centered hopefulness because we, too, can trust in the Father’s compassion and faithfulness. And even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful” to the end. [2 Tim. 2:13a]
Peter writes thus, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. [His Father who brought Him back to life] ‘He himself bore our sins’ in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by His wounds you have been healed.’ [or made righteous]” [1 Pet. 2:21–24] Imagine the mindset with and in which He is calling us to live—a renewed mind that is empowered by the Holy Spirit through Christ’s righteousness and not ours.
It is an amazing thing to KNOW that we, too, can put our hope in the Lord and believe that our trials and tribulations will not overcome us—for we also KNOW that His grace preserves us. He is the same God who raised His Son from death and He does that for us every day—such as when He delivers us from some of the worst kinds of horrors a person could ever go through. Scripture assures us that we can entrust ourselves to our Father and be assured that His love for us is compassionate and new every morning. And though “He brings grief,” it is also certain that “He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.” He is faithful and nothing can thwart His will for us which always works out for His good and our maturity. [cf. Rms. 8:28] As someone once said, “as long as we wake up, Jesus has a purpose for our earthly lives.” And because every purpose comes from Him, we can fall but still not fail, because He will never let us down.
Here is the hope we have: no matter how bad the day went—falling into sin as Paul spoke of in Romans 7:14–21—we can believe that His compassion never fails, and that every morning is a new day. For, “… where sin abounded, GRACE abounded much [much!] more.” [Rms. 5:20] Whenever sin rears its head in our lives, God is there to bring good out of evil, for grace always prevails.
In his book, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” John Bunyan writes of a despairing place and state of mind that any believer, even St. Paul, will likely experience—the despondency of sin. To show how this affects Christians, Bunyan writes,
“Now I [Bunyan] saw in my dream that just as they had ended this talk, they drew near to a very miry slough [filthy quagmire] that was in the middle of the plain. And not watching where they were going, they both suddenly fell into the bog. The name of the Slough was Despond. Here therefore they wallowed for some time, being shamefully bedaubed with the dirt; and Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink into the mire … Pliable, making several toilsome attempts, eventually struggled out of the mire on that side of the Slough which was closest to his own house [in the City of Destruction]. So he went back and Christian saw him no more.”
“Therefore Christian was left to tumble in the Slough of Despond alone. But he still endeavored to struggle to that side of the Slough that was further from his own house and closer to the Wicket-gate [the Narrow Gate]. And this he did, yet he was unable to get out because of the burden that was upon his back.”
“However, I [Bunyan] saw in my dream that a man came to him named Help, and he asked Christian, ‘What are you doing here?’ ‘Sir,’ Christian replied, ‘I was advised to go this way by a man named Evangelist, and he directed me toward the Wicket-gate ahead so that I might escape from the wrath to come. But as I was pressing forward, I fell in here.’ Help asked, ‘But why did you not look for the steps across the mire?’ Christian answered, ‘I was so fearful in my escape that I missed the safe way across the mire and fell in.’ Then Help said, ‘Then give me your hand.’ So Christian stretched out his hand, and Help lifted him out of the mire and set him on solid ground; then the pilgrim was exhorted to be on his way toward the Wicket-gate ahead.”
“Help” certainly was Christ, and His grace overcame “Christian’s” sins and failures and pulled Christian to safety. But do note that Christian paid no attention to where he walked, missed the steps, and fell into the swamp. From there he could do NOTHING to help himself. But the grace of God could and did, and it’s the same for us as well.
Upon a brief reading of this short excerpt from Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” it seems as though, when we find ourselves caught up in sin, there are two ways to deal with it, and both depend upon us.
One way is to work hard to pull ourselves out by our own bootstraps; but when we do, we walk straight back into the mire because, like Pliable, when we depend on ourselves, our self-contentedness takes charge, and our walk with God is more about us than it is about God. There are times when we must really check our hearts to make sure that self is not centering our lives. Paul tells us that, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us NOT become conceited.” Conceit moves us farther from the Lord, not closer, but the Spirit is our hope.
The second way we may find ourselves dealing with our sin is like Christian, the young believer in Bunyan’s book. As quoted earlier, “Christian, weighed down by the burden on his back, began to sink. He finally reached the edge of the swamp, but he could not, no matter how hard he tried, lift himself out of the swamp because of the heavy burden that was on his back.” Christian’s sin became so heavy that he could do nothing. Sometimes we simply stay in our sin so long that we find ourselves in serious bo***ge. We may long to be free, but the weight is just too heavy. We find ourselves in a hopeless position and can do nothing about it.
Like Jeremiah, our hearts say, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them all, and my soul is downcast within me.” This is a position in which no believer, in his heart of hearts, wants to stay. Yet we sometimes say, along with Christian, “I was so frightened that I stepped the wrong way and fell into the swamp.”
But is this our fate? Or is there a hope that will deliver us from our sin? Did Christ die for nothing? Or was His blood shed for freedom by grace?
Because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we have God’s promise—and thus absolute hope—that God Himself will draw us up and out of all the depression of Jeremiah, up and out of all the mire into which Christian fell. So, like Christian and Jeremiah, we can lift up our eyes and hearts and hands, and worship our risen Lord, for that’s were freedom is found—not by works, of course, but by grace.
The way we find our way out of sin, and into the fullness and glory of the Lord, is to turn to the grace of God, and not to ourselves. We did not save ourselves; neither can we sanctify ourselves. And although we absolutely play a part in our walk with the Lord—being the means to His ends—rejoice that “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” [Phlps. 2:13]
I pray that your New Year is filled with the grace of our Savior. And that your hearts will trust in His sustaining compassion, for it is new every morning. Thank you for your prayers for my health, and for the financial gifts throughout this last year. You are all such a gift to me, and to Dayspring, and to all the people to which we have the opportunity to minister. It’s your gifts and prayers that supply the HELP, like “Help” did for “Christian” as he gave him a helping hand.
Peter Garich
www.dayspringbiblicalcounseling.org If you want to support Dayspring please send your financial gifts to 5396 Greenbrier ave. San Diego, CA, 92120 Any gift is a blessing and goes dirrectly to offering Biblical counseling to all who need it. All counseling is offered free or by donation if you can afford any gift at all. THANK YOU.
Peter Garich, M.Div, Ph..D.

12/31/2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR from DAYSPRING BIBLICAL COUNSELING. CENTER and GOD BE WITH YOU IN 2020 the year of our Lord

12/12/2019

"CAN YOU IMAGINE"
The Christ Child was born...

12/12/2019

"Can You Imagine"

It was late when I turned on the TV. I didn’t know what would be on, and I really didn’t care. All I wanted was to take my mind off the crazy day I’d just gone through. What I first saw didn’t grab me, so I kept my hand on the remote, changing channels quickly—until I just stopped. I didn’t know what I landed on, but it was the music that got to me, with a quieting effect. From the first few notes my heart felt calm and spiritual. Then I said to myself, “Wow, stop! I really like that. It reminds me of the Lord’s music.”
And it did. I recalled the old Biblical movies—like “King of Kings” or “The Ten Commandments”—that I’d loved so much growing up. They could really put me right back in the time and place of Jesus’ life. His miraculous birth—”for the King of Kings in all His infinite glory has been given unto us”—always brought me to tears when I was pr***en. Even so, I never thought they got the spiritual nature of it quite right. But really, who could? I mean, it was the birth and the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord—and He was GOD of course!
Yet I was still drawn into it all because they did their best, and anything about Jesus touched my heart as a wee lad. I loved the angels in the fields heralding the baby king’s coming, and the feeling that nothing could ever capture the true glory of that invasion by the incarnate God in the form of a humble, helpless, newborn infant. In reality, only God could bring the miracle of His birth to life, but those movies gave me a vibrant sense of it all. Years later, when the Holy Spirit dragged me into the Kingdom, that vibrant sense grew into the realization that only God could put His life within me for eternity.
So, yes, the movies did well with the birth stories, but then there was Jesus’ death and resurrection. I mean, who could ever do that justice but God? Who could recreate Jesus being beaten until those rusty pieces of metal and glass, woven into the whip, went through the flesh and muscles of His back and into His lungs? Only God, and not in a movie, despite Mel Gibson’s best efforts (“The Passion of the Christ”). And as if the beating wasn’t enough, then He was nailed to that wooden monster called the CROSS to suffer and die, with his lungs full of fluid until He suffocated. That was the part that always hurt me with a pain that was unexplainable.
That trail of sorrow and tears was one that only Jesus could walk—and walk it unto death He did. But of Him God said, “He will live on forever and never see decay.” [Psalm 16:10; Acts 13:35] And like no other man ever crucified, He didn’t see decay. This path—His death and resurrection—was made ready for Him before time began, and brought to fruition at that perfect moment prepared by the Father beforehand. And what a moment it was, for it proved that all the kings of this world, and the rulers of the universe, were fools and liars, and only He was proved true, for He is THE TRUTH.
Despite their shortcomings, the old movies always gave me chills. And really, who but God could put something so otherworldly and spiritual on film at that perfect time in my life, when He just started wooing me unto Himself? It was surely a “God Thing,” as we like to say.
Again, it was years later, on a particular night, that His death and resurrection bore witness to my soul that He was God and He was my SAVIOR. And it was that night of His choosing that He saved me. He made it possible for me to still be alive, and not overdosed on he**in in someplace like Mexico with a life thrown away like so many of my friends from those days.
But now back to my channel-surfing night and the movie I stumbled upon whose music caught my ear and brought back this flood of memories. I was just a very tired person who was hoping he had found a good movie to watch, and guess what, I did! In fact, it was a very good movie as we were beginning the week of Thanksgiving and on to Christmas, the time we celebrate His glorious birth, when the Angel proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.’” [Luke 2:10–14]
The movie portrayed the life of Jesus and His family from His birth, through His presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem on the eighth day, through the young family’s escape to Egypt, then their return to Nazareth, and ending with Jesus at the Temple, twelve years old, speaking with the leaders. All was accompanied by that majestic music so common to these old religious movies.
But this movie was quite different than all the others of that period, for no other movie I’d ever seen had shown the life of Jesus as a young boy, from his birth on up to that twelve-year-old’s visit to the Temple in Jerusalem at the feast of Passover. St. Luke records that incident and says that “Jesus at the age of twelve sat with the teachers listening and asking questions, but could anyone have imagined who this boy truly was? And everyone that heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers.” [Luke 2:46–47]
Can you imagine? The amazement of all those, and even His parents, who heard His wisdom, as He sat there with the teachers of such great learning, asking His questions while they were probably teaching and talking over God’s word. Yet Luke’s account makes it clear that He was teaching them, and knew it from His heart. Indeed, He did, for it was from the heart of Jesus—the Word of God incarnate—that the Word of God came.
Can you imagine? What was it like, through the eyes and mind of Jesus, to speak with such wisdom to the religious leaders of His time? Did He know? The Scripture says all those who heard Him were amazed, and that His family was astonished. [Luke 2:47–48] Was He amazed as well? This was something I had never thought much about, but came to mind as I read and studied the Scriptures (which I hope can encourage you about reading God’s Word as a way of life: there is no bottom to the depth of the riches of God’s Word!).
Like all those who heard Him and were amazed, was Jesus—who grew in wisdom as a human being—amazed at what the Spirit was doing within His heart? Could Jesus Himself ever imagine exactly what the Spirit of God was doing as He imparted God’s wisdom into Jesus’ mind? The Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son are the one, Most High God, filling the man Jesus with the wisdom of His Father is, I believe, the same way the Holy Spirit imparts God’s wisdom into our hearts, for, like us, Jesus was fully human (yet, of course, without sin).
This must have been an element in the amazement of the Jewish leaders, for though they knew He was the son of Mary, they did not know that Jesus was God as well, and that His heart and soul were perfect and without sin. Only that pure Spirit could speak with the same will and voice as God, a fact that those who would later believe on His name would begin to understand: He was both fully man and fully God. This was the miracle that came to us all that first Christmas, when the Christ was born and began the journey of growing up, increasing “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” [Luke 2:52]
This was the time and cultural setting of the movie I landed on. I was overwhelmed as the director of the picture told the story, especially as I began to wonder what was going on in the mind of the young Jesus. Can you imagine the amazement of Jesus throughout His young life as He meditated on (and maybe even acted on) some of the aspects of His God-nature? As He contemplated the questions: who was His Father? And, who was He? Of course, He was both God and man throughout His entire life, but it’s still remarkable to ponder that, as a twelve-year-old, He—the promise of Abraham—is still astounding the Jewish leaders—the children of Abraham—about the God of Abraham!
This was the exciting story, done in the fashion of the movies I watched with such great joy as a young boy. I can hardly imagine what young Jesus thought as He heard about Joseph’s dream from the Lord to save His life by fleeing to Egypt until Herod had died, only later to return their small family to Nazareth in Galilee, and then down to Jerusalem for Passover where all who heard Him were speechless—this, the young boy who was born that night in Bethlehem according to all that the Scriptures had foretold. And as Luke reports, “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” [Luke 2:19]
As we meditate on the Christmas story this holiday season, the things that happened on the night Jesus the Christ was born—and their implications—will grow and mature within us, just as they likely did within Jesus the boy. And like Mary, His mother, we should ponder these words of Scripture concerning the birth of Christ, just as they were written, so that the birth of Jesus, which we celebrate, will live within us, and we will grow in God’s wisdom and understanding. Further, let us keep “glorifying and praising God for all they [the shepherds] had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” [Luke 2:20] Even when we stumble upon a wonderful old movie about young Jesus’ life while channel surfing after a rough day!
In closing, know that my prayer for you all is that God will bless you as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, and that we may truly ponder all these things within our hearts, just as Mary did, beginning that night the Word of God was born, “just as it was written.” And I pray that we can imagine within our hearts all that God has brought to pass. Can you imagine?