The Cross of Christmas

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’s birth on Christmas day, 25th December, (the real reason for the season), have you ever wondered why God had to send Jesus to earth to be born as a baby? 

Although the Nativity story is found in the Gospel books of Mathew and Luke, having recently studied the book of Hebrews, I was amazed to come across many verses pertaining to why Jesus was born. 

So, I thought I’d share them with you as you ponder and reflect on the celebration of the birth of our King and Savior, Jesus Christ…

1. Jesus was born so that He could become the son of God that would make us His children and God our Heavenly Father - Hebrews 1:5; 5:5
2. Jesus was born as a human of flesh and blood so that He would no longer be immortal but would be able to die so that His blood could be poured out for us. - Hebrews 2: 14
3. Jesus needed to be born, so He could die in order to destroy the devil through His death- Hebrews 2:14
4. Jesus needed to die to deliver and free us from sin and break the power of death and the devil - Hebrews 2:15
5. Jesus was born so He could become human like us and know how it feels to be tempted and suffer - Hebrews 2:18
6. Jesus was born to become the guarantee and mediator of a new covenant between ourselves and God - Hebrews 7:22; 8:6; 9:15
7. Jesus was born so He could have a body that could be sacrificed like an unblemished Lamb for our sins- Hebrews 10:5

When you add the Cross to Christmas, it gives meaning to the purpose of Jesus’s birth. Our wreaths of holly and berries symbolize a wreath for His death and represent the crown of thorns He had to wear and the berries, the drops of blood that dripped from His brow. 

The Christmas lights represent the light that Jesus brings to the darkness of the world, to our own darkness and how we should be reflecting His light to others. Whether you have a star or an Angel on top of your Christmas tree, both are symbols of God’s glory that ushered in the announcement of Jesus’s birth.  

The very tree represents the wood that was cut up to become the cross. The ornaments we put on our trees can represent things we should nail to the tree or they can also represent our blessings and inherited gifts we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  

Christmas offers us the hope of eternity in Heaven. The Old Testament’s sacrifices were just a parole but with the New Testament and Covenant, we are given a full pardon. Yes, the devil may still seem active in our lives, but he is like a dog that has been chained up to the stake of the Cross.  He can growl and bark, but he can no longer harm us, as long as we stay out of his reach. 

Christmas is God reaching out to us.  It is the celebration of His incarnation that He is Emmanuel and is always with us. It should not just be a holiday tradition, but become our response to God for sending Jesus to restore our relationship with Him.

Wishing you all a Blessed and meaningful Christmas!

Much love, 

Samantha

Food for Fuel

Those who know me, will know the quest I have been on to find that one, simple, miracle cure to restore my body shape back to what it was in the 1980’s. Although I have learnt a lot regarding food and weightless, I’ve recently discovered that part of my problem is due to my relationship with food and the lies I’ve been believing. 

Growing up as a child, I was extremely skinny. So much so, that my doctor had me eating a small jar of peanut butter a day, just so I would put on some weight!  However, something happened after I hit menopause, which I’m told is caused by my metabolism having taken the slow lane…

There are tons of suggestions on the internet on how to boost your metabolism, and I keep meaning to try them, but at the moment, I am too busy enjoying my food.

I wake up planning my breakfast and lunch and already know what I will be having for dinner, the night before. So much of my thought life is consumed by food and what I eat.  I’ve believed the lie that food comforts me, but in all honesty, I am never satisfied with it.  If I eat something too salty, I need something sweet to balance it out, and vice versa.  

I was recently reminded that when what you consume starts to consume you, it is a sure sign that it has become an idol in your life.  So I’ve realized I need to change the way I think about food. Instead of waiting for victory in this area of my life, I’ve decided to share my thoughts, so you can join me on this journey.  Here are my 7 tips I’ve discovered so far…

1. Reduce or Replace instead of Quit - I don’t know about you, but the minute I try to cut out anything bad from my diet, I end up just craving it more. So my answer is to either reduce or replace these things with healthier options. For instance, I have gone from 2 sugars to 1, or honey and have replaced white bread for wholegrain seeded bread. I am also enjoying dark chocolate more, instead of milk chocolate and eating popcorn, rice crackers and pretzels in place of potato crisps.
2. Know When You’re Full – Growing up, I learnt to clean my plate, so I find it difficult to know what it feels like to feel full. However, often at Christmas or buffet-style meals, I certainly know what it feels like to feel TOO full, which means I need to learn to know when to stop, before I overindulge.
3. Wait Before Seconds – This ties in with point number 2 – Don’t just eat seconds because it is delicious and you want more. When I wait for my stomach to give me the signal that I’ve had enough, I find it easier to resist the temptation to be greedy. By practicing delayed gratification, I save the leftovers for tomorrow.
4. Use a Smaller Plate – If you are tempted like me to load your plate, try using a side plate or a smaller plate or bowl to help reduce your portion size. A smaller plate changes our perspective on the size of your meal. As well as knowing the correct portions we should be eating, in relation to our vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates.
5. Eat for Fuel – So much of my eating nowadays revolves around habit or entertainment. With every celebration and event, the main focus seems to be about the food. If we only eat to refuel ourselves, we will be more energized instead of ‘maggies vol, oegies toe’ (An Afrikaans phrase that means when your stomach is full, your eyes close to sleep). I am not saying I’m going to stop eating cake or gourmet food to celebrate with, but I will try to make the event and the people the highlight, instead of the food. The same goes for eating our 3 meals out of habit.  If I'm still full from the meal before, I will delay the next or skip it. 
6. Move it, but Don’t Overdo it! – As a non-gym fan and flat owner, with limited floor space, I was happy to hear that too much exercise is counteractive to weight loss. Apparently, the fat hormone cortisol is released when you exercise too intensively. Besides taking my dog for her twice daily 20 minutes walks, I am now also trying Chair exercises through one of the many available Apps.
7. Pray Before Eating – Last, but probably the most important, is to pray first. When I change the way I view food and use it to fuel me for energy and nutrition, I become more conscious and convicted of what I am feeding my body. By saying Grace or praying over my meal before I eat, I am asking God to bless the food to my body. I am reminding myself daily, that my body is the Temple where God’s Spirit lives within me, and should be kept pure and holy, and is not a dustbin for feeding junk.

As we encourage one another with our body transformations, let us be patient with ourselves and extend grace when we fail.  By seeking God first and relying on His strength to help us resist the temptations and lure of food that is not good for us, we can overcome our binge, junk and comfort eating.

I love that verse in Psalms 34:8 that tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good, because it reminds me that God created food to be delicious, and to enjoy it. But, yet again, Satan has taken something good and turned it to become our enemy. 

We can grow the fruit of our self-control by being mindful of what we eat and learning to acknowledge when we have had enough. We cannot expect our bodies to operate and function as God intended them to, if we are not eating the correct ‘fuel’. 

Please can I ask you to take the time and be vulnerable to share your own helpful tips. I believe that a community that cares enough to share, is a powerful tool that God’s uses to help us each heal and grow together. God is with us all in this journey and victory is our portion!

Below are further tips from a shared source that sounds viable enough to be worth considering…

https://insights.avea-life.com/glucose-imbalance/nutrition/glucose-goddess-hacks/

For those who are struggling particularly with comfort eating, see my previous blog that I hope will help you further -  https://sharingsfromsam.blogspot.com/2022/05/seeking-comfort-from-god-instead-of-food.html

Happy eating as you eat for fuel!

The Fragrance of the Thorns

I like to wear red on Good Friday to symbolize the blood that Jesus shed for me and the color of the love that fully paid the debt of my sins.  On this Good Friday, as I was taking my dog out for her early morning walk, I came across a thorn tree and pondered on how a rose, such a beautiful, fragrant flower, can yield such piercing, painful thorns. As a believer that there are no co-incidences when it comes to God’s creation, I think it was to remind us that there is always something good in everything that we might consider to be bad. 

When we reflect on the pain Jesus had to endure when the crown of thorns was pressed and pierced into His skill, so can imagine His red blood dripping down His face, and we can share in His agony on this very dreadful ‘bad’ day. What makes this painful Friday ‘good’ is what Jesus’s death did for us.  Were it not for Jesus’s unselfish sacrifice, our relationship with God could not have been restored.  Jesus died to pay the full price of our sins, to purchase our righteousness as a free gift of our salvation.    

The rose epitomizes that fact that there is goodness amidst the bad. In life there are things we deem to be pleasant (roses) but also the things we dislike and can harm us (thorns).  I love it that God gave roses such a beautiful scent, as a reminder to us that our pain produces a fragrance that will always turn bad things into good. And how fitting that a red rose has become the symbol of everlasting love. 

So to go back to Good Friday, what makes that Friday good is to see that day through the lens of what Jesus’s death achieved for our good, and the love with with He did it with.  Death was conquered on that day and through Jesus, our old nature can be crucified and put to death too.

C'ing into 2024

As I paused to reflect on the start of 2024, I asked God to give me a word to carry into the blank pages of another year.  In an instant, a lot of 'C' words came flooding into my mind.  I had to smile as God knows how much I love alliteration, although I must admit I was not so keen at first on His choice of letter.  When I think of the reference to the C word, the dreaded Cancer word comes to mind.  However, I was reminded of the verse in Psalms 112:7 that we won’t need to fear bad news when our hearts are steadfast, trusting, and believing that God will carry us through the year, even if there is a diagnosis of cancer. 

CHANGE.  - We may have set many goals and resolutions in 2023 that never materialized because we didn’t make the necessary choices to effect the change. We know God never changes, but He does change our circumstances and there are some things God wants to help us change.  These are our attitude, our perspective, our behavior, our responses, and our habits.

CHOICES - To effect this change, we need to be making the right choices.  To choose is to decide.  Will we serve God or will we choose to serve man or self?  When we choose God, we are choosing life and a blessing.  As God’s chosen, let us choose what is right, what is pure, and what is pleasing to God.

CONFIDENCE – To be confident, is to have no doubts, fears, or uncertainty.  God calls us to have boldness in the abilities He has gifted us with. He wants us to be confident in our identity of knowing who we are in Christ and what that means.  He wants us to know that we are victors in every battle of life and lastly, God wants us to have a relationship with Him as our loving Father, to be bold enough to go to Him with confidence.

COMPASSION – To have compassion is to have a tenderness towards someone's suffering and misfortune. We express compassion with care and concern. God expects us to feel and be filled with compassion and be moved to act in doing the right thing, to see justice and mercy administered.

CLARITY – God calls us to write down our vision and goals.  I believe there is something powerful that happens in the spiritual realm when we write things down.  I also want to think clearly, speak clearly, write clearly, hear clearly, and see clearly.  Each night our goal should be to go to sleep with a clear conscience and to wake up each morning clear-minded.

CALM – We are called to give gentle answers and not fly off the handle every time someone pushes our buttons.  We need discernment to remain calm when the storms of life come and not react or respond with anger.

CHEERFUL  / CHARISMATIC – If you are a moody person like me, you will know the struggle of trying not to let our emotions rule our lives.  God calls us to be cheerful, not just because it is good for our health, but because it attracts others.

CONTROL – We need to relinquish our control over our lives and give it fully to God to rule and reign over every aspect of it. The only control we need to master is our self-control – over our tempers, over our words, over our eating, and our temptations.

COMMITTED – God calls us to not only be fully committed to Him but also to our goals and remain loyal in our relationships. We need to commit our plans and our ways to God daily, giving Him our all in everything we do.

CREATIVE – Last, but not least, we need to tap into our creative side.  I believe each of us is creative in one way or another.  Find a hobby that appeals to you and discover the creativity God has blessed you with. Creating is an outlet that brings our soul joy and is a lifetime treasure waiting to be discovered. 

So let us see into 2024 with these C words to live by, as signposts to help lead and motivate us each day.

God bless you all!

Finding Jesus in the Christmas Tree

I was recently surprised to discover that a dear friend does not put up a tree at Christmas, believing it to have pagan roots. As a huge fan of the Christmas tree, it set me on a mission to find Christian meaning to this age-old tradition. It is my hope that this blog will give new meaning to this Christmas symbol and that you will see your tree in a new light.

It is true that the origins of a cut down, decorated tree may have its root in paganism, as can be read in Jeremiah 10:1-5. In later years, pagans would also bring fir trees into their homes at Yuletide because it represented everlasting life and fertility.  However, history tells us that it was an 8th-century English missionary in Germany that first introduced the tree as a symbol of remembrance of Christ’s birth. Author Henry Van Dyke recounted these events in his fictionalized short story “The First Christmas Tree.”

Considering that the curse was introduced through a tree in the Garden of Eden, I believe it is quite fitting that our redemption is signified through the Tree of Life, Jesus, who is our Vine and as Christians, we are His branches.  Conifers, like the Pine tree are also evergreen, which represents the everlasting life we get through Christ. The Cross that Jesus was crucified to was also made of wood from a tree. And lastly, its triangular shape represents the trinity, which makes this tree the perfect representative, especially when we consider the many tree references there are in the Bible.

As Christians, we get to choose whether to put a star or an angel on the top of our tree, both of which heralded the announcement and place of where Jesus was born. It is also fitting that the fir tree mentioned in Isaiah 41:19; and 60:13 draws attention to the future glory of the temple in Jerusalem that would be built with its noble wood.

The bright twinkling lights on the Christmas tree is a metaphor for the light of Christ, who illuminates the darkness with His hope and salvation.  The soft glow is also a reminder to us to shine the light of Jesus to others. 

Each ornament can be carefully chosen to represent something to do with Jesus, His birth, the characters of the Nativity scene, or even something to represent the many gifts God has given us. Each ornament then becomes a small piece of the Christmas story and of our faith and blessings, woven into each branch. These symbols can remind us of the sacredness of the season and our love for God, who gave us the greatest gift of His son. Having replaced many of my ornaments over the year with ones with more meaning, I can honestly say that this does make a difference. Even a snowman can remind us that Jesus has washed us clean as white as snow!

Putting up the tree together as a family can become a sacred ceremony instead of just a holiday tradition. Finding Jesus in the tree helps us connect with the spiritual essence of this special season and the reason we celebrate it.  As a family, it is a special time where we can feel the presence of Jesus, through the joy, love and peace we experience, whilst singing along to Christmas Carols.

In a world filled with the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations, finding Jesus offers a moment of respite and spiritual connection. It is a reminder that amidst the festivities, the heart of Christmas lies in the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To me, Christmas is not just one day, but a season and spirit of goodwill and joy as we gather in love to remember and celebrate the birth of our King!

Lastly, the gifts under the tree that we get to give and receive from our loved ones is a reminder that it is Jesus’s birthday!  Yet, it is His presence that is more important that the presents, for they represent the many gifts we receive spiritually.  It also teaches us to be generous and meaningful givers.

This year, let us find a deeper connection to our faith by seeking the presence of Jesus in the heart of our Christmas decorations, traditions and celebrations.

Wishing you and your family a meaningful and tree-mendous Christ-mas and a faith-filled festive season!

Finding the Lost

Have you ever lost something really valuable, much needed or expensive to replace?  When you can’t find something and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach and your heart beats into panic mode?  Recently, I lost my car keys and experienced that very real, dreaded feeling. What made it worse is that there was a public holiday the day before, where I hadn’t gone out, so my limited memory gabbled to remember my steps from the last time I had seen them.  I was so sure I had put them in my jacket pocket, but after turning all my jackets upside down, emptying my handbag, shopping bags and checking every drawer, nook or cranny, I was at a complete loss. I even panicked that I might have left them inside the car or the boot, but the spare key convinced me otherwise.  Yes, I had a spare key, but it does not have the remote for the immobiliser which is a much-needed device living in South Africa!

After a whole day of searching frantically and turning up empty handed, I was reminded about a time when my husband had lost his wedding ring a week before our 10^th anniversary.  I had anxiously viewed this is a foreboding sign for our marriage and left no stone unturned in helping him to find it. It wasn’t until someone from Church reminded me that the Holy Spirit can help us find things when we ask Him, that I decided to pray. I believe God prompted me to look in our daughter’s toy box, for this was a place I never would have thought to look.  Lo and behold, it was there!  It must have come off when he was packing away her toys, the neat freak that he is…

So, with this remembered, reliable tool, I turned the situation over to God, asking Him to reveal where my car keys were. Later that afternoon, I had the notion to look in the drawer where we keep our dog’s leash and voila – there it was!!  That rush of relief sweeping through your body is the best feeling in the world! With a grateful heart and heartfelt thanks to God, I now know I will never forget to pray first, the next time I lose something.

Finding the lost made me think also of our mission as Christians in finding those who need God’s salvation.  Imagine if we all searched for people like we do for lost material things, how many souls we would find for Christ?  The truth is that there is a harvest field out there that is ready to be picked, if we will just take the time to go out there and really search to find them. 

Communion and Baptism in the Cross of Easter

God has laid on my heart the symbolism of Communion and Baptism in reference to Easter’s message of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, which I wanted to share with you.

We know from scripture that the wine taken at communion symbolises Jesus’s blood, which was shed for us all at the Cross of Calvary.  Wine, in essence, is the blood of many grapes.  The power that unites those grapes was extracted in the wine press of the Cross.

We also know that the bread is a symbol of His flesh, which was broken and beaten, which is why we break the bread. When you think of how bread is made, it is just many grains of flour that are brought together by water.  With us representing the body of Christ, we too are brought together by the waters of baptism, and baked in the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

When we take Communion, we remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross and identify with the pain and suffering He experienced, by taking the bread of life, His body, that saved us from our sin, and drinking the redemption wine, His blood, that was poured out that washed us clean. Therefore, Easter is the perfect time to take Communion, to remember what Jesus did on the Cross. 

Looking back at Jesus’s crucifixion, I often wondered why Jesus refused the first wine but accepted the second. I was interested to learn that the first wine had been mixed with myrrh or gall, a narcotic that is often given to those being crucified to help numb the pain. Yet, Jesus chose to fully experience the pain, as we painfully witnessed through the accuracy in the Passion movie. 

It was only when Jesus said He was thirsty, that He accepted the soured wine or vinegar, which was a common drink in those days to alleviate thirst.  In a way, by quenching His thirst, Jesus was actually prolonging the pain. He drank the wine of His Father’s wrath down to its very last dregs, and He did so for us—that we might enjoy the new wine of His Father’s love, and live redeemed forever in the glorious presence of the one who took no shortcuts in saving us.

After the recent baptism of a dear friend’s daughter, I was reminded of the spiritual significance of this event in that you are exchanging your old worn and weak wineskin for a new stretchable and strong one so that we can fully receive the pouring of the new spiritual wine of Christ. You are laying down the old you and taking on a newness in the spirit. In a sense, what Baptism symbolises is the crucifying of your flesh and the resurrection of the new you, full of the Holy Spirit’s power and effectiveness to keep you walking in that newness, and daily reminding yourself that your flesh and the old you are dead.  Baptism is a declaration to Satan and the world that you are now committed to being all in with Christ.

As I remember back to my own Baptism; I was so excited to be given the opportunity to have it done in the Jordon River. Yet, a few weeks before the departure of our trip to the Holy Land I felt God telling me not to wait and to have it done sooner at the Baptist Church I was attending at the time, which I did. I strongly believe that being Baptised before going, prepared me spiritually for the powerful encounter I had with God, and had I not obeyed Him, I would have had a more glorious setting of a baptism, but without the lasting and powerful effect. 

If you have never been Baptised with the full immersion of water, may I urge you to take this next step of faith in your walk with God? If it was important enough for Jesus to do and because He tells us to, this is an act of obedience where we get to publicly declare the decision made in our hearts to follow Jesus.  From my experience, it is where you receive the victory in truly becoming an overcoming Christian to live with the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit, and there is no better time to be baptised than at Easter.