Christmas is Hope

Living the Good  News! which is the gospel of Jesus Christ isn't a matter of keeping the rules so that you can earn the rewards. Living the Good News! is about thanking Jesus Christ for making Eternal Life possible. We will never be saved because we are perfect, we are saved because Jesus Christ is perfect. Therefore, if we have faith in Christ, we place our hope (our expectation) in the fact that He has told us He will save us and live in gratitude for that great blessing.

Understanding this perspective empowers you. You live differently, more confidently. You live peacefully. You withstand trials, adversity, persecution, disappointment and every other negative occurrence in life because you have hope. You know all this telestial experience is temporary and that you are on your way to a better place.

Hope, then, is the inspiration and motivation to hang in there. Hope is the mortar that holds together the brick of our eternal mansion. Hope is peace in the heart and fire in the belly. Hope brings a smile to the face whether the sun is shining brightly or storms are raging.  

Hope is Jesus Christ, and Christmas is a celebration of that hope.

The Church Now and Then

Summer here at BYU is separated into two terms, the Spring Block and the Summer Block. What that means is that we teach a full semester in half the time so instead of teaching a class twice a week we teach it four times a week. I like the accelerated pace and how it keeps the students focused. I also like how it keeps me focused.

This semester I am teaching New Testament 212 which consists of Acts to Revelation. I love Peter and Paul and all the others we read about in the last half of the New Testament so I am excited about the semester. One of the most interesting things is to see how the early apostles established the Church in the meridian of time and how it parallels exactly the establishment of the Church in the latter-days. Acts to Revelation covers about 30 years of time and from 1830 to 1860 we see the same things happening in the modern Church. It is amazing, and a lot of fun to search out and take note of all the parallels! What a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His Church.

The Good News

Today I begin teaching again after the ten-day-break between semesters. I am always excited to start a new semester, but this semester I am teaching the Four Gospels of the New Testament and that adds to the excitement. The Four Gospels are the life of Jesus Christ and to study, review, ponder, and discuss the life of Christ for the next seven weeks is not only a privilege but an absolute delight.

Because it will be on my mind, I’ll probably be recording many New Testament thoughts on Good News! beginning today! But that’s appropriate since the Greek word gospel means good news.

Whenever I introduce the Four Gospels to students I am struck by the power of traditions over the people. We are so blessed to have the Spirit to guide us, but following the Spirit takes work and constant effort and requires us to be obedient and repentant. Traditions, on the other hand, are like the tracks of a train. Once you are on them they carry you without any thought on your part. Thus the ancient Jews took the easy route and became caught up in tradition instead of following the Spirit and after a few years the traditions were all that mattered to them.

There are many things in our lives that we need to evaluate. Are we doing those things because it is habit or because we are being directed to do them? Are we walking through the rituals because they are tradition or are we really thinking and pondering and renewing ourselves through the rituals?

It is easy to slip into the realm of tradition. But it only takes a little thought and effort to bring ourselves back to a state of awareness and alertness—a state that will feed our souls and keep us in tune with the Spirit.

The Way

In the New Testament the teachings of Jesus aren’t called Christianity, the gospel, the Church, or any other designation we refer to them as today. Instead His teachings were simply called “the way.” When blind Bartimaeus was given sight by the Lord, we are told that he then “followed Jesus in the way” (Mark 10:52).

I love this description. It isn’t A way to go, but it is THE way to go. It conjures up in my mind a mental picture of a well defined path that is worn because many have traveled it before. Those who have traveled this path are no less than people such as Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah, Joseph and Emma, and the greatest of all, Jesus Christ himself. There is a certain security that comes from knowing you are on a path worn hard and smooth by such people.

When I think about the way in this manner, it is less tempting to consider taking a purported short-cut through the bush or even a cut-off that is touted as leading to pleasure and fun. The way that is worn smooth and well defined by apostles and prophets looks good to me. I like the idea of “following Jesus in the way.”