Articles

After spending roughly half his account of Jesus describing the first three years of His ministry, the Gospel writer John turns his attention, from chapter 13 onward, to the most important week of our Lord’s life: the week leading up to His crucifixion.

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We all worship something. Despite the unbelief some confess, the truth is that people don’t want to have no god—although they often desire to have a “god” that makes them comfortable, allows them to believe whatever they think is best, and whose opinions about how they ought to live align with their own.

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At the start of a new year, we sometimes feel ourselves to be on the brink of a new chapter of our lives. In some sense, crossing over from December 31 to January 1 is arbitrary; many of us begin the new year much as we ended the last. Still, there is something exciting about a blank page—the promise of a fresh chapter, as yet unwritten.

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The few days between Christmas and the New Year teach us something profound about our souls’ longings. More often than not, Christmas Day’s jubilation and gladness seem to come and go in a flash. After so much anticipation, we feel as if we are left with little more than ribbons and wrapping, clean-up and returns. Why must Christmas come and go so quickly?

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As he recounts the birth of Jesus in his Gospel, Luke records four songs sung in response to the good news. Mary sings, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (1:47). Zechariah blesses God because he “has raised up a horn of salvation … in the house of his servant David” (1:69). The angels praise God because “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior” (2:11). And Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and prays to the Father, “My eyes have seen your salvation” (2:30).

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“Get a grip of yourself.” “Get ahold of yourself.” “Get yourself under control.” These are familiar words for many of us. We all know the experience of our passions running out ahead of our inhibitions.

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In 1839, George Washington Bethune, a Dutch Reformed pastor in the United States, observed, “Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated, than gentleness.”¹ His words still ring true today. As Christians, we often lack the gentleness we desperately need. Indeed, we may hardly even notice its absence.

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The whole cosmos, from the largest and farthest galaxies down to the most microscopic organisms and beyond, depends on the faithfulness of God in Christ, who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). The reason we haven’t all burned up in an astronomical firestorm, the reason our very atoms stay in place, is because God holds everything together (Col. 1:17) and is faithful.

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It would be quite odd if you showed up to a football game and heard a ref or a player ask, “Has anyone seen the ball?” But it would be even more bizarre if someone replied, “Forget the ball! Let’s get on with the game.”

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Of all the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, perhaps kindness and goodness seem the most normal or customary. We often hear talk of “common decency” and “common courtesy,” and we have come to expect that friends, family, and neighbors will show a modicum of kindness in most circumstances—even if they don’t feel like it.

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