Author: Christine Wyrtzen

Hiding The Light Of The World

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After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Was it difficult for Joseph and Mary to give Jesus a normal upbringing? Was he just one of the villager’s children? Scripture doesn’t say but as Michael Card encourages believers to read the Word with their God-given imaginations, we can wonder. In this one account from Luke, Jesus goes to the temple when He is twelve, asks a few questions, offers some insights in response, and the scholars are amazed.

How do you hide the Light of the world in a dark and oppressive Roman society? In Nazareth, there very well could have been stories among the villagers about Jesus. Though His first public miracle was at the wedding at Cana, did things happen earlier that could only have been explained by the word ‘miracle’? We’re not told but I find it interesting that Mary turned to Jesus at the wedding and casually asked if He would do something about the fact that the wine had run out.

This child, Jesus, was also divine. He was also the One who spoke the world into existence. How could His words have been common, even as One Incarnate? As He saw the broken world around Him, wouldn’t He have addressed it on more than one occasion? Surely He would have seen parents, brothers, and extended family members get sick. Surely there would have been demonic manifestations near Him in everyday life. I wonder if the presence of God, resident in Christ, caused cataclysmic reactions at various points in His childhood. It could be that God Himself veiled the eyes of those around the Christ child to protect His identity until it was time for Him to begin His ministry. But surely something extraordinary happened in the temple when Jesus was twelve. This we know ~ His divinity was on display that day.

What does all of this mean for us? When God gives a gift, there is no indication that it should be used indiscriminately. When God entrusts His disciple with spiritual abilities, they should remain inoperative until God says it’s time to use them. Thirty years of age is a long time for Jesus to wait to be released into public ministry. In God’s wisdom, there were thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry.

You and I may be aware of spiritual gifts that lie in waiting. We strain to exercise them and second-guess God’s wisdom of how long we must wait for the door of our calling to be opened. Could it be that God raises up a disciple for forty-five or fifty years before commissioning him/her to realize their usefulness? Could there be a lifetime of preparation for a few short years of ministry?  Could destiny follow decades of obscurity? In God’s economy, yes. John the Baptist was a flash of Light but never, according to Jesus, did anyone burn brighter.

Oh, the mystery of Your ways. For every place that I wait for You, I submit to Your wisdom and timetable. Amen

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The Mercy Of Joseph

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Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man. Matthew 1:19

When Judah found out that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, had played the part of a harlot, he sentenced her to be burned. When Joseph discovered that his fiancée, Mary, was pregnant, he reached out to her in love and mercy. Joseph was a righteous man and righteousness reaches out with mercy first, whereas humanness pronounces judgment. Joseph really knew Mary and wrestled with the issue of her pure heart and her circumstances. He knew that Mary’s chastity and her pregnancy were incongruent. Only God would ease his torment by revealing the truth about her conception.

Without God’s work of redemption in my heart, there is something sinister in me that loves gossip. Getting the dirt on upright people can be enjoyable. Shooting arrows of condemnation at them can be cathartic as I try to make myself believe that I’m not as bad as I thought. Jesus’ standard of selfless, agape love burns brightly and eats holes through my self- righteousness. He reminds me that love is loyal and believes the best until proven otherwise.

A person can live righteously for forty years, mess up once, and people are quick to erase his good track record. All that he has been and done is wiped from his credentials. Where is our merciful response, the one we would want if we were in his shoes? “Christine has done what? That doesn’t sound like her. If it’s true, I wonder what happened to make her act like that?”

“Mary, pregnant? That can’t be. Mary has a heart for her God and has proven herself faithful to me. There must be more to this story.” And for Joseph, there was.

You delight in righteousness, Lord. Left to myself, I delight in another’s downfall. Make me like Joseph, not Judah. Amen

The Greatest of All Love Stories

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The Gospel is the grandest love story of all time. And who doesn’t love a love story? How much better does it get than Mr. Darcy coming across the moors one misty morning to proclaim his love to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.   It is heart stopping; just exquisite.

My favorite love scene of all is from the Sound of Music. Maria, never thinking she would be a candidate for love, is approached in the garden by Captain Von Trapp. The setting is a blue-green, surreal world at dusk ~ captured in soft focus in the movie. He approaches her tentatively, so as not to overwhelm her. He speaks to her with a bit of a light hand.  “I thought I might just find you here!”  His playfulness disarms her and the rest is history. As a young girl, I remember pretending I was her. 

I had a lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach as their true feelings were revealed.
No matter who we are, we want to be the object of someone’s love. We want to be the main character in the love story. We long for a lover who will risk it all for us, who will throw reservation to the wind and go to great lengths to win our heart. Most never know that it is Jesus they are longing for.He gave up everything to come to us so that He could proclaim His love and rescue us from what would be impending doom.

Someone once said, “We come to the cross long enough to get saved but not long enough to get loved.”  The greatest tragedy is that churches are full of God’s children who have no idea how much they are cherished.
I used to wonder why I didn’t feel more love for Jesus. Obedience was absolute drudgery. God showed me that it was because I didn’t know how much He loved me! I hadn’t opened my heart to receive everything He wanted to give to me. And here’s the thing ~ God created me to be a responder.  “We love him because He first loved us.” Once my heart is captivated by the love of God for me, I will spend it all on Him. No price will be too steep.

Melt my reservations. Every one. Amen

Journal Question:  Jesus is approaching you. He softly calls your name. What is your reaction? Run and hide? Look up for only a moment before losing your nerve and looking away? What is it you’re afraid of? Tell Him. He already knows.

What Spills Out

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My soul magnifies the Lord. Luke 1:46

Words of faith do not originate from a vacuum. What spills out during the times when I am stretched to my limit reflects the kind of faith I have previously cultivated. A well known bible teacher said, “Who I am when hard times hit is really who I am.” True! The words I speak during my most painful moments are mirrors that reflect the foundation of my life. Hannah endured the scourge of barrenness. When the divine hand of God finally touched her, she delivered a famous discourse that spanned a dozen verses. It is one of the most prophetic passages in all of scripture.

Elizabeth also suffered the heartache of being childless, yet through it, she also cultivated her faith. She learned the Word of God, built the precepts of it into the fabric of her life, and when God visited her with a child in her old age, she also rose to prophesy. (And, she was the first to recognize the Messiah, though just a 3 month-old baby in Mary’s womb!)

Eloquence is not confined to adults. Mary was merely a teenager when an angel visited her. Given a task that would have crushed most grownups, she also rose up to deliver the famous Magnificat. The fact that such words could flow from a twelve-year-old is an indication that her childhood was also spent learning the scriptures. She didn’t just speak shallow words of praise. She also highlighted the ‘ways of God’ that could only be known by one who had reviewed God’s dealings with His people throughout Israel’s history.

Human nature wants to coast during the good times, only drawing close to God when the fires of adversity get hot. God is gracious and will certainly answer us whenever we cry out for help, but there is a better way. I can fortify my heart today by the choices I make with my time. If I make sure to feed my spirit through careful study of the Word of God, through listening in prayer, through deliberate searching of God’s heart in matters great and small, I create a storehouse of spiritual food that will serve me well when there’s famine. When hunger and thirst visit my front door, I will not be shocked to no longer hear hopeless and fearful words come out of my mouth. What spills out will be the sweet waters of faith.

I walk in the shoes of Hannah, of Elizabeth, and of Mary. Their footsteps are easy to see, but hard to follow, yet I choose their narrow path. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Birthing Something Holy

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And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35

God’s Spirit hovered over Mary and she conceived. Nine months later, she gave birth to the Son of God. This intimate gesture of overshadowing ushered her into her most holy calling as the mother of Jesus.

The Spirit of God must still overshadow the saints today if they are to give birth to their most holy callings. There can be no conception of a call without communion. For years, I thought I was in touch with God’s will for my life, and in fact, I prayed for it earnestly. But what was missing was intimacy with God.

Jesus said, “He who believes in me, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The word for innermost being in the original language is ‘womb’. Through every child, God wants to birth something for the kingdom. Something holy is to proceed from their spiritual womb. What is it? The only way to know is to be intimate with Him. There is something about the redemption of our story that is unique. Out of our individual brokenness, and out of the way He speaks His healing Word to those desolate places, will emerge our calling. When He reveals it to each of us, it fits like a glove. Praise, worship, and unspeakable joy are the result. These are our versions of the Magnificat.

To discover my purpose, I must be intimate. To know how to walk in it, I must be intimate. To transcend the challenges that come with a calling, I must be intimate. Any kingdom work done without intimacy is powerless.

Be large over my life. I am your handmaiden. Amen

The Relationship Between Panting and Christmas

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As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  Psalm 42:1

If my heart longs for God as the Psalmist’s does, then the coming of Jesus has huge ramifications for me.  Jesus is God and all of my longings are satisfied in the coming of the Messiah.

My soul pants for a God who came near as my Emmanuel.

My soul pants for a God who was vulnerable enough to become a baby, only to suffer before saving.

My soul pants for a God who, at 30, saw hypocrisy and hard-hearted rebellion in the religious elite and confronted it head on.

My soul pants for a God who, when presented with a woman caught in adultery, extended forgiveness and love instead of condemnation.

My soul pants for a God who was powerful enough to offer up His life when it was heaven’s time.  He was not a victim, but a triumphant Victor.

My soul pants for a God who told me the truth about my sin so that I could find the joy of forgiveness and the exhilaration of love given without any conditions.

My soul pants for a God who was born to serve through suffering, not to rule through intimidation.

My soul pants for a God who called me friend, not enemy.  Bride, not harlot.  Forgiven, not condemned.  Free, not enslaved.  Loved, not spurned.

My soul pants for You, O God.  In Jesus name, Amen

Believing A Heaven-Kind of Story

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Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14

God is so gracious to give us clues that He is still accomplishing His purposes in the world.  His signs are meant for our encouragement.  He’s talking to us all the time but oftentimes we don’t recognize His voice.  His hand is always at work but oftentimes we don’t discern His fingerprints.  We chalk the miraculous up to coincidence or we just plain fail to see the holy in the mundane.

“A virgin will be with child.”  What if I had been a contemporary of Mary’s, a woman in her village?  And suppose I had been familiar with this prophetic scripture from Isaiah.  Would I have recognized Mary as the virgin God was describing?  I am pessimistic. Perhaps I would have struggled to believe her story of virginity.  When she announced that she was pregnant and told others the story of the angel’s visit, I fear I would have reacted like most folks.   I pray today for the ways my heart is closed to His revelation.

I don’t want to miss heaven’s surprises. Scripture is loaded with promises, promises of God’s daily intervention.  Today, may I eagerly look for signs of His handiwork.  A family member may be softer toward spiritual things.  I might understand a spiritual truth never clear to me before.  A political shift might occur somewhere and a world leader implements some of God’s principles of leadership.  A friend’s husband might decide that his wife is a treasure after all, and choose to value her.  An unexpected financial gift might come in the mail, relieving a financial burden that has kept me awake for weeks.

What are signs for?  To keep me on the path marked ‘abundant life’.  Signs reassure me that God is sovereign and I am to walk by faith.  What I can’t see, touch or feel should be more real to me that what is visibly tangible.

Forgive me for my unbelief.  Open my eyes, heart, senses to all of You.   Amen 

Journal: 

Where are you skeptical of God’s miracle?

Isolate the reason why you live in disbelief?

Confess it to God and ask Him for new faith and new promises to live in.

Favor, God’s Presence, and Suffering

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And he came to Mary and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.  Luke 1:28

Mary was favored by God, promised His presence, but then, her life was characterized by suffering.  She left her home eight months pregnant.  She gave birth in a dirty barn.  She fled for Egypt with a husband and a toddler.  She saw her son taunted, beaten, and crucified.  How was she comforted?  There was only one way ~ through sound theology and the presence of God.

As she reviewed the stories of her ancestors, she remembered others who were favored by God, promised His presence for their journey, but then suffered greatly as they walked out their calling.  ‘A life of ease’ never characterizes the journey of a disciple.

  • Joseph, shown early through dreams that he was favored by God, was then betrayed and led into slavery and imprisonment.  Many years later, he would see redemption.
  • David, shown early at twelve years of age that he was favored by God, was anointed king.  But over the next decade or two, he hid in caves and ran for his life from a demented king.
  • Jesus, obviously favored by His Father (a voice from heaven declared it so), was immediately led into the desert for testing.  His life ultimately ended up on a cross, by God’s design.

There are more examples than this, too.  So why have I forgotten the Bible stories I learned as a kid?  Why, when I’m suffering, do I wonder if I have found dis-favor with God?  Why do I hide my pain from other believers?  Why do I fear God has withdrawn from me rather than tucked Himself in closely?  The answer is bad theology and the shame other believers inflict because of their bad theology!

Perhaps you are in the wilderness of testing.  You may be ill and the losses that accompany deteriorating health have been staggering.  You may have been betrayed, wondered why God didn’t prevent it and instead of feeling comforted, you feel punished, deserted, and aching.  You feel you set out on a path God carved out for you ~ only to experience one set of crushing circumstances after another.  Most likely, you’ve second guessed yourself so badly that you’ve lost your footing, or you’ve second guessed God’s love and lost all confidence in His promises.  If either is true, shame and guilt are your constant companions.

Suffering does not prove dis-favor and disobedience.  In the life of an obedient believer, it proves God’s favor.  I am not advocating that we wear our pain as a badge.  I am, however, promoting rest in God’s purposes!

The One who favors us is the One who calls us to share in His suffering.  God’s glory, the point of it all, is most clearly seen when His favored ones trust Him through their tears.  Let’s renounce the lies of our accuser and run with confidence toward the heart of the Father who sustained Mary through the tumultuous events surrounding the birth of His Son, Jesus.

I want to be a spiritual giant but I forget their paths of suffering.  Shelter me in your arms of grace.  I declare that I am loved today, not despised.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Saying ‘Thank You’

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Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14

Have you ever noticed how few people ever say ‘thank you’? We are, by nature, selfish and entitled. Because we believe we deserve better, saying ‘thank you’ doesn’t occur to us as often as it should. I can also be offended when I think another’s ‘thank you’ isn’t grand enough for what I gave them. Because they didn’t go into enough detail, or because it took them too long to send an acknowledgement, I call them ungrateful. While it may be true in some cases, my propensity to hold a grudge should be checked against my own sin of entitlement.

I’ve heard it said that Adam and Eve’s offense against God wasn’t necessarily pride but ingratitude. They had access to every single tree created except one but they felt that even that one should be theirs.

If I’m going to measure a ‘thank you’ against the weight of the gift that was given to me, then I’m guilty of not expressing a proper ‘thank you’ to God. The level of my acknowledgement is far beneath what it should be. I casually thank Him for forgiving me when I fail to realize what would happen to me if He hadn’t. I forget to thank Him for my health until I languish for a time under a chronic illness. (I’m still recovering from 13 months of Long Covid.). God owes me nothing and yet He gives me everything. I pray that my thanks won’t be just a whisper under my breath but an audible, hearty Halleluiah.  Perhaps my thanksgiving will be contagious and I will help create an environment of gratitude where everyone considers taking part.

So Father, deepen my gratitude for the privilege of being your child. I vow to finish this race well. Like a bride who stands at an altar, I vow to love you all my life. I vow make you my treasure above all other people, and all other things. Amen

Prayer of Thanksgiving

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Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.  Psalm 119:129

Lord Jesus, my soul keeps your Word.  My soul, not my mind.  I don’t walk in your paths through the sheer grit of my will anymore.  I don’t keep your commandments out of guilt.

I remember the many years of my life when I considered your ways confining.  They hemmed me in and eroded a freedom I thought I needed.  I felt trapped by You; too scared to err too badly, too stubborn to obey, and too reticent to open my heart to you completely.

Thank you for showing me Your glory.  Your ways are spacious.  My soul loves them.  My life is no longer about compliance but joyful obedience.  What a difference.

I pledge you the rest of my days.  My heart is alive to Your love.  My mind is expanding to take in the wonders of Your truth.  My will is bent to Your will.  This is the way of everlasting life and I am forever grateful that You wooed me to Your side.

Amen