You better watch out, you better not cry…all that is fine when it comes to presents and Santa Claus, but Jesus comes offering a different message. Grace does not tell us to watch out, but it does invite us to keep watch over our lives.

Christmas lights and decorations help make this season bright and merry. But take them away and we are left with the darkest and dreariest month of the year. Christmas marks hope because in Jesus God has broken through the darkness and brought hope into the world.

How can we rejoice and be glad in the face of persecution? Only through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, who comforts us and aides us in following Jesus. As we learn to live in the way of Jesus we can endure temporary suffering in light of the greater reward promised us in his Kingdom.

“The ends justify the means.” Too often we use this to excuse behavior and decisions we know are problematic. When it comes to Jesus, he says that the ends and the means must be in complete unison. Only peace can bring about peace, and we are called to be peacemakers in the world.

What do justice and mercy have to do with one another, and what should be our attitude towards those who wrong us? Jesus challenges us to long for restoration and let go of our right for retribution as we seek his kingdom first.

In world where being offended has become a way of life, come see how Jesus sets us free to be unoffendable.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit, and why is it the foundation for the kingdom? The kingdom of God calls us to examine our relationship with worldly wealth and the ways it can be a barrier to fully following Jesus.

Jesus brings the good news that the kingdom of God has come to earth, but in doing so he challenges the very notion of power as we know it. In the ways of the kingdoms of this world, to be a citizen of the kingdom of God is something totally unprecedented.

Christians should be a people marked by hope in a hopeless world. It is easy to lose hope when you lose perspective. But God has revealed the end of the cosmic story, so we can live with meaning and purpose in the middle of it. Because it’s not over until he says it’s over.

In the midst of waiting it is easy to fall into worrying. But more often than not, true faith is not found in the yes or the no, but in the realm of maybe. It is when we need to trust God in uncertain circumstances that we truly learn what it means to have faith.