Love for Christ

Ruben Roy is a managing director at Stifel Financial. He dialed in to hear the chief executive of a healthcare company discuss its latest results. During the Q&A, Roy asked the speaker to elaborate on his remarks by saying, “I wanted to double-click a bit on some of the commentary you had.”

“Double-click” is one of the fastest-spreading corporate buzzwords in recent years. As a figure of speech, it is now being used as a shorthand for examining something more fully, akin to double-clicking to see a computer folder’s contents. Some say “the phrase encourages deeper thinking.”

Reuben Linder, owner of a small video production business, says, “These days, with the rise of technology and a more hectic corporate life, people need reminders to stop and examine what matters—to double-click, if you will. The term is simple, but it’s really profound.”

Reuben tries to carve out time to go to a café twice monthly with a notebook and engage in reflection. “I’ll double-click on my business, double-click on my life” he says. “I double-click on everything now.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

In our daily lives as believers, we might apply this idea to things such as obedience, love for God, Bible reading, and prayer. Double-clicking on these things is needed now as much as any time in history.

Jesus is the reason for the season. But he doesn’t show up much in the top Christmas songs played on Spotify. According to October 2021 data from the streaming service collected by Every Noise, the most-played Christmas song around the world is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” followed by Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” and Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me.” Some top songs make oblique references to the religious aspect of Christmas, but most stick to love, the weather, and an occasional chestnut.

Globally, the most popular Christmas song to mention Jesus is Boney M.’s “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord,” which comes in at No. 71. It is followed by Nina Nesbitt singing “O Holy Night” at No. 79 and Josh Groban and Faith Hill performing “The First Nöel” at No. 90.

The presence of Jesus in popular Christmas music varies widely by country, however, revealing differences in musical taste, holiday traditions, and the spread of Christianity by missionaries, militaries, markets, and immigration.

Top Christmas Songs to Mention Jesus Around the World:

In Sri Lanka at #1 is “Bethlehem Pure” by Anil Bharathi

In Nigeria at #4 is “Silent Night” by Just Faithful

In Egypt at #6 is “What Child is This?” by Peter Basket

In Australia at #6 is “Silent Night” by Dean Martin

In the United States at #10 is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” by Perry Como

In France at #28 is “O Holy Night” by Tracy Chapman

In Hong Kong at #93 is “O Holy Night” by Nina Nesbitt

In 1977 the heart icon became a verb. The “I❤️NY” Logo was created to boost morale for a city that was in severe crisis. Trash piled up on the streets, the crime rate spiked, and New York City was near bankruptcy. Hired by the city to design an image that would increase tourism, Milton Glaser created the famous logo that has since become both a cliché and a meme. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, New Yorkers had tragic reasons for loving their city all the more. Glaser even designed a modified version of his logo: "I❤️NY More than Ever.”

A few years earlier, a new graphic form appeared that also played on the heart image. In 1999 the Japanese provider NTT DoCoMo released the first emoji made specifically for mobile communication. The original 176 emoji’s were rendered in black and white, before they were painted one of six colors. Among the original 176 emojis there were five of the heart. Today our online messages are regularly punctuated by heart emojis in multiple colors and combinations.

Possible Preaching Angle:

According to Scripture, believers are specifically commanded to “heart” the Lord our God (Matt 22:36-37), our neighbor (Matt. 22:36-39), other believers (John 13:34-35), and our spouses (Eph. 5:25, Tit. 2:4). We are not to “heart” the world (1 Jn. 2:15-16) or money (Heb. 13:5).

Poet Amy B Hunter writes:

Five years ago I had emergency surgery. My sister, a professor with final exams to give, was getting married in less than a week. Yet she drove from New York City to Massachusetts in a snowstorm to see me in the hospital. No phone call would reassure her that I was alive. She had to see me with her own eyes.

Sometimes the demand to see is not doubt. Sometimes it is even love.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Thomas wanted proof of the resurrected Christ. Thomas’ words, “My Lord and my God!” is the high point of John’s Gospel. No one else has offered such devotion or named Jesus as God. Thomas held out for a personal experience of Jesus on his own terms.

California’s San Joaquin Valley not only boasts 17 billion dollars in annual revenue, it’s also home to over 100,000 laborers. The Harvest, a documentary produced by CT Media, follows the story of Marisol and Joel Lopez, a couple who discover the transforming love of Christ in the midst of their challenging life as migrant workers in the valley. To learn more about migrant farm workers, read this report by Bekah McNeel.

This short film was part of CT’s December 2020 issue, which explored the many ways God is at work through the global church, bringing light and life, hope and healing in the age of the pandemic. Find more at MoreCT.com/globe.

Tony Campolo tells of how he was a counselor at a junior high camp. He said he had never met meaner kids in his life. They focused on an unfortunate kid named Billy who had cerebral palsy. His brain was unable to exercise proper control over his body or speech. The kids called him "spastic." Billy would walk across the grounds of the camp in his disjointed manner, and the others would line up behind him, imitating his every movement. One day Billy asked one of the boys, "Which way is the craft shop?" The other boy twisted grotesquely, pointed a dozen different ways and said, "That way!" How could he be so cruel?

The meanness reached its lowest point when Billy's cabin had been assigned the morning devotions for those 150 kids. The boys voted for Billy to be the speaker. They knew he couldn't do it. They just wanted to get him up there so that they could mock him and laugh. Little Billy got up out of his seat and limped his way to the platform. You could hear the titters of mocking laughter. But that didn't stop the little guy. He took his place behind the rostrum and started to speak. It took him almost ten tortured minutes to say, "Je-sus loves meee! Je-Je-Je-sus loves meee! And I love Je-Je-Jesus." When he finished there was dead silence. I looked, and there were boys trembling and crying all over the place. A revival broke out in that camp and kids turned their lives over to Jesus. A host of boys committed their lives to Christian service.

Campolo wishes he had kept count of how many ministers he has met as he travels across the US who have told him how they gave their lives to Jesus because of the witness of a "spastic" kid named Billy. “If God could use him with all of his limitations, what makes you think that God can't use you to touch the lives other people? If God can transform the lives of people through the likes of little Billy, don't you dare tell me He can't do great things through you.”

Jess Movold is an elite running coach in New York City. In an article for Runner’s World she discussed the top five principles for successful running. Factors like finishing a marathon, self-discipline, and a workout plan, are essential for guiding runners through a season. But number one on her list to maintaining a long-term relationship with running is finding what really drives you, whether it's a new sense of confidence or getting off medication.

Movold says,

Identifying this unlocks everything that's possible for a runner. That understanding of why you put on your running shoes can be used to hold yourself accountable when you're distracted or discouraged by short-term goals. Whether or not you nail a speed session, those inner passions will persist to drive you.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Scripture describes the Christian life as a race. So, we regularly set goals and we develop structured plans to accomplish these goals. But too often our goals go unrealized and we wonder why. Maybe Movold’s advice applies to spiritual marathons as well. Identifying your motivation unlocks everything that is possible for a Christian. Why do you run?

In Greek mythology, ancient sailors faced many dangers at sea. One of the most unusual was that of the sirens who used their mesmerizing songs to lure sailors to their deaths on the rocky shore. Two famous Greeks were able to sail by them successfully.

One was Odysseus, who stopped up the ears of his men with wax and then had his men tie him to the ship’s mast. This way his men were safe, and he was able to hear the siren’s sweet song with relatively little harm.

The other was the legendary Orpheus who was sailing with Jason and the Argonauts. As they approached the sirens and began to hear the siren’s voices drift across the water, Orpheus took out his lyre and began to sing an even more charming melody to the men.

Orpheus, not Odysseus, represents the success we want. We can pass some tests by restricting our bodies (be tied to a mast) or limiting our access to temptation (fill our ears with wax). But in the end, the holy desires of our heart must rise and conquer. The desire to love and follow Jesus must be a sweeter song to us than the music of the world and our flesh.

Did you know that Emperor penguins spend about 4 months fasting as they watch over, care for, and incubate their eggs? This is a 100 to a 115 day fast! If a penguin can spend 100 days not eating because it instinctually loves and is waiting for its baby penguin, we can spend a meal or a day or a week fasting out of our love for Jesus. Don’t let the penguins beat us!

Possible Preaching Angle:

This can be used as creative tip to engage people in the topic of fasting.

One of the most prolific songwriters in the history of Christianity has been Fanny Crosby, who wrote over 9,000 spiritual songs. Crosby was blinded in both eyes at six weeks of age through a medical error. However, she could still visualize the beauty of Christ's blessings, often with more clarity than those who had sight. As a result, it has been noted that in many of her hymns, this visually impaired lady quite amazingly spoke about sight, as seen in the following examples.

“Visions of rapture now burst on my sight” (Blessed Assurance)

“Watching and waiting, looking above” (Blessed Assurance)

“Near the cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever” (In the Cross)

“But purer and higher and greater will be, our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.” (To God be the Glory)

Possible Preaching Angle: Even as we receive spiritual insight through the lyrics of a lady with no vision, may we too, get a new vision of the glories of Christ! "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith ..." (Hebrews 12:2)

You thought pianos dropping from the sky is a gag for cartoons? Then hear this story out. During World War II, all kinds of production involving metals, such as iron, copper, and brass, that was non-essential to the war effort were halted by the American government. This was because these metals were needed to make guns, tanks, and artillery. Many musical instrument makers were affected by the new regulations, which meant that either they had to manufacture something else the military could use, or wait for the war to end, which was as good as going out of business.

Piano makers Steinway & Sons was also affected by the restrictions. Instead of shutting down their factory, Steinway decided to bide their time manufacturing parts for troop transport gliders.

Steinway’s patience was rewarded when the US Military granted them a contract to make heavy-duty military pianos. By June 1942, Steinway’s workers had designed a small upright piano, no more than forty inches wide and weighing 455 pounds. It was light enough to be carried by four soldiers. Each piano was treated with special anti-termite and anti-insect solution and sealed with water-resistant glue to withstand dampness. The best part was— the piano used only 33 pounds of metal, about a tenth as much as a typical grand piano.

Known as “Victory Verticals,” these pianos could be packed into crates and conveniently dropped by parachutes along with tuning equipment and instructions. An estimated 2,5000 pianos were dropped to American soldiers fighting the war in three continents.

Steinway’s pianos continued to serve the military well after the war was over. When the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thomas A. Edison was built in 1961, a Steinway upright was installed in the crew’s mess area at the request of its captain. The instrument remained on board until the sub was decommissioned in 1983.

Possible Preaching Angles: The US military knows the importance of music and singing for the morale of the troops. God’s people have also sung through the ages, from the shore of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-21), to the battlefield (2 Chronicles 20:21-23), and from deep within dungeons (Acts 16:25). Believers know that singing “songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16) is a powerful encouragement and an act of worship.

In his book, Chuck Bentley writes:

There's a name for God that we seldom ever use. I know I don't use it very often. That name is Jealous. Sounds strange, doesn't it? When we call someone jealous, it’s usually to point out a character flaw. How can something we consider bad be attributed to God, especially one of his names? “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).

Back in the late 1960s, there was a popular TV western series called The Guns of Will Sonnet. Walter Brennan played the title role, a Scripture-quoting man with a reputation for unparalleled gun fighting skills. As the series progressed, viewers saw the wise old man avoid more gunfights than he got into the simple, truthful statement about his abilities: “No brag, just fact.”

God has the title of Jealous because he’s the only one worthy of all our affection and adoration. No brag, just fact. The complete worthiness of ultimate praise grants him and him alone the right to be the Jealous One. He’s God Almighty. He’s at the top of all Kings, all Lords, all gods, and all things. So jealousy is normative, if you’re God.

Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina spent 20 years in Turkey. He had a quiet but deep ministry there until 2016, when after a failed military coup, the government arrested him along with journalists, activists, military officers, and others. The Turkish government labeled Brunson a spy.

Brunson was held for more than a year without charges. He spent nearly two years in prison, often enduring long trial sessions. At one point, it looked like he could spend years or even decades in Turkish prisons. Finally, after pressure from the Trump administration, Brunson was released from prison and returned to the United States.

In a Wheaton College chapel talk, Brunson candidly said that he did not feel God’s overwhelming presence during his stay in prison. Instead, he experienced something even deeper. Brunson said, “[After a few days in prison], I completely lost the sense of God’s presence. God was silent. And he remained silent for two years.”

When he was finally brought to trial, things were even worse. He says:

There are some who go into the valley of testing and some do not make it out … I was broken. I lay there alone in my solitary cell, I had great fear, terrible grief, and I was weeping. And the thought kept going through my mind, Where are you God? Why are you so far away? And I opened my mouth as I wept aloud, and I was surprised at what I heard coming out of my mouth. I heard, “I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus.” I thought here is my victory. Even if you’re silent, I love you. Even if you let my enemy harm me, I love you. [As] Jesus said, “But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

You can watch it here