I like snow. It's kind of weird because I don't like the cold. A lot of people don't care for the stuff, and I can understand. It messes up schedules, makes roads dangerous, gets dirty and slushy, and well, it's cold.

In thinking about it, part of what I enjoy about it is because it's change. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of change, negative change anyway.

But snow can be a positive change, namely its beauty.

I don't think anyone can argue with the beautiful change snow makes on a landscape. Not to mention the stillness in the air, outside of chirping birds enjoying the weather. At least they seem to be enjoying it.

Today it's caused me to think on James 1:17.

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." James 1:17

It's interesting because I actually read Psalm 2 and then decided to check out the passage in James. Why's that interesting? In further reading, I came across Malachi 3:6.

"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." Malachi 3:6

Here we've seen two passages where we see the immutable character of God. He does not change. In Malachi we see that Gods unchanging character is a grace. He is faithful to His promise to His people, and He is faithful to His plan. Yet in both contexts we see the sinfulness of man. In James 1:13-16 we're warned of temptation and it's cause. In Malachi we see a stiff-necked people compared to the unchanging nature of a holy God.

Going back to Psalm 2 we see the nations throwing their fists up at God in rebellion. This isn't new. I guess in that respect people don't change. But in contrast we see the sovereignty of God. We see reference to the Messiah. We see God is faithful. He does not change.

Weather changes, societies change (ugh), people change, but God does not. And on top of that we see in James that every good thing given and every perfect gift comes from Him. Is snow one of those gifts? I'm not sure, I believe it's a gift. But I do know that salvation is. By it our sins are washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, making us white as snow. Have you repented and placed your faith in Jesus?

I'm doing a study on the Beatitudes for a youth class at my church. There's a lot of rich truth within that passage of Scripture, so I figured that I would share some of what I'm learning.

In Matthew 5 we see Jesus making His way up a mountain and addressing His disciples as well as the multitudes. This is the beginning of the sermon on the mount.

As He sat down to speak, He began the greatest sermon of all time with what seems to be an odd phrase.

""Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:3

It's 'odd' because it is such a contrary idea to world values. In fact we will see that each Beatitude seems different than what the world prescribes.

Upon careful study we see that the Beatitudes are qualities of someone going to heaven. This is describing a citizen of the kingdom. These are not traits that we muster on our own. Nor are they things we do to save ourselves or even guarantee our salvation.

They are evidences of someone who has put their faith in Christ. They are an outflowing of ones salvation and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

Before we go into each attitude, let's take some time to cover the word "Blessed". Each Beatitude begins with this word so it behooves us to see what it means.

The word can mean happy or fortunate. But we have to be careful as our modern use of the word happy is not really what's in mind here. As a photographer, I'm happy when I get a great sunset or if it snows. But the next sunset might fizzle and snow melts, and my happiness along with it.

That's not what Jesus is saying here. It's a deep seated joy, found not in temporary things but in the eternal God.

Kingdom priorities are vastly different than our typical shifting wants. I believe God wants people to be happy. But the person who wants to be happy needs to shift their focus from fading desires to heavenly goals.

It makes me think back to Psalm 1. The opening chapter of the Psalter compares the blessed person against the wicked. What are the things a blessed person seeks? He flees from evil company and desires fellowship with God through the Word. 

The Biblical idea of happiness is not found in temporary contentment and ease. It's found in becoming more like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So what are you looking to to make you happy? I admit I struggle with this (those sunsets/snow for example). I try too hard to make things happen, not trusting in the God Who loves me.

What's the application, then? As we look at the Beatitudes, we need to understand the difference between worldly happiness and true joy. We need to align our desires with Gods. We need to seek first His kingdom.

I know for me, I used to have a hard time understanding the Beatitudes. I hope that as we study this we'll all come away with a greater knowledge of what God would have of us.
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If we, through His power, shift our focus to seeking His kingdom and His will, then we will be truly blessed. In part we see how that manifests itself in the believer through these beatitudes.

Here's a couple resources to check out for further reading:

​To Know the Blessed God | Tim Challies

The convergence seemed to cause a little bit of a stir over the past few days. I missed the full thing, but did get to zoom in and get a faint photo of Jupiter and Saturn.
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From what some are saying, it wasn't nearly as spectacular as they thought it would be, other however sharing pictures of a brilliant light in the sky.

It's been called the "Christmas Star", though I doubt that it was what the wise men followed. I certainly believe that God could've created His own star for His own Son's birth.

What I find to be amazing isn't so much the convergence itself, but the fact that even with my limited 150-600mm lens I was able to make out the rings of Saturn, which by the way is roughly the same distance from Jupiter, as Jupiter is from us, give or take 100 million miles!

More amazing still, is the fact that God would 'bother' to make something a billion miles away and many times larger than our own Earth. He is magnificent.

But it's Christmas and that's what I want to talk about briefly.

They say that the last time this convergence happened was about 800 years ago. I believe them, as God did give us the sun, moon and stars to keep time, right? So I believe these things are generally like clockwork, not that I'm an astronomer. 

"God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:17-18

What else is amazing is that Isaiah wrote about the virgin birth of Jesus almost the same amount of time before His birth, as the last time we had this convergence, roughly some 700 years.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

In fact the coming of Christ was predicted, prophesied about, and foreshadowed all throughout the Old Testament.

But the reality is the plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ was not a reactionary response on God's part to the rebellion of sinful man. Acts 2:22-24

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Acts 2:22-24

It was always the plan. God is all knowing, and He is sovereign.

So as we marvel at the wonders of creation, and we enjoy this time of year, if you've never bowed the knee to Christ, what a wonderful time to come to saving faith in Him.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.