UBC Wed For Life

With Christmas upon us, we’ve all been inundated by images and concepts related to the holiday. Two figures, more than anything else, are given special attention for Christmas: Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. For believers, that statement may seem laughable. Christmas by definition is the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday, so how can anyone suggest that Santa is just as prominent during this season? Well, before you ask that question, think about the Christmas decorations you saw in the stores you’ve visited recently, the Christmas related commercials or shows you saw the last time you turned on your TV, or the Christmas themed clothing you’ve seen recently. How many times did you see Santa? How many times did you see Jesus or something related to Jesus? Chances are, you encountered much more Santa than Jesus.  That’s a sad reality There’s nothing wrong with indulging in some of the less spiritually based aspects of Christmas, but we do have to stay grounded in our beliefs about why t...

Tis the season to be thankful. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, for most, there is plenty of gift giving, meal sharing, and fellowshipping. Most people tend to be in good moods, or at least, better moods than they might have been before. It’s a season of giving, and in turn, that means it’s also a season of gratitude. After all, for every action of giving, there should be an equal action of gratitude. Well maybe the gratitude isn’t always equal to the giving, but, at the very least, almost everyone will do the bare minimum of saying “Thank You” when something is done for them. For Christians, we have even more reason to be thankful. We are coming up on the celebration of the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. We should be thankful that God saw fit to save us. We should be thankful that Jesus was willing to lay down his life for us. In truth, we should be thankful that we get to be children of God. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful dee...

Solomon’s sin doomed his son, Rehoboam, to a tumultuous reign as king. God is true to his word both when it comes to blessings and punishment. Following Rehoboam’s time as king, the seat of power for Israel was less a throne and more a revolving door. The books of Kings I and II are named as such because they describe the reigns of the various Hebrew kings including and following Solomon. When reading the books, it should be clear to the reader very quickly that long largely productive reigns like those seen with David and Solomon were not the norm. While God had a hand in selecting all the kings that rose to power, none of them had God’s favor going into their reigns the way David and Solomon did. Conversely, God still had his prophets or “Men of God” to deliver His Word and shape events as God desired. Elijah was one of the most prominent prophets in the Bible. When we first meet him, he is giving a prophecy to Ahab, the king of Israel at that time. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from...