God's applause!

II Timothy 4:6-8
This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed
all the way. All that's left now is the shouting--God's applause! Depend on it, he's an honest judge. He'll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming.

What an interesting idea--God's applause. I've got nothing to add to that.
I read an interesting book yesterday and this morning. It is called The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren. It is a very easy read, but it is filled with some truly interesting thoughts about why we celebrate Christmas.

He calls Jesus God's gift to us and makes the parallel that I have heard before. What if you gave someone you love a gift, and they never opened it, never accepted the gift that you had sacrificed to get for them? That's what we do when we do not accept the sacrifice of Jesus.

Another interesting thing in this book is the entire Serenity Prayer. I have never read the rest of the prayer that truthfully has more theology for Christians than the shortened version:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change; courage to change the things
I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; accepting hardships as the
pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is, not as I should have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; that I may be
reasonably happy in this life and supremely
happy with Him forever in the next.

If you read today's magazines, they all have suggestions on how to be happy, but it is interesting to me that we really can't expect much more than being "reasonably happy in this life." Why? This world is fallen; death comes to the people we love in this world. Just when we think that we've got it made, we hear another story that is evidence that we will never be supremely happy on this earth. What will it be like to live in a place with no death, no illnesses, no separation? I can't imagine. Our family is grieving this Christmas--again. I don't know if we will actually celebrate Christmas in heaven, but I do know that there won't be any bittersweet celebrations there. Jason was a pretty contented person here on this earth, even though he had suffered loss, disappointment, separation; he was reasonably happy. He had a talent for making the most of a situation. I like to think about him being supremely happy right now.