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New Year’s Resolutions? Again?!

New Year’s Resolutions. A phrase you read and hear often this time of year. But the connotation this phrase relays to you depends on the kind of year 2019 has been for you. Do you look back with a sense of accomplishment and look forward with a sense of hope? Or does 2019 carry its share of pain and despair, casting a gloomy shadow upon 2020?

But what is it that we look for when we look back to “grade” 2019? Could it be that our grading scale is off scale? How do we define accomplishment? What would make us “feel good?” And is it about “feeling good?” I’m sure you’d agree with me that feelings often go as quickly as they come, leaving us empty, so what does a “good year” look like? For those of us who are Christians, we may define a good year as one that is in accordance to God’s will. But that brings us back to a similar question: What does a year in accordance to God’s will look like?

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Our Longing for Identity

Who am I?

What makes me me?

Am I valuable? If so, what is it about me that gives me value?

These are the types of questions we ask early on in our lives and spend virtually the rest of our lives trying to answer. What makes our search for identity so difficult? Are we looking in the wrong places? Where are we looking? Allow me to suggest the four most common places we go to in our hunt for identity: beauty, ingenuity, activity, and prosperity.

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Hide and Seek

It seems like one of the games that kids have played across cultures and ages has been Hide and Seek. In a child’s mind, hiding is fun, and the level of amusement seems directly correlated with how difficult it is to find them, and is followed by some level of disappointment when they’re eventually found.

Yet the scenario drastically changes when this same child is lost in real life. Hiding ceases to be a game. They no longer want to be clever at hiding, they want to be clever at being seen! Their entire being seems geared towards only one thing; to be “found” by their parents… And when they are found, joy and peace supplants their agonizing fear and insecurity.

As adults, our intrinsic need to be “found” remains, yet we seem to find a certain level of “safety” in hiding.

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“I wish to be free. I wish to be human.”

[Spoiler warning]

“Mom, the movie was amazing! I can’t believe that Aladdin chose to set the genie free for his third wish instead of choosing something for himself.” Those were the first words out of my daughter’s mouth as we walked out of the movie theater, having just watched Aladdin 2019. Well her comment sparked a series of discussions all the way home and inspired me to write this blog 🙂

Freedom. Early during the movie, the Genie expresses his utmost wish to Aladdin: “I wish to be free. I wish to be human.”

Freedom. Humanity. What is freedom? What does it mean to be human? Those must be among the most common questions asked nowadays. Are all humans by definition free as the Genie seems to be inferring?

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Our Longing for Authenticity

We long for the authentic. Texting a friend may be fun, calling and hearing their voice brings them even closer, but nothing compares to actually spending time with them. We’ve all heard (and many have painfully experienced) that while advancements in technology and communication promise to bring the world closer, they result in a painful gap; creating a façade of closeness while leaving people at unprecedented levels of loneliness.

Yet when we deal with people face to face, we are faced with an even deeper problem. While we are physically seeing the real them, they are usually hiding behind layers after layers after layers, and reaching the real them seems to be the arduous feat of an expert digger.

But before we start pointing fingers, let’s pause to think of ourselves. Are we too hiding behind layers? Do we really reflect on the outside who we are on the inside? Or are we looking for an authenticity in those around us yet fail in being authentic ourselves?

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Why the Cross?

Hundreds of thousands of books have been written about the cross by some of the most brilliant scholars across the ages. I will certainly not come anywhere close to presenting teaching on the cross that is on par with these scholars, and a blog post is certainly not the place to even attempt such a massive task. All I’ll do here is offer personal reflections that I have gleaned thus far on my humble journey towards the Truth. If you’re interested in further reading on the cross, I recommend John Stott’s book, The Cross of Christ. It’s a brilliant book that offers a great framework for studying the Cross.

Those who say that the cross was not necessary, or cringe at how a loving God would sacrifice His son to satisfy His wrath, are, I believe missing out on a few crucial realities that I will attempt to briefly point out through four concepts.

1. The Reality of Sin & Redemption

Those who claim that the cross was not really necessary, make light of sin. “I’m not that bad after all,” one might exclaim. “I mean I haven’t murdered anyone or done anything bad enough that God would have to send His son to die such an atrocious death! Seeing Jesus die such a death is really painful. Why all that? My sins aren’t that bad!”

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Behold the Man!

(Part 2 of 2) Part 1 available here: https://nancyaziz.net/2018/11/05/in-the-beginning/

Yet God would not give up. For at the moment of the Fall, while pronouncing the verdict for man’s sin, He offered a glorious, unfathomable promise. The eternal Logos had a plan that He Himself would execute, but this time not through speech.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Yes the Logos became flesh to execute the plan that He foreknew before the existence of the world and to fulfill the promise that He made to Adam and Eve. He would humble Himself to the extent of becoming a man to restore the mess that man had brought upon himself.

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Biblical Stories Posts

Motherhood Exemplified!

I was sitting quietly at home one day when suddenly a bright light shone into my room. And I heard a voice say, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

“What? Who? Who are you? Who’s the favored one?” I thought to myself while trying to figure out whether or not I was dreaming…

It was an angel! I had heard of angels appearing to people in the Torah. This angel said his name was Gabriel. Gabriel? Gabriel was the angel who appeared to our prophet Daniel! Oh how could I now be seeing him? And why would he appear to a poor young girl like me?

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Theodrama

Anyone who has been around children for any significant period of time will notice how absolutely enamored they are with stories. Bedtime stories, naptime stories, during the day stories. They just love stories! And the more excitement a story bears, the more intrigued they are with their childlike anticipation and the glistening in their eyes.

But have you ever tried telling a child a story where he or she was actually a part of the story? Now you definitely have their undivided attention!

Now think back to your own childhood. Do you remember any stories you were told as a child? Take a few moments to reflect back. Any favorites pop up in memory? Any where you were the hero or heroine of the story?

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A Letter from Christ

You may have heard the expression, “living letters of Christ.” But what does it mean to be a living letter?

Let’s think of what a letter (or email if-you-will) is. A letter has an author and a recipient and bears information. It is written or typed and delivered either physically or electronically. In most cases, when the recipient receives and reads the letter or email, he/she replies back.

So what does the Apostle Paul mean when he writes to the believers in Corinth, “you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2Cor. 3:3)?

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