Set Aside the Crystal Ball

About this time each year prognosticators bring out their crystal balls, shine them up, and begin to pronounce their understanding of the coming misty, foggy future. They give you all the reasons their wisdom has led them to their conclusions and proudly announce, “This is what we can expect in the coming year.” They announce their conclusions in such firm terms that they often preface their prophecy with the term “obviously.” They leave you with the impression that if you think contrary to their pronouncements, you are not very wise. The problem with such declarations is they are based upon their wisdom, which is at best limited, and at worst tinged with arrogant presumption.

     For example, Economist Harry S. Dent warns of a market crash "of a lifetime" to the realm of the level of the great crash of 1929 to 1932. In contrast, another economic soothsayer, Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, pulls out her economic crystal ball and predicts what she calls a "bumpy landing” but eventually expects markets and the economy to bounce upward in 2024. What is the result of all of this? Financial advisors’ phones are ringing off the hook, their email boxes are filling, and anxious clients pop antacids trying to process such contrasting perspectives.

     Of course, in a more serious issue, crystal balls are being polished to discern who will win the College Football Playoff, or who will be in and win the Super Bowl. All this angst so that a fool and his money can be separated at a sport’s betting site willing to give odds that their crystal ball is better than yours. There are entire companies that make their livelihood by guessing the future to make a profit. Insurance companies devise actuary tables based on projections into the future as to a person’s longevity.  Other companies insure properties speculating if they can amass enough fees to cover the expenses associated with future natural disasters and still make a profit.

     If it appears to you that I am cynical of people trying to guess the future, you would be right. How often we gaze into the future and presume to know the outcome. The only One who knows and controls the future is God Himself.

Jesus shared a story about a man who thought that he had the wisdom to handle the future. The man in the parable dismissed acknowledging that God had brought material blessings into his life (Luke 12:16-21). As a result, he began to trust his own wisdom and gazed into the crystal ball of arrogance. He then determined a course of action without considering God’s will in the matter. His crystal ball guided him to plan to build bigger barns to store what he had amassed. He did not consider that God had been his source of blessing and therefore consult with God as to the future for his life. He was very self-satisfied with his plan and went about living his life without consulting God. He thought he was the controller of his own destiny. Tragically, his life ended with full barns and an empty life. God evaluated him as a fool and Jesus said, “So is the man who… is not rich toward God.”

     The oldest half-brother of Jesus, James, applied the teachings of Jesus to his world view. In a letter he wrote to fellow believers he shares how important it is to see life not from a crystal ball but from wisdom that God gives. He writes in James 4:13-17 to not be arrogant about the plans we devise for our life. He is not against wise planning. He is stressing planning that is theocentric – focused upon what God’s wants. He said in essence, make plans but say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (15). To leave God out of the plans of our life he says is to “boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil” (16). We must see our future as being in God’s hands. Additionally, we trust that God can carry out His plans in our lives. Therefore, we develop a submissive attitude to God and yield to God in all our planning for the future. Our supreme example of a proper view of life is seen in Jesus Christ. As he faced the horrors of the cross and his mission to die for the sins of the world he said, “Not my will but your will be done” (Luke 22:42). It is not a surprise that the writer of Hebrews challenges us to be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews12:2). Jesus saw His Heavenly Father’s will as the best plan for his life, yielding a perfect outcome even while facing traumatic circumstances.

     What will 2024 bring your way? Who knows? Well… God does! We don’t rely upon the crystal ball. We rely upon something much greater. Corrie Ten Boom challenges us, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Such an attitude helps us to process and progress in the uncertain days in which we live. The late Pastor Tim Keller said, “How you experience your present is completely shaped by what you believe your ultimate future to be.” Let your future in 2024 be guided not by a crystal ball of uncertainty but by a confident relationship with a gracious God.

Perfect Gift

The Christmas gift buying frenzy is in full swing. It seems like this season starts earlier and earlier each year. As children were thinking of settling into the school season and no hint of leaves changing color, the marketing machine began promoting Black Friday. It was rather jolting to see Halloween candy and decorations displayed side by side with Christmas merchandise. One store making a rather humorous statement had a skeleton holding a Christmas wreath!

     Back when dinosaurs were roaming the earth and I was a child, the Christmas season officially kicked off after the Thanksgiving celebrations of a massive meal and department store sponsored parades. The Christmas merchandizing machine then kicked into high gear and catalogues began arriving in mailboxes with enticements to purchase must-have gifts. Children folded down corners of the catalogue’s pages and marked items with an “X” to drop subtle hints for appropriate gifts for parents to purchase for their little darlings. A parent may even have ventured to a local store to survey their children’s suggestions and to see about any layaway possibilities. Credit cards were not avaliable in those days so other purchase arrangements needed to be made.

     When Christmas morning arrived, children would rush to the tinsel bedecked tree. They would hover over brightly wrapped gifts to see which of the boxes had their names on attached tags. When the parental signal was given the wrapping paper was quickly shredded and a gift was uncovered. It was a delight sometimes, and a disappointment on other occasions. The disappointment arose because this was not what was expected. A child thought, “Did I mark this in the catalogue?” The letdown may have arisen because the expectation was bigger than the reality – the gift was not as spectacular as the catalogue portrayed it to be. In those cases, a gift garnered attention for a short amount of time, but then it was set aside almost as quickly as it had been unwrapped. On occasions the gift was enjoyed until it broke, or it became boring. Then it was set aside, too. Sometimes, even when the gift was delightful, it had to be returned because it was defective – something missing or broken that kept the gift from fulfilling its design. All the gift-hype was over quickly and sometimes a grand funk set in of “gift letdown.” All this expectation, but for what?

     Certainly, one would find this a grand opportunity for parental Lecture 101, “Be thankful for what you got.”  But somehow that speech just didn’t diminish the letdown. As far as the child was concerned the Christmas gift was a bust. All that expectation was for nothing. However, there were those times when the gift was perfect. Most amazingly, the child didn’t even know it was coming or that they needed it. It was a gift producing total satisfaction and was highly cherished.

     The first Christmas offered the best gift because it came from our Father Creator who knew perfectly what people needed. Humanity had leafed through the “world’s” catalogue of satisfying gifts and came up disappointed. The world’s catalogue suggested frail trinkets to satisfy a soul’s need. Each trinket looked tempting but was lacking in providing what was needed most. The first Christmas offered the gift that was perfect, met the greatest needs of people, and was cherished by those who accepted the gift as a divine provision fitting perfectly into the void in their lives. It was not defective, disappointing, or deficient in any way. The gift is described in the most familiar verse in the Bible, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John3:16 NLT). The gift was perfect, even though it was not what people thought they needed or even expected. It was a gift that arrived at the perfect time – “When the right time came, God sent his Son…” (Galatians 4:4 NLT). The gift came in a perfect way – “born of a woman” whom God chose (Ibid.). The gift provided a perfect plan, “To buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” (Ibid.). Those who receive this gift find they have a gift that produces total satisfaction and is highly cherished.

     According to the National Retail Federation, 17.8% of merchandise sold in the Christmas season will be returned – $428 billion – 2 out of every 3 customers will return a gift (giftmeyourtime.com). The most returned item was clothing. The gift just didn’t fit – their body or taste. The gift that God gave at Christmas will not need to be returned. It is a perfect fit for all of humanity. It is a gift that will be considered precious by all who receive it. Have a great Christmas with a perfect gift!