Fifteen days out from Christmas....Doesn't seem to be as much hustle and bustle as in years pass. I've got several friends who are fighting the Covid monster, prayer over them for healing and restoration.
This year seems a bit different, to which you may reply, "Well duh?" It's not because of the Covid thing...It's not because of the election battle over who gets to sit in the big chair. It's not even over the divide this country seems to have fallen into. What's different is that I have felt a sense of urgency to know Jesus even better than I ever have.
Is it preparation for some coming event? I don't know. Is it because of time running out until Jesus' return? Could be. But I have never been as focused on the event of the birth of Christ like I have been this season.
The manger....filled with fresh straw and a new born babe. Yet this babe is God in a way that you and I could see....understand...and relate to. He enters this world an innocent babe, and 33 years later leaves it as innocent as when He came. Maybe the message is that we are not to allow this world to taint us. Maybe we have been called to a life that seeks the ultimate Innocent One...Jesus. Called to a life that is more than church attendance and money-giving, but more of a life that follows the One that Jesus lived out before us.......the one we read about in the Gospels. We seek signs and wonders, and are blind to the greatest sign He ever gave us. What sign? To love!
What greater sign and wonder could you get than to love those that hate you? To care for those who seek your destruction. We exclaim, "But that is hard!" Of course it is. It isn't natural to our flesh. It isn't the example the world gives. The world gives love....but it is a selfish, dark love that only seeks its own good.
We see a bunch of shepherds moving through the alley's and streets of Bethlehem, searching for this baby that has been born. They were fresh from being surrounded by a heavenly chorus that declared this birth. I see them as those who "got up and went a lookin'". They could have stayed at their fire and talked about what had happened. It this had happened in out time, there would be t.v. appearances......book deals...........postings on the internet. In other words they would be celebrities (at least for 15 minutes before they became old news). Maybe that is the lesson!! Chase God and don't seek the approval of man. Don't advertise yourself and your experiences as if to lift yourself up to a spiritual super hero. I think somewhere we have been called to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
The wise men....we can't forget about them. Looking upward they saw the star. Don't know what got into them, but they left everything to travel. Left everything to find this babe and do one thing. Worship Him! Maybe I'm suppose to see the incredible value of worship. Not worship so I can get something in return, but worship simply because Christ is worthy of it. I mean think on what these wise men went through. A journey over mile and miles of unforgiving terrain, once arriving in Jerusalem, finding themselves involved in a heinous plot by the king to find and kill this babe. They eventually find the Christ child with His mother. They enter the house bearing gifts for Him....they fall down presenting their gifts, proclaiming this child the one that was foretold by the prophets. Then they get up and leave. All of this effort and expense to simply see, and worship Jesus. I think maybe I have a new perspective on what worship truly is. It is me giving to Jesus everything I have, including my time and my finances. I give Him my life, my family....everything. What Do I Get Back? HIM!!!
Ask God to show you Christmas in a different way this year. Don't let the world cover Christmas up with all the glitz and glamour that is fading and temporary. Find the manger...........find the Babe........Find the Shepherds and by all means....find the wise men.
Merry Christmas from Michael and Vicki a.k.a. The "B's" in Attalla, Al.
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