Mid-Week Message - Remember the Reason

 "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  Isaiah 9:6  (ESV) 

I tend to have a melancholy feeling when all the presents are unwrapped on Christmas morning and the area under the tree is empty.  I get excited by the anticipation of that special day.  As I carefully choose and buy gifts, I imagine in my mind how excited my family will be when they open them.  Sometimes, I am right.  Sometimes not.  But because my focus has been on the unwrapping and reactions, when that part is over and I realize it won't come again for a year, I grow a bit sad.  

Is it that way for you too?  Do you get so wound up by the planning, decorating and giving that you lose some of the joy when the moment is over?  I think a lot of people do.  Christmas day is so extremely commercially hyped that we fail to keep our minds on the true reason for celebration.  

Over seven hundred years prior to the arrival of the Son of God upon this earth, Isaiah prophesied His coming.  An expectant people waited and waited for their Messiah to come, expecting a mighty warrior, a royal king who would set them free from their bondage.  However, He came as a helpless infant, born into poverty instead of riches.  His first bed was hay that was intended to be food for livestock.  His first visitors, though sent by angels, were dirty shepherds rather than important dignitaries.  No wonder so many failed to see Him for who He truly was.  

How many of us miss Him today?  As we endure the frailties of life and the trials of this world, do we forget that we have a Savior?  As we enjoy the festivities that are associated with this time of year, where are our thoughts?  When we gather around the tree with our families on Christmas morning, are we cognizant of the reason we exchange gifts?  Without Christ, there would be no Christmas.  

The next few days will be full of activity and it may be challenging to carve time just for Him, yet it is so important to stop and bow before Him.  He came for you.  He came for me.  His choice to leave Heaven, live as a man, endure cruelty beyond belief and to ultimately hang upon a wooden cross was made with us in mind.  That's what it took to secure our forgiveness and to give us access to Almighty God.  Christmas is about so much more than the Baby in the manger.  It is about the risen Savior and His gifts to us and every celebration should be held with that in mind. 

My Christmas wish for everyone this year is that we would turn our hearts and minds toward Jesus. That we would honor Him with our words and actions.  That before anything else, we would make sure our children know how precious this time is.  Most of all, that we would allow the joy of His arrival, life, death and resurrection to fill us with unspeakable joy that we will allow to bubble over into every life that we encounter in the coming year.  In His indescribable love, I wish you a very Christ-filled and merry Christmas.  God bless.  

Mid-Week Message - Every Knee Will Bow

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  Philippians 2:9-11  (NIV) 

As I write tonight, my mind is at the manger.  I am always in awe when I read the account of our Savior's birth and see pictures of the shepherds who have left their sheep to go and see this newborn baby.  The account in Luke does not say that they bowed to worship Him, but I can only imagine that they did.  We are told that they went from this miracle and spread the word then they returned, "glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."  

Although it is nowhere near the time of year that we usually think about this birth, can you go there with me, witness the scene in your mind's eye and allow your heart to respond to all you see and hear?  This tiny infant, sleeping in a trough made for feeding animals, Mary and Joseph beside Him, began His earthly life in such a place as this.  You can hear and smell the animals and have trouble believing that there was no more suitable place.  

Turn your thoughts away from the surroundings and focus solely on the child.  Maybe he moves His little closed fists.  Maybe He utters a small cry.  Maybe He opens His eyes and looks directly at you.  What is your reaction?  Those tiny eyes peering directly into your soul and touching a part of you that has never been touched before.  Would there be tears?  Would you be on your knees?  

One day, every knee will bow before Him and every tongue will confess that He is the Christ, our Lord.  All will worship Him and this will bring glory to God the Father.  

It may be more difficult to picture the time that He returns than it was His birth.  There is so much we don't understand, and may even fear.  All who have denied His Lordship, or even His existence, will know the truth at this moment.  We all will realize that we are sinners and are unworthy of His salvation.  Yet, for those who have truly repented and believed, eternal salvation is real.  

He isn't a baby anymore and we never know when His return will be, but the time will come. We may have years ahead of us, or we may have only moments.  Whether we are alive on the day of His coming or meet Him after our deaths, the question remains.  Will we be ready to bow?    

  

Mid-Week Message - The Gift of Christmas

 "When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!  They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."  Matthew 2:10-11  (NLT) 

Time for shopping is almost at an end for the holiday season and in most homes there are brightly colored packages beneath trees that are decorated in various styles.  In just a few days families will gather, gifts will be distributed, wrapping will be torn off and the mysteries of the packages will be revealed.  

I can remember that time in my life when I thought Christmas would never come.  As most children do, I loved the anticipation leading up to that special day of the year.  Actually, I still do.  There is still the little girl part of me that finds the season magical although for different reasons than when I was a child.  

One of the most loved songs of the season is "The Little Drummer Boy."  Among the pa-rum-pa-pum-pums is the story of a little boy with a drum who finds himself before the manger where Jesus is lying.  He sees the gifts that are given and wants to offer something himself but has nothing but his drum.  So, he begins to play for the baby.  The lyrics tell us that Mary nodded, the ox and lamb kept time and then Jesus smiled at him. 

What gift would you give the King of Kings if you found yourself before Him?  The wise men gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Not only were they costly, they held symbolic meaning for the life of the Savior.  Gold was a symbol of kingship on earth.  Frankincense symbolized deity and myrrh, which was used as an embalming oil, referred to death.  Can you give Him anything as valuable?  

The very first Christmas gift was a baby that was born to a young girl in a stable.  This child, the foretold Messiah, slept in a feeding trough rather than a gilded crib in a grand castle.  Word of His arrival was announced to shepherds, not nobility.  Rather than living as a rich man, He lived a humble life and died a cruel death.  And He did it all for you and me so that we could have the ultimate gift of the forgiveness of sins, the restored relationship with the great I Am and eternal life with Him in Heaven.  

We don't know the actual date of the birth of Jesus.  In all likelihood it was sometime in the spring rather than winter, but we celebrate it on December 25th.  We give gifts to those we love because of what He gave to and for us.  The greatest gift we can give to Him is receiving Him as our Savior and sharing His good news with all we come in contact with.  There is no other gift that carries as much love as the Gospel.  

As we gather to share in the wonder of Christmas, let's first acknowledge the most wonderful gift of all and ask Him to be the center of our day.  Merry Christmas and God bless!  

Mid-Week Message - The First Visitors

"In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;  for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.'"  Luke 2:8-14 (NASB) 

Do you have a manger scene set up in your home for Christmas?  Many of us do, I'm sure.  Almost all of them contain the same pieces.  Mary, Joseph, the Baby in the manger, three wise men with gifts, several animals, and an angel and a shepherd.  These are the classic parts in Christmas plays and pictures.  However, the wise men were not there.  They didn't make it to Jesus until He was at least a year old.  And, does it surprise you to know that there is no mention of an angel there either?  At least not visibly.  Surely the Lord's armies were encamped around His Son.  Where then does the angel come into the story?

Shepherds were in the fields guarding their flocks.  These men were doing a lowly job.  They were smelly and not the favorite people to invite to the Christmas party.  Yet, God chose them for the angels' visit.  He chose them for the announcement that the prophecy had been fulfilled and the Christ child had been born.  And in what a mighty way!  There they were, under that night sky, probably tired from a long day's work, talking among themselves.  Suddenly they see a sight they couldn't believe!  An angel of God had come to deliver the good news.  After that we are told that a multitude of the heavenly host appeared to them and began praising God.  

So, why them?  Of all the people the angels could have made their announcement to, why dirty sheep tenders?  What can we learn from this?  The Father wanted to show that the Savior had come for all.  Not just the rich or the religious.  By appearing to the shepherds, the angels not only announced the birth of the King, but also God's inclusion and acceptance of people from all walks of life. 

There is one thing that amazes me each time I see a manger scene.  That is that there is almost always only one shepherd present.  However, scripture says "they" went to see what the angels proclaimed was true.  So, a more accurate representation of that night would be Mary, Joseph, the Baby and several dirty, smelly shepherds.  Does that change how you feel about that scene?  I don't know about anyone else, but it makes it more beautiful to me.  God bless you!

Mid-Week Message - Don't Forget the Baby

"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."  Matthew 2:9-11 (NIV)

Christmas Day is over.  Soon the lights will be turned out, the trees taken down and all of the ornaments will be packed away.   Everything will be stored in garages, attics or storage units and be forgotten about until next year.  Wrapping paper, ribbons and bows that were so painstakingly used to make each gift beautiful will be wadded up, placed in garbage bags and thrown away.  Christmas music on the radio and holiday programming on television will cease and life will return to normal.  

Each year, this causes me to grieve.  All of the time spent in planning and anticipation culminates in hours.  My husband has a saying each year at the end of the long awaited day.  He says, "Another Christmas is in the books."  He's right.  The packages are opened, the meals are consumed and the visitors leave for home.  The memories have been made and it is time to focus on the future.  Soon it will be a New Year that will bring its own joys and sorrows.  We cannot stay in today.  

The most difficult thing for me to pack away each year is the Nativity.  Somehow it seems wrong to me to put the Baby Jesus in a box or bag to be hidden away.  I know it is just a symbol and that I am not actually packing away the Son of God, but I wonder how many people will continue to focus on Him when those symbols are less visible.  I am so grateful for the story of the three wise men from the east because they didn't give up following the star.  They sought the Lord until they found Him.  Many experts believe that Jesus may have been at least two years old by that time.  These men could have chosen at any time to stop and go home, but they continued their journey until they found who they were looking for and had delivered their precious gifts.  

Years ago, my husband suggested in church that we continue to say "Merry Christmas" throughout the year because the birth of our Savior is every bit as important in July as it is in December.  His coming is cause for continual celebration, just as His death and resurrection are.  It was at this point that we began leaving a Nativity figurine up all year in our home.  It isn't a large one but it is placed where we can regularly see it.  Beside it is a figurine depicting His death and resurrection.  This was a personal decision to daily remind us of the sacrifices made on our behalf.  

This year, as we all put away the Christmas decorations, I pray that we don't forget the importance of the baby that laid in that manger.  As the wise men continued to seek Him, so should we.  His birth was for all mankind, but it was also very personal.  He desires to be included in each part of our lives.  His love for you and me is immeasurable.  He gave up Heaven to walk among us and He didn't disappear after the day of His birth.  May we all remember His presence throughout each day of the year and may we all continue to bow at both the manger and the cross.  

Mid-Week Message - The Manger

"She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them."  Luke 2:7

Each week throughout the Christmas season, I would like to use this article to take a closer look at some of the elements of the Christmas story that are less discussed.  I believe that our Father was very meticulous in what He chose for His son's birth and that we have something to learn from everything and everyone that was involved.  This week, I would like to examine the first earthly dwelling of Jesus, the manger itself.

We don't know exactly what it was comprised of.  It may have been hewn from a rock, or it may have been, as we are used to seeing, created of wood.  Either way, it was a vessel created for animals to feed from.  If you have pets, you know that food and water bowls get grimy very quickly.  The saliva from the animal, mixed with remnants of food create quite a mess.  Those who have larger animals, such as cows or horses, know this on a greater level.  

This filthy container would have been crudely created, certainly not a decorative piece.  Assuming that it was made of wood, we know that the materials would not have been pressure treated, so most likely it was splintering because of the elements of the weather and the use by the animals.  It certainly was not a place that would be a first choice for a newborn infant.  And what of the hay?  Hay can be prickly and full of rough stems and even insects.  Were it not for the swaddling, baby Jesus would have been laying on a bed that was quite uncomfortable.  

Now that we have a mental picture of this bed, we have to ask why the manger and what can we learn from it.  Just as Jesus filled that trough, so He fills us.  When we come to Him we are dirty with sin, unrefined in the ways of the Lord.  We are in need of spiritual repair.  If you will, we are full of splinters and certainly not suited for the Son of God.  Yet, He loves us enough to enter our hearts and begin the process of cleaning us up, sanding away our rough edges and preparing us for life in Heaven, the most royal place ever.  

As you go through your week, think about the manger.  It was no accident that it was the first place our Savior was lain.  It presents a beautiful picture of the redemption of mankind.  God bless you.