The hearts and minds of so many are pulled in differing directions with the distractions, conflicts and trappings of life in our current era. So I'd like to take a moment to once again bring to the forefront an issue of eternal significance that out weighs all of our temporal concerns and gives it a proper place in importance.
We've passed the month and day that we as Christ followers set out as the season of special thanks that we offer to God, so we now turn our attention to another observance that we hold - the season of expectation around the birth of Christ.
These days we might begin to think about Christmas weeks or even months in advance and find ourselves caught up in the preparations and busyness that we might include during the days leading up to the day we celebrate the observance of the King's arrival. I think though, that if we allow those things to overshadow any of the things that were happening leading up to His appearance and His birth among us over 2000 years ago, we may miss the actual and true "spirit of Christmas".
In the centuries before Jesus appeared, the species of mankind was under God's wrath because of Adam's sin of doubting God (like Lucifer) and his consequent disobedience. Later, the law was given along with a temporary means of sacrificial atonement, but mankind quickly realized that he was in trouble because of his inability to maintain the perfection of God's standard and would fall under the eternal penalty decreed for failure without a savior. Life was hard and those believing God labored under that burden of repeated sacrifices and a rigid life that left them crying out for hope. It was a hope that became kindled by God's promise that He had a plan of redemption - one that sparked a season of expectation.
The pending arrival of a savior was foretold a number of times and even hundreds of years before His birth through a variety of sources that God used. But among others, one of the names given to Christ Jesus always draws me into contemplation over the humbleness of the Mighty and All-Holy God to lower Himself to a position of such lowliness in order to meet us where we are. It was spoken through the prophet Isaiah - the name ... Immanuel.
"All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)." Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)
The young virgin Mary found her own season of expectation set ablaze into an almost inconceivable fire when she found herself in the presence of a holy visitor...
"In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”" Luke 1:26-33 (NLT)
What must Mary have been thinking throughout her pregnancy - knowing that within her, she bore the child of God? What amazing and fearful thoughts she must have had about her own ability be the mother to this Holy Child under Father God's watchful eye. And Joseph with her - contemplating everything he's been told and examining himself before God, appointed to be caretaker and earthly dad to the Divine Child and Eternal King. Their season of wonder and expectation had to have been in full bloom.
"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)
Now, as we begin to prepare this CHRISTmas season to observe the most wonderful gift of grace that could ever be given to us, we too live in a season of expectation...
""Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”" John 14:1-4 (NLT)
...based on the promise of the King Of Kings Himself. And unlike any naysayers, we do know the way...
“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” John 14:5 (NLT)
...because the Lord Himself told us...
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”" John 14:6-7 (NLT)
As we prepare our Christmas observances, I submit without apology that if we keep the focus of our hearts on what God has done and has promised to us, that our celebration of Christ's birth and all that that means for us will be full and deeply blessed. On the other hand, if we let our focus stray too far from those things, I find myself wondering what we're really celebrating and what that's really worth as an offering to God in response to His eternal gifts in this current season of expectation.
"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)
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