"Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir." Galatians 4:1-7 (NLT)
I'm a creature of habit, but only to a degree these days. After having lived so many years knowing my Father and my Christ, my tendency is to leave room for my God to intervene in order to provide new direction or even correction over any habit or tradition I might aspire to maintain. But as the day that so many Christians set aside as a day in particular to celebrate Christ's birth among us on earth approaches, there's one habit that I feel no challenge or redirection against...
Every year as Christmas approaches I begin to meditate on what it cost not only Christ to step down from His heavenly and royal due, but also the Father - to be separated from the presence of His Son and knowing that this was only a foreshadow of the price to be paid by Him for my redemption. The date on the calendar matters not really. What does matter is my response to the gift, but even prior to that my understanding of the gift - its weight, its cost, the heart of The Giver, and it's wealth rendered to me so voluntarily.
From Childhood I remember the sweet, palpable spirit that rose up in our home - following my mother from room to room as the days of Christian importance approached every year. Over time I began to understand that what I felt on those occasions was my mother's worship of her God and the presence of His spirit inhabiting her worship as she focused on the truth of what God has awesomely done, was doing and would do for her because of His love and faithfulness. At times we lived in abandoned shacks that my dad, as a carpenter, would then remodel and I remember the greatest gift I received one year was a pair of slippers knitted by my mother, accompanied by an orange, some peanuts and a candy cane, but it was a glorious occasion and season because I was allowed to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in it through her worship.
What I felt back then I've repeated successfuly since only when I myself am able to narrow my focus from the things of this world to truly concentrate on the realities of those great and awesome things that our God has done, His heart in them, their cost and the undeserved mercy and grace presented to me through them. When I'm able to do that, then I'm able to enter that place of true, awe inspired worship from which a wellspring of gratitude and love begin to overflow - and the weight of the Holy Spirit's presence meets me there. This heart and spirit of celebration is something that I've attempted to share with my own family over the years and continually pray that they find the truth in it to share with theirs in the remaining time that Christ tarries.
There have been times when I failed and allowed distractions to pull my attention away from my true mission. And because I have known the presence of the Holy Spirit in righteous celebrations, those Christmases were grievous disappointments to be filled only with earthly trappings and things - hollow and devoid of true meaning and celebration, failed in their appointed purpose of my response to my God for what He has done, is doing and will do for me because of His love and faithfulness and lacking in the presence of His Spirit that I long for.
THIS is why I share with you now, in the hope that as time now presents an opportunity to focus on those things of God that we as Christians purport to celebrate in Christmas, there is time yet to enter in to a true spirit of worship - to be inhabited by the completing, satisfying, overwhelmingly wonderful Spirit Of The Living God in this season leading up to our true celebration of Christ's birth. Don't miss it.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
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