Although we’re inundated with Christmas tunes on the radio and decorations galore at the store, Christmas over 2,000 years ago had very little spectacle and flare. In fact, our Christmas of today and the Christmas of then could not be more different. Yes, there was certainly chaos, confusion, and stress for the little family at the center of the story, however this blessed and momentous occasion came and went, and except for a few unlikely guests, most people passed the night without any knowledge that the Savior of the world had come to Earth.
It Came and Went
Can you imagine that something so monumental was so inconsequential at the time. Jesus came, and although few had foretold this event and many had been waiting for him, very few noticed his arrival.
Of course, that singular, and seemingly insignificant night would change the world as we know it forever.
How Has It Changed You
So how has it changed you? You can find that out by answering the very questions that came to light with Jesus’ birth and subsequent death. They are:
- What are you living for?
- Who are you living for?
- What is your response to the manger?
They are seemingly innocent and simple questions, right? But the answers are important and can change the way you operate.
Jesus came to call us to live for the very purposes of God: “to seek and save the lost”, to minister to the needy and to reconcile people to God. We have been called to simply love God and illustrated that love to others by sharing the Gospel. Easy-Peasy right? Not really.
Which Offer Will You Take?
There are lots of competing offers out there. We are asked to live for our job, our mate, our friends and family, our habits, our greed, our desires… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In today’s world, we are bombarded with a multitude of things to live for and Christ, well sometimes he gets the short end of the stick. We have pushed God out of almost every aspect of our lives: our schools, our courts, our families, our sporting events and even our Christmas. Instead of living for God, we mold God into a small portion of our lives and then wonder why it’s not working out as well as we thought it would!
