A Real Christmas

I recently heard about a billboard put up by the Atheist Community.  Displaying a picture of the manger scene, it then stated, "You know it's a myth.  Celebrate Reason this Season."  A week later, I heard a sermon which used this billboard as an example.  The pastor went on to state that we could celebrate reason - that Christmas is a reasonable time of year.  He said that it is reasonable that the Creator of the World would seek to save His creation and would send His own Son to do this.  It struck me a bit odd.  I always thought of Christmas more as miraculous, or wonderful, or awe-inspiring.  Reasonable sounds too…normal.  And Christmas, the way that Christians celebrate it, is anything but normal.  A virgin, having a baby?  Reasonable?  I think not.  Angels appearing to lowly, dirty, thieving shepherds, entrusting to them one of the most important messages ever told?  Reasonable?  No way.  God, becoming a baby?  Hardly Reasonable. 

But while I was thinking about this, a different word came into my head.  Real.  This is the word that I want to use to describe Christmas this year.  So often the manger scenes, storybook carols, Christmas services and old traditions get in the way of the reality of what happened 2,010 years ago.  We see an American boy, born into a warm, charming stable and surrounding by happy cows and cute baby lambs.  We sing about his glowing face, and his tearless entrance into this world.   We create a picturesque scene that fits our happy image of what the Lord's entrance into our world must have looked like. 

This isn't real.

Granted, we cannot know all the details, save for what is written in Scripture.  But take a moment and picture the real situation.  A young, pregnant virgin, faithfully serving Her God in a situation that must have been terribly scary and unknown.   And her husband-to-be, a God-fearing man, whose betrothed is pregnant.  Angels, glorious servants of the Most High appearing to both Mary and Joseph.  And then this child is born and He is God, made flesh!  I cannot picture or understand how Mary must have felt. 

But I am overwhelmed by the reality of the Incarnation.  These were real people, with real emotions, real families, real friends.  Mary's life changed entirely when she was visited by the Angel.  Joseph probably had no idea how his life would be altered when he and Mary became betrothed.  But the most amazing part of this story is the reality of Jesus Christ.  He is not a painted picture, or a symbol on a Cross.  He is not stuck in history, as a baby in a manger.

He is real. 

He was born, learned to walk and talk.  He grew up, made friends, learned to carve wood, studied the Scriptures, ate meals, slept and grew into a man.  Fully human. 

He is fully God.

Omniscient, Omnipresent. 

This is the reality.  Fully Man, Fully God.  Stepping into our world.

May this blow you away this Christmas, as it is doing to me.  May we be awestruck by these "unreasonable" miracles. 

May we never cease to be amazed at the Incarnation of our Savior.  

I cast all my cares...

Dear God, 

Take my doubts, and give me faith.

Take my dreams, and give me trust.

Take my steps, and give me wings.

Take my fears, and give me peace.

Take my sorrows, and give me joy.

Take my all, and give me You. 

Love,

Me

"Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God so at the proper time He might exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7.

When Death brings Life

Dying to Self: something I challenged my girls to do each week this summer.  Something I challenged myself to do at least once a day this whole summer.  Not that I did it perfectly by any means, or even understand it perfectly, but since I have gotten back to school, I seem to have forgotten this challenge, this call for my life - to die to self, that I might live for Christ.  Why is that?  I suppose part of it is that it happens naturally.  I go to school and take my classes, and get grades for myself, so I can get a job, to make money for myself, so I can have a good life.  It becomes all about me.  But how do I live this day, living for Christ, and sacrificing my own wants and desires for those that honor and please God?  It is such a paradox to me - that to die to myself would bring a more satisfactory, fulfilling life.  But this is what Scripture promises us. 

The following paragraph was given to us by the WVA faculty and directors in our 'playbook'.  I came back to it the other day and am now posting it - that this reminder of dying to self might not be just a reminder, but might become a way of life.

"When you're forgotten or neglected or purposely set to naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the insult to the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy for Christ, that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoke of, and your wishes are crossed, and your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence, this is dying to self.

When you're contented with any food, offering, clothing, climate, society, any solitude, any interruptions by the will of God, that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works or itch for commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit, and feel no envy nor question God when your needs are far greater or in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self.

When you receive correction or reproof from one of less stature that yourself, and can humbly submit inwardly, as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart, that is dying to self.

Are you dead yet? In these last days the Spirit would bring us to the cross, that I may know Him, being made comfortable in His death.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live in the body I live with faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me" (Gal. 2:20)."