Merry Christmas, brothers and sisters!!!
I will follow in the spirit of my Thanksgiving post by posting a day early and keeping it brief, since I know this is another busy time for you. Thank you, my friends in Christ, for taking the time to dedicate this moment of your hectic Christmas Eve to hearing my message about God.
I read a story a few years ago, about a young girl named Sarah, and the message really stuck with me. Sarah lived with her parents, her twin brother, her younger brother, and her younger sister. Her family had this really cool Nativity set with a bunch of different pieces. It even had a star on top with a tiny lightbulb in it, so it could glow even when the room was dark. Sarah’s parents had a tradition of putting out the Nativity set on the first day of December every year. Sarah remembers spending hours with her siblings, playing with the parts and acting out the Christmas story.
But their parents always hid baby Jesus somewhere until Christmas Eve night after the children were in bed. Then they would lay the little Jesus figurine in the manger, so the children would find him there in the morning.
The kids were more than willing to accept this Jesus-arrives-on-Christmas arrangement until the year in question. (Sarah was probably about six or seven years old at the time.) This particular December, however, she and her siblings had a plan: to find baby Jesus and put Him in the manger themselves.
Well, they successfully found Him in their mother’s jewelry box and put Him in the manger. Of course this was discovered fairly quickly by her parents, who said nothing, but re-hid baby Jesus somewhere else. And the children found Him again, and again, and again, in hiding place after hiding place, all throughout that month of December.
To this day, as an adult, she remembers how diligently she and her siblings searched for baby Jesus that year, and remarks that she wishes she could say was looking that hard for Jesus in her life today.
Brothers and sisters, how hard are you looking for Jesus? He isn’t hiding from you, but life may try to hide Him from you.
Things, people, events, situations...sometimes it seems like everything and everyone is trying to distract you from Christ.
In fact, I hate to say it, but it’s worse around Christmastime. There’s a sale at this store and a special at that store, and parties, and caroling, and gingerbread house making and tree trimming, and you still haven’t figured out what to get Grandma this year.
Sometimes, especially around Christmas, you have to look pretty dang hard if you want to find Jesus. I honestly think the best way to find Him is to remember that Christmas isn’t all about you. (I know winter is cold and flu season, but it also seems to be the time when a nasty case of Gimme Gimme Disease is going around.)
I think the best vaccine for the Gimme Gimmes is to remember that Christmas is about Jesus, and Jesus is all about love.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him shall not perish, but have life everlasting.” (John 3:16)
We seem to forget this sometimes. In the midst of looking for the perfect Christmas tree, the perfect decorations, the perfect bargains, the perfect gifts, we forget that we're supposed to be looking for the only really perfect part of the Christmas season: the perfect love of our Savior, and the promise of eternal life that we have in Him.
Brothers and sisters, I hope with all my heart that you won't lose sight of what you're looking for. And most of all, I hope you find Him in your heart this Christmas Day and every day, as you continue to search for Him throughout your lives. Merry Christmas.
~BYR
