The Real Star

The undisputed star of the Christmas story is the Son of God. From the moment the angel Gabriel announced the news to Mary, God’s plan to redeem sinful man was set in motion. But Jesus did not begin as a baby in Mary’s womb. He existed as God before time began (John 1:1-3, 17:5).  He agreed to humble Himself, to set aside His rights as God to be worshiped and obeyed, and take on the form of frail humanity. As God, He already knew what this would cost Him; yet, He chose to be the final sacrifice so that our sins could be forgiven.

Imagine the humiliation of God becoming a baby, parented by the very people He created! Jesus was raised in a blue-collar home, by imperfect people. He had brothers and sisters, chores, and homework. He had to go to school, learn carpentry, and rediscover truths that He and the Father had spoken into existence before the world began. The One who had commanded angels and placed the planets in the universe would now be limited by space and time. As a human, He stubbed His toe, held His tongue, and suffered rejection, mockery, pain, and sorrow. As great as Mary’s sacrifice was to bring Him into the world, His was greater by agreeing to come. That baby in the manger has reigned forever as the King of Kings. It is only because God became human that we can become the children of God.

Are you tempted to think of Baby Jesus as merely an infant in the nativity? Have you considered that He has always existed or that He is the same God who now reigns from Heaven. The scripture says that Baby Jesus will one day judge those who refuse to accept His sacrifice. Will you meet Him one day as Savior or Judge?

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Stars of Christmas--Shepherds

A dozen eyes blinked at the night sky long after it had grown silent. Had they really seen that? Heard that? Angles? They pulled their gaze from the sky to stare at each other. Nothing had changed. They were still dirty, rough, uneducated. They were still just shepherds. 

But the angel’s words echoed in their hearts: “Unto you is born this day…” “Unto you…” Unto us? Everyone knew the stories about a Messiah coming one day, but wouldn't he come to the palace? Wouldn't Herod and the leaders be the first to know?  Unto us a child is born? Something stirred within the shepherds' hearts. God had come, the angels said. God was here and He had told them first.

How fast they must have run to see if this was true. It was. God was here, in the flesh, in a cow trough with a couple of peasants to guard him. The Messiah had come and it was nothing like they had imagined it would be. It was better. He had come for them, for dirty, rough, uneducated shepherds. They could do nothing but fall to their knees and worship this God-Who-Came-To-Earth. 

And in bowing, they changed. They bowed before Him as unworthy shepherds, but rose from their knees with a new identity. They were no longer “just shepherds;” they were God’s messengers. They had been chosen by Him to spread the good news, and they would never be the same.

Have you heard the angels’ words: “Unto you a child is born?” Have you bowed to worship him? We bow before Him as unworthy—just a mom, just a truck driver, just a lawyer—but we rise to our feet changed. We are given a new identity: God’s messengers. Have you recognized that He came for you? The invitation to come and see still stands. When we bow before Him, we are never the same.

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Stars of Christmas--King Herod

 

Every story has a bad guy. 

In the Christmas story, the bad guy was King Herod. We can easily write him off as total evil—a jealous baby-killer. But we should take a closer look. We all have a little Herod in us. 

Herod heard that his position was about to be threatened. Someone was about to rock his world and he panicked. Fear and self-protection became his only focus. He had no idea the part he was playing in God’s story. He could only think of himself and protecting what was his. In that frame of mind, he could excuse the inexcusable. Aren't we all like that at times?

How many mistakes have you made because you panicked? How many decisions were made from self-interest and self-protection? Only in hindsight did you realize the consequences of those choices. If Herod had consulted God’s word, sought the will of God, and made his decisions based upon wisdom rather than selfish desire, his part in this story would be drastically different. But like us, he didn’t. He chose to act from self-interest and what seemed right to him at the time. The results were tragic.

How well can you identify with Herod? Have you ever made decisions based on self-protection, jealousy, or greed? Have your poor decisions cost others? Wisdom comes when we are honest with ourselves about our own selfish desires. 

God can help us overcome those selfish motives and make decisions that honor Him.

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Stars of Christmas--Joseph

We don't know much about the man who was chosen to raise the Son of God. Scripture is silent for a reason, because regardless of their crucial roles, this was not about Mary and Joseph. 

Joseph appears to have understood that. From the start, he gracefully embraced the role God had for him. In a culture where virtue was highly valued, he chose to marry a woman who was pregnant with a child that was not his. He chose to raise a son he did not create, and face gossip, scorn, and criticism from those who knew them. He accepted God’s plan to be the protector and provider for Jesus, even though he would not see the end of the story from this side of heaven. He chose to allow his reputation to be tarnished, his character defamed, and his future altered in order to obey God’s higher call. He had to trust that his reward would come from God. 

Obedience to God is often costly. Faith is obeying God even when we don’t understand our part in His story. Are you willing to take allow your life to be altered in order to obey God? 

What might total obedience cost you?

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Stars of Christmas--Mary

Some have called her a liar, others have called her a goddess. 

Some have denied she existed, while others have treated her as a queen. 

So what's the truth about Mary, the mother of Jesus, 

               and what does God want us to learn from her life?

 

By historical accounts, Mary was very young, 13 or 14 years old, when the angel appeared to her. She already had a solid faith in the Lord God of Israel and expected, along with everyone else, that the Messiah would come soon. Mary was only a fallible human like us. What set her apart was her attitude of submission to God and her willingness to cooperate with whatever God chose for her.

Every young girl in Israel hoped she might be chosen to bear the Messiah, but the way God’s plan unfolded was nothing like anyone had expected. Instead of instant stardom and honor, God’s plan for Mary required sacrifice, pain, and rejection. Mary knew that she would have to let go of her own dreams in order to fulfill God’s purpose for her. Her response to the angel Gabriel models for us the obedience God desires when he speaks to us: "Truly I am the Lord's servant. Let everything you have said happen to me"(Luke 1:38).  God chose Mary not because she was perfect, but because he knew her heart. She was “highly favored” by God because she wanted to please Him no matter what it cost her personally. That attitude of surrender was the reason God could trust her with His most precious gift.

Can God trust you? When He calls your name, what is your response? Do you resist? Make excuses? Or blatantly disobey? We have a choice. We can cling to our own plans, or we can answer as Mary did: “I am Your servant. Let it be as you have said.” When we respond as Mary did, God can then do great things through our lives.

Motivation

Why do you do what you do?

If you are a Christian, are you invested in eternally significant lifework? Do you serve God regularly, and if so, why? Some Christians  recognize they have a duty to serve God, so they force themselves to perform Christian-type activities. Some ignore service altogether. Some have a genuine passion for people and feel satisfied in helping them. But others carry lifelong  guilt that they should've and didn't.

Maybe this illustration will give you another motivation to consider:

My dad was a farmer. He was always working in his slow, purposeful way. I can still see his long-legged strides as he went about his constant work with patient enjoyment. As a child, I loved skipping next to him, chattering as I hung on his hand or a belt loop, ready to do whatever he was doing. He would send me on errands--"Run get me that bucket" or "Fill up this feed trough." He taught me to be still and let the cattle come to me. He showed me how to give tender care to the sickest ones and isolate the ones that caused trouble. I had no real love for the cattle or any true understanding of the importance of the work.  I only knew that this was important to my father and he wanted me to help him. I enjoyed it because I wanted to be with him, doing what he was doing. If that relationship had not been healthy, the work would have been drudgery. My motivation was the desire to be with my dad. He would praise me and tell me how much help I was, and I was young enough to believe him.

He's been gone more than 15 years, but my life motivation hasn't changed. My Heavenly Father moves through this world with a steady stride, accomplishing what He has purposed to do. I chatter alongside Him, hanging onto his belt loop with no real understanding of the significance of the work. Sometimes He says, "Run get that one" or "Sit still and let them come to you." He shows me how to give tender care to the sickest ones and what to do about the ones that cause trouble. And because they matter to Him, they matter to me.

It is not the love of the work or even love for people that motivates me to serve God. It's not even that I grasp the significance of what He asks me to do. I just want to be with my Father. If that relationship is not healthy, no amount of work will bring real satisfaction. But when it is, then I want to be where He is, doing what He's doing. I want to see His smile when He tells me He's proud of me. Jesus summed it up at age 12 when he said, " I must be about my father's business." He wasn't happy doing anything else. Neither am I. I hope that's the right motivation, because it's the only one I have.
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Endure It Until

How blessed is the man who endures temptation! 

When he has passed the test, 

he will receive the victor's crown of life 

that God has promised 

to those who keep on loving him. James 1:12

What does it look like to "endure temptation?" When we think of temptation, we imagine that we are to run from it and it no longer bothers us. We picture a man glancing at a Playboy magazine on the newsstand and turning away. But this verse seems to imply something else.

In order to endure temptation, there must be a relentless desire to act in a way that does not please God. We don't have to endure something that ends in three minutes. A fleeting temptation to sin does not have to be endured, but rejected. Then it's gone. So what kind of temptations must be endured rather than definitively rejected?

The kinds of temptations described in James 1:12 involve our hearts' desires on the deepest level. You cannot escape your heart. You can close your eyes, you can control your hands, you can decide where your feet go. But you cannot do much about the longings of your heart.

I think this verse was written for people such as those with same-sex attraction. Their heart longs for something which God has forbidden, yet the longings don't go away simply because they want them to. A woman caught in a dead marriage may fall in love with another man, but she is not free to pursue that relationship the way she wants to if she desires to honor God more. She may daily surrender her acts and choices to the lordship of Jesus, but her heart still yearns for connection with a man who meets those needs in a way her husband never did. A man saved from alcoholism may fight the urge to drink for the rest of his earthly life. Every day is a battle with himself as he gives in to God's desire for him rather than the longing of his heart. But it doesn't go away. He must endure it.

Is there a temptation in your heart that you must endure? You see no feasible way to escape it except endurance. You can control your choices and your actions, but your heart may still yearn for something or someone that is forbidden. I think that is the kind of endurance James speaks of. God wants to encourage us that He sees when we endure. He is pleased when we continue to wrestle against our heart's deepest longings without giving in. He promises great reward for all of eternity when we choose to be faithful now.

Stay strong. God does not judge you because of the temptation. He understands and He is cheering for your continued endurance. 

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