'TIS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

“Do not get so caught up in the familiarity of the story that you forget to look at the wonder of it.” -Unknown

When you sit down and read through the story of Christ’s birth, there is something amazing up front that you cannot deny. It is a story that if any person would read it, they would probably have a lot of questions. There’s this girl, unmarried, never known a man, and somehow, she is pregnant? That alone is quite a tale. But you go further and see all of these things continue to happen like the inn having no room and Jesus ending up being born in a manger. All of these things can make for an interesting story to say the least. But what about those that have heard the story a hundred times? What about those that have been raised in a family that tells this story every Christmas? Many of us have become numb to it in some ways because we feel we know the story so well. But the above quote tells us that we shouldn’t feel that way. Because, in the grand scheme of things there is always something that we can learn if we use the “big picture” mindset. In the immediate mindset, we see a miracle birth meant to show the glory of God, but also the humility a Jesus Christ in how He was born, but in the big picture mindset we see two things: the heart of a true servant and how our lineage does not define our future.

First, when you take a look at the character of Mary, you see the model of an amazing servant. See, Mary knew the risk, what it meant to take on this task of serving God with giving birth to Jesus. There would be shame from many, ridicule from others, and even disdain from those she loved. She would be cast into the scene of those that no one wanted to be around. People had a bad disposition towards women that did not keep their virginity until marriage, even if it was with the same man they were to marry. Whatever reputation she had at the time would disappear the moment word got out, but she stayed faithful to God’s plan. She knew that when God favored her, she would be taken care of in any scenario that this plan would take her. Mary knew this is the life she would live but was still willing to be God’s servant. This is a model servant that we should strive to be. In Matthew 1:38, we see Mary’s amazing response to God: “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’” We have to understand that there will come a time in all of our lives that God will tell us to do something that we may not be happy with, or something that we know will ruin our reputation. It is in this moment that we have choice: Will we run from God like Jonah? Or will we stand strong and have a heart like Mary and proclaim, “I AM YOUR SERVANT!” The latter will not always be easy, but Christianity was never said to be an easy life to live. In the face of persecution, in the darkest night possible, in the scariest event in our life, can we still proclaim this same statement and go wherever or do whatever God asks us? Will we do whatever we have to in order to follow God’s will? That is up to you and you alone.

The other thing we can see with this big picture mindset comes from looking at the past lineage of Jesus Christ. Through reading the Old Testament, we all know that He comes from the line of David. What is important is to see the people within that lineage. When you read through the old testament, and through the different stories of this line, you see a common theme: some messed up people. Take David himself. While he was known to be a “man after God’s own heart,” we see a pretty bad mess up during his reign. He seemed to lose his way a bit, even when God gave him everything. He committed adultery, lying, and murder to get what he wanted. You have to think to yourself, why would God choose this line to bring His Son into this world? This is just one life case of many more that we don’t always hear about in detail, but know that thus lineage, to say the least, is not only one of great feats and glory, but a lot of stories of messed up situations and circumstances. But God still chose this line to bring His Son into the world to be its savior for all people.

Big picture correlation? Not every person has a beautiful past, not everyone gets that perfect family line. But that does not have to define your future. We can choose to start fresh at any point in our life. Just because your parents did not go to college does not mean you cannot, or maybe your parents never kept you in church as a kid, but that does not mean that you cannot start fresh and make it a habit. The beauty of what God is showing us here is that our family line does not define how we have to live.

As we go into this Christmas season, I hope, first of all, we never forget why we celebrate it, but also that we use this amazing story of Jesus Christ’s birth and his family line to see how we can better live our lives for God. I pray that as we go into this new year that those that read this see that they are not copied images of their family line, but that they have every opportunity to change their future. We have all heard the saying, “Your past does not define your future.” So true that is. Secondly, I hope this new year sees you becoming an even better servant of God in everything you do. Despite whether you may face persecution, humiliation, or even lose loved ones in the process, I hope to see every person look at any challenge that may come from serving God and say, “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!