3 posts tagged “christ”
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT one of those bah humbug scrooge types. I love Christmas, it's the celebration of the birth of my Lord and Savior and that is a huge deal! But after being alive for 23 years I can certainly do with a little less of the commercialized tradition buttoned up with pomp and circumstance unassociated with the original purpose of the holiday. And truthfully I'm not even asking for all of that to be done away with. Just give me till after Thanksgiving, plz thx?!
It's the holidays again (if you hadn't heard yet :-P). And of course everyone is talking about it, TV is playing Christmas movies, everyone is telling there version of it. The lights, the decorations, the presents, the events, the people, the shopping, the hype and all the rest! And every single one of those movies has some dramatic depiction of a perfect Christmas gone wrong. People getting caught up in all the stuff and forgeting that the true meaning of Christmas is ___________*.
*insert family, presents, santa, love, community, being nice, or coming together.
But I would say no. No, it isn't presents, heck, it isn't even family! Now I'm not about to quote, "Jesus is the reason for the season," but I would submit to you that it isn't even so much just Him being born that night so long ago. Before I go on any further there is a better quote I want to share....
~The incarnation is God's grace made evident and obvious. People matter. Life is sacred. Men, women and children are worth the greatest sacrifice, the supreme effort, the ultimate gift....It is the amazing manifestation of His unshakable love for the unloved, the unlovely, the weak, the defaced, the unworthy, the unwarranted, the rebels, the sinners...you and me.
You see Christmas is the day that the Love of God manifested itself in the form of a little baby boy. By all means, celebrate with your family, love on them, give gifts, dress up the house, have fun with friends, watch Christmas movies and let the idea of Santa amuse you. Go to church and watch one story of Christmas, go home and watch Hollywood's version. But remember when you do all of it that your Creator Loves you. And that, my friends, is the true meaning of the season.
*insert family, presents, santa, love, community, being nice, or coming together.
But I would say no. No, it isn't presents, heck, it isn't even family! Now I'm not about to quote, "Jesus is the reason for the season," but I would submit to you that it isn't even so much just Him being born that night so long ago. Before I go on any further there is a better quote I want to share....
~The incarnation is God's grace made evident and obvious. People matter. Life is sacred. Men, women and children are worth the greatest sacrifice, the supreme effort, the ultimate gift....It is the amazing manifestation of His unshakable love for the unloved, the unlovely, the weak, the defaced, the unworthy, the unwarranted, the rebels, the sinners...you and me.
You see Christmas is the day that the Love of God manifested itself in the form of a little baby boy. By all means, celebrate with your family, love on them, give gifts, dress up the house, have fun with friends, watch Christmas movies and let the idea of Santa amuse you. Go to church and watch one story of Christmas, go home and watch Hollywood's version. But remember when you do all of it that your Creator Loves you. And that, my friends, is the true meaning of the season.
In Mark Chapter 8, verse 13 through 21, we find Jesus and His disciples crossing over the water from Dalmanutha. It is here that Jesus tells them to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And the disciples did what just about anyone I know would do. They checked through their stuff and could only one loaf among them. It is then that they began to reason among themselves saying that Jesus only said to beware the leaven of the others because they only had a little bread.
You see, the disciples did what comes naturally and easily. It's what everyone in the world does on a regular basis. They assumed that God is out to get them. You've heard this before right, "God only wants to give me a bunch of rules," or "God is mean kid with a magnifying glass and we're the ants." The disciples thought that Jesus wanted to make them suffer, to make their lives harder. Just like so many of us do when we encounter adversity.
If we pick it up in the last part of verse 17, Jesus says, "Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?" Jesus begins to recount every time that he had provided more than enough food, when all they had was just a small portion. At the end of it he re-asks this questions, "How is it you do not understand?"
I can't recall how many times I've just read past that question and not asked myself what it was He was trying to get them to understand. But now it seems so clear to me. The answer is so obvious isn't it? Jesus was with them. Do you remember the 5 loaves and 2 fish that fed five thousand? Or the seven loaves and few fish that fed four thousand? Then should not one loaf suffice to feed the disciples? What Jesus was teaching them was that you can not depend on man to provide for your need. You need to depend on Him! In all practicality, God uses man to do His work, we see it all the time, but it's all in the attitude at the heart of the matter. Do you depend on your girlfriend/boyfriend, or husband/wife, or your family, or the government to provide you with what you need? Or do you put your faith in Christ, He who has proven to provide for you.
Or perhaps think on this: In Christ, everything you have is everything He needs to do something truly amazing.
You see, the disciples did what comes naturally and easily. It's what everyone in the world does on a regular basis. They assumed that God is out to get them. You've heard this before right, "God only wants to give me a bunch of rules," or "God is mean kid with a magnifying glass and we're the ants." The disciples thought that Jesus wanted to make them suffer, to make their lives harder. Just like so many of us do when we encounter adversity.
If we pick it up in the last part of verse 17, Jesus says, "Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?" Jesus begins to recount every time that he had provided more than enough food, when all they had was just a small portion. At the end of it he re-asks this questions, "How is it you do not understand?"
I can't recall how many times I've just read past that question and not asked myself what it was He was trying to get them to understand. But now it seems so clear to me. The answer is so obvious isn't it? Jesus was with them. Do you remember the 5 loaves and 2 fish that fed five thousand? Or the seven loaves and few fish that fed four thousand? Then should not one loaf suffice to feed the disciples? What Jesus was teaching them was that you can not depend on man to provide for your need. You need to depend on Him! In all practicality, God uses man to do His work, we see it all the time, but it's all in the attitude at the heart of the matter. Do you depend on your girlfriend/boyfriend, or husband/wife, or your family, or the government to provide you with what you need? Or do you put your faith in Christ, He who has proven to provide for you.
Or perhaps think on this: In Christ, everything you have is everything He needs to do something truly amazing.
