When I was a younger man, I was convinced that when I reached a certain age, I would have life figured out, that the questions would be settled by time and experience. Many questions have found answers, but many remain. What I now realize more than then is the importance of being willing to wait, to walk through the mystery with faith intact. God’s ways sometimes confound me, sometimes confuse me. How about you?
Faith has taught me to worship Him even in such moments.
The Christmas story brings us a moment like that in the life of Jesus’ mother. We read this: “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2)
That sentence, in the middle of Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus, brings me wonderful peace. Mary was told about God’s plan in Nazareth by an angel and yet at the day of the birth of Jesus when she heard about the angelic announcement during the visit of shepherds, she was left to wonder at it all. It did not make sense to her, at that moment.
Reflecting on that same thought of her wonder, Mark Lowry wrote a song that asks “Mary, did you know…? One of the verses says -
Mary, did
you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am?
When that blessed woman stood 33 years later at the foot of the gruesome cross where her Son hung dying I wonder if Mary retreated to that Holy Night, to the words of shepherds and angels she has stored up in her heart so that she could draw comfort from knowing that He and she were in the center of the will of God?
As we live through days where noise and confusion is all too common, when our lives go sideways with disappointment, when the future is murky – let’s be willing to return to the Word of God, to the declaration that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8)
When fear pushes us toward panic, let’s choose instead to ponder! As we pause and think, His Spirit can whisper to us about the wonder, the mystery of the Incarnation (God in flesh.) He is Immanuel - ‘God with us!’
Let’s make sure that in all our celebrations the momentous message is kept in mind. It is summed up this way - "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12, NIV)
I pray for
you a most blessed Christmas,
a renewal of love for the Savior,
a re-centering of faith on Him, and
a recommissioning to service of the Baby of Bethlehem,
now the Lord of Heaven and Earth, our King!
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