At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Some at that time knew that God had changed the world at that very moment. However, it took another 33 years before the full extent of His plan would be made known.
Jesus was born, raised, and then set out on his leading to His ultimate goal of serving the Father. It took the nation of Israel 40 years in a desert and over 33 years of Jesus' life to see things play out. God takes His time to get what He needs done to be done.
Perspective
I wondered what to write about as a Christmas entry, so I read several other writers' takes on the Christmas story and season. There is no doubt that God demonstrated an incredible step towards His ultimate goal when He selected Mary to be the mother and Joseph to be the Father. A Holy Family that would start this journey to the ultimate goal by getting pregnant out of wedlock, birthing that child, and having to place that child in a manager to start His life on earth. As well as running and hiding for safety, some knew that things would not remain the way they had been.
Jesus was unsettling to the status-quo people of the time. With Jesus' birth, Herod attempted to have Jesus killed. Herod killed many because he did not know how to identify this new competitor of the masses. So Herod murders children. The birth of one manifested in the death of many—a startling view of the impact of Christmas.
As we listen to Christmas songs and spend our time with Christmas traditions, the true reflection of this moment in the creation story should be one of wonder and amazement. God has demonstrated many times that changes in our world take a good amount of time and often come with sacrifices.
Do you ever think of the consequences or unintended consequences of the various things that have happened? Jesus' birth not only means that God’s plan is in action, but in the end, that plan will be a new covenant. However, there will be incredible hardships, death, betrayal, and many other extraordinary difficulties along the way. Many incredible blessings happen along the way as well.
The tension between the birth of Jesus and the impact it would make is very revealing in how our lives play out. We are not immune to the impacts of ourselves on others. We can look back from our birth to now and see it. For those of us who are older, we have more time and experience to see how God was impacting the world around us because of us. Even for the young, your impact is felt.
So what’s the point here? God has a plan that plays out. It reveals itself over time. We do not know the end in mind from this earthly existence point of view, but we do have an ultimate view demonstrated through Jesus. Really? So what is that?
Well, that little baby boy we celebrate at Christmas must grow into the man He became. It took 30 years before He set out on that three-year mission to teach and ultimately set the course for The Way to Happen. To ignite in the early church founders such a strong belief in what God did through Jesus, they devoted their lives to that new reality. To have people write down what happened and allow it to survive to this day. That all ultimately leads to eternity. For Jesus, that is sitting at the right hand of the Father. For others, it is a place in God’s home that Jesus said He would prepare for them.
So what about your life? What about your ultimate conclusion?
A constant evolution of my relationship with God is forming me. He uses His Word and plenty of message providers to lead me to a deeper and deeper understanding. As deep as that gets, the more I release of this world and what I allow to get in my way of this refreshed and informed understanding. I never realized that I allowed God to be so crowded out. However, I have landed on this idea: it takes time for God’s plans to be realized. Our job or role during the revealing of that plan is to live through it and to trust in it. We should embrace God’s process and be willing to eliminate things of how we were (Paul is that example) and accept whatever God has in store for us (Jesus is that example).
As I celebrate the birth of our Savior, I praise our Father for this beautiful gift. This is the start of something new. The gift of relationship with the Creator of all of it. To have a very personal and specific connection that allows me to navigate what has been a life rich with experiences. God allows me to live with a plan that is still being worked on each day.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the Christmas season and the birth of your Son Jesus. Thank you for introducing us to Mary and Joseph. Two parents who demonstrated faith in you, taking action on your instructions, and who demonstrated a love that gives us a great example of how to love. Thank you for all of the stories in the Bible and for all the people you allow into our lives that help shape our story. Father, allow us to find our way to you and navigate your plan for us. Guide us with your Spirit and lead us to our eternity serving Your Will as we grow along the path. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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