Christmas is days away. Are you ready?
Tree up. House decorated. The flurry of shopping, wrapping, attending programs, baking, meal preps, and cards sent.
And then something inconvenient gets added to life. Sickness. Flat tire. Unscheduled sports games. Unexpected bills.
We say to ourselves, “I don’t have time for this!”
The busyness of the weeks leading up to Christmas often threatens to diminish our awe and wonder of the first Christmas in Bethlehem. God’s greatest gift was given to us at Christmas, sent in an unlikely form, a small, helpless baby named Jesus. God went to great lengths to enter our history and to identify with us through His Incarnation. (from The Grace Impact, p. 41)
The first Christmas came with inconvenience.
Imagine the disturbance in the lives of for Mary and Joseph.
Mary had to travel uncomfortable miles for a census to a crowded city.
While she was in Bethlehem, away from her family, the time came for the baby’s birth in humble surroundings.
Was she ready to have the baby?
Inconvenient, but God’s holy timing was perfect.
This verse in Galatians 4:4-5 emphasizes the timing of the plan for our redemption and Jesus’s divine purpose.
It was the right time in history to break the 400 years of silence from God. The Roman empire created roads that made travel easier. There was a common language. The prophecies were fulfilled in the holy birth.
God was working behind the scenes for the right moment in time to bring our redemption.
“But when the set time had fully come” — God’s perfect timing
“God sent his Son” — Jesus is divine
“born of a woman” — Jesus was human
“born under the law” — Jesus was born into our world, with our restrictions
“to redeem those under the law” — His own purpose
People looked for a Messiah to come with power. Instead, God entered the world as a baby that would bring redemption for all. Through the grace of the Incarnation, God revealed Himself in a way that relates to us — living on the earth and breathing our air. (from The Grace Impact, p. 43).
When God breaks into our lives, often we aren’t prepared for the holy inconvenience.
The lyrics in “O Little Town of Bethlehem” express the quiet holiness of the birth.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
Many years ago I had a baby on Christmas Eve, which was a Sunday that year. My husband, a pastor, was with me at the hospital that morning instead of celebrating Christmas Sunday with our church. I wasn’t ready for the birth. My suitcase wasn’t packed. The nursery wasn’t done. My due date was in January. Inconvenient? Yes. But oh so worth it.
We prepare for Christmas in many ways—do we see the preparations as inconvenient or joyful with anticipation?
Do we need an attitude adjustment in these days before Christmas?
We all have need for the Savior.
May we all take the time—no, make the time—to prepare our hearts to receive the holy gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love that broke into history 2000 years ago.
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