Friday, November 30, 2007
Christmas time can be full of little inconveniences. Let’s face it, if you’re schedule is already full and then you pile on shopping and parties and more appointments, the outcome can be inconvenient. If you don’t like shopping to begin with, Christmas time shopping is totally inconvenient. If you don’t like traffic to begin with, Christmas traffic is inconvenient. If you don’t like meeting people to begin with, being with people at a Christmas party in inconvenient. Into the Christmas spirit yet?
I was thinking about our modern day Christmas inconveniences and comparing them to the first Christmas inconveniences and felt guilty because, frankly, we’ve got it made. Allow me to illustrate:
For us, Christmas traffic in inconvenient. Can you imagine taking a four-day donkey ride to Bethlehem at full term? I suppose Mary could have walked, or waddled.
For us, a total lack of parking spaces at the Mall is inconvenient. How about no room at the inn while your wife is having contractions?
My wife tells me that labor is inconvenient. She claims, “There is no pain like it”. I reply to her, “Oh yeah, drop an axel on your big toe”(I did that once and it really hurt). But think of the first Christmas, the labor and delivery room was a smelly cattle stall.
For some, extra company and meeting new people is inconvenient. For Mary and Joseph, after a grueling night of labor, they entertained and met shepherds.
How did Joseph and Mary make it through all the aggravation and inconvenience? I believe it was because they were totally convinced that what was happening to them and through them was God’s eternal plan. They knew that Jesus was God’s gift to all mankind and there was no inconvenience that could ever compare to Him.
May we be convinced that God has an eternal plan for us and usually His glory shines brightest in the most humble of circumstances. Those who lifted their eyes above Bethlehem’s hovel saw God’s glorious star. May we lift our eyes above the inconveniences of life and see Jesus. After all, He is the star of Christmas!
Wishing you a great Christmas and a parking spot at the mall,
Pastor Tim
I was thinking about our modern day Christmas inconveniences and comparing them to the first Christmas inconveniences and felt guilty because, frankly, we’ve got it made. Allow me to illustrate:
For us, Christmas traffic in inconvenient. Can you imagine taking a four-day donkey ride to Bethlehem at full term? I suppose Mary could have walked, or waddled.
For us, a total lack of parking spaces at the Mall is inconvenient. How about no room at the inn while your wife is having contractions?
My wife tells me that labor is inconvenient. She claims, “There is no pain like it”. I reply to her, “Oh yeah, drop an axel on your big toe”(I did that once and it really hurt). But think of the first Christmas, the labor and delivery room was a smelly cattle stall.
For some, extra company and meeting new people is inconvenient. For Mary and Joseph, after a grueling night of labor, they entertained and met shepherds.
How did Joseph and Mary make it through all the aggravation and inconvenience? I believe it was because they were totally convinced that what was happening to them and through them was God’s eternal plan. They knew that Jesus was God’s gift to all mankind and there was no inconvenience that could ever compare to Him.
May we be convinced that God has an eternal plan for us and usually His glory shines brightest in the most humble of circumstances. Those who lifted their eyes above Bethlehem’s hovel saw God’s glorious star. May we lift our eyes above the inconveniences of life and see Jesus. After all, He is the star of Christmas!
Wishing you a great Christmas and a parking spot at the mall,
Pastor Tim
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Thank You Pastor Tim for your love of Jesus Christ! I wish your sermons were longer because I feel the love of God when I listen to you. I honestly dont want to go back out to the cruel life outside the church.
Keep it up
Keep it up
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