Christmas365

• Does my behaviour reflect a person who is seeking the King, opposing the King or ignoring the King? There may even be a little seeking and ignoring at the same time – want God’s blessing but not his instruction.

These questions of Christ manifesting himself and our response related to acknowledging Christ are critical before we can move on to the final point that helps us lives Christmas365. They are critical because the answer we give to these determine the extent to which we participate in:

III. Christ Shared

Return for a moment to our shepherd friends – Luke 2:17-18…

How would Dr. Luke have known of this night unless he had been told – either by someone to whom the shepherds had spoken and the story was passed on – or by the shepherds themselves? It is possible that Luke didn’t know of this event until he walked with Jesus and Jesus, who was that baby thirty years earlier, could have told Luke the story himself. But how could he translate the experience of the shepherds that night when he was a helpless infant who would not have known of their joy and excitement? It seems more likely that Luke is telling us the story based on the first-hand information received around the time Jesus was born and when Jesus called him thirty years later, to follow Him, Luke must have thought back to that night when the shepherds declared what they had seen and heard. Surely Luke’s day of following Christ was anchored in part to the testimony of the shepherds. I would imagine that Luke spent thirty years believing Christ to be the Messiah or certainly questioning if it could be possible – leading to belief when he chose to follow Jesus.

Most of us have decided where the birth of Christ – Christ manifested – stands in our belief system. He is undoubtedly the Messiah of God – which leads to the second step of Christ acknowledged. That’s the easier part! Now there is the sharing dynamic of our faith.

Someone said, speaking of the shepherds, “As always, happiness is a spiritual experience which breaks through the shell of common things. These men, simple as they were, were sure that they had looked into God’s reality. Then those who heard it were hushed in wonder.”

I search with a questioning heart and wonder – when was the last time that my encounter with God was so profound that those who heard my testimony were hushed in wonder? It is a question we all need to consider.

Our favorite psychologist, Dr. Phil McGraw speaks a truth that is too commonly true for a lot of people. He writes, “Common sense might suggest that one of the easiest steps in getting what you want from life is to “place your order”: to stand up and declare what it is that you desire. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m convinced that if the mythical genie ever did pop out of the bottle and say, “Tell me your wish,” most people would stutter, stammer, and be in terrible conflict about what to ask for.”

We experience this reality when we’re asked “What do you want for Christmas?” Most of us respond with, “Oh doesn’t matter. I’m happy with anything” because that’s a lot easier than actually needing to know what I think I want or need!