Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? One of the challenges given in this past weekend’s message was for us to remember that Christmas is all about Jesus! As simple as that is to say, it is increasingly harder to do. I’ve often thought and heard people say that this would be much if Jesus would simply reveal Himself by coming to Earth right here and right now in our time. He’s already here…that’s where you and I come in.
As followers of Jesus the Bible teaches us that we are Jesus’ body and that His Spirit takes up residence inside of us guiding us, and empowering us, to be more like Him. Considering that let’s take the three aspects we looked at on Sunday of Jesus being a humble King and consider how we can apply these to ourselves in order to reveal God’s presence to the world this Christmas season:
Where He came –We talked about the lowly and dark places that Jesus came to when He condescended His form from God to a man and stepped into our world. In the same way, we should humbly be grateful for wherever God has placed us. In our families, our jobs, our communities, our state…wherever we are is a great place to serve God. This begins when, even in our current surroundings, we stop complaining and start thanking God. The difference between thanksgiving and complaint is not our circumstances, but our perspective.
What He became – Jesus lowered Himself to become a common person and then eventually revealed Himself to be God’s promised Messiah to save His people. We too should follow Christ’s example and humble ourselves so that there is nobody that we are unwilling to associate with because we somehow feel above them. God places us around people every single day…let’s take a minute to notice them, talk to them, listen to them and encourage them. On the flipside Jesus became the Messiah who will ultimately reign as King of all. While we are not the Messiah or kings and queens, as adopted children of God, we are royal princes and princesses. Let’s also take the time to focus inward and ask God to help us make any internal or external adjustments needed to help us think, act and look more and more like the King we represent.
Why He came –Jesus came “not to be served, but to be serve.” Let me ask you an honest and difficult question. Has your life become all about you? Your convenience, your preferences, your ambitions, your agendas? If so, it is time to repent and ask God to help you become more God-centered and others-centered. I have to do this on a regular basis. Jesus came to serve and to give His life so that many would be saved. As servants of our King, we should be willing to do no less. Our purpose on this Earth is to serve our King and point others to Him through our actions and our words. We have to continually be intentional about this or our lives will naturally drift towards serving ourselves.
If we will do these things then we truly experience the “Christmas spirit” in a way that eggnog and Santa Clause just can't deliver!
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