The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas by Steven Curtis Chapman

It was the night before Christmas and all through the world

Everything looked like business as usual

Shepherds sat on a hillside looking up at the stars

While the world fell asleep unaware just how deep

Was the darkness the night before Christmas

And the night before Christmas it seemed to be just a night

But the wind blew like something was coming

And like children with secrets that they're bursting to tell

The cedars danced in the breeze while all of nature it seemed

Held its breath on the night before Christmas

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And hope, hope long awaited

The hope of the ages

Would break with the dawn

And the song that all of creation was anticipating

Would start with a baby's first cry

And on the night before Christmas Mary laid down to rest

While Joseph, he paced the floor praying

And in an everyday stable, in an everyday town

In the hours to come God would wrap Himself up

And come down from heaven and the world would forever be changed

After the night before Christmas

Anticipation

As the calendar flips to December 1, it's hard to believe that Christmas is upon us and the year is coming to a close. I absolutely love this time of year, and I anticipate its arrival for months.  It's such a sweet time.  There is something about this season that puts everyone in good spirits.  Is it the decorations and lights? Is it the lovely Christmas music and hymns? Is it the time spent with family and friends? Is it the parties and food? Is it the gifts beneath the tree?

When I think about my childhood excitement surrounding Christmas, I realize that it wasn't necessarily those things that made me so excited. Yes, I loved those things, but I think that the true joy and excitement I felt came from the anticipation that Christmas was coming! Even now, as an adult, I get giddy with the anticipation of Christmas' arrival! I anticipate the family fun, the decorations, the music, the gift-giving, the holiday parties and the like.  More importantly, I also anticipate the opportunity to celebrate the reason that we get to celebrate! The first advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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The dictionary defines advent as "the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event." Most of us simply think of advent as a countdown to Christmas.  It is so much more.  I think that the reason why we anticipate the arrival of the Christmas season has something to do with the anticipation surrounding the first Christmas.  Many anxiously awaited the arrival of the Savior King.  Yet, only few realized the timing was so soon, and only few recognized it when it happened.  Still, He was prophecy and promise revealed! He was reconciliation for our souls in the flesh.

For me, Christmas is now a time when I think a lot about the second advent.  Like the first advent, no one can predict the timing, yet unlike the first advent, all will recognize and understand when the clouds roll back and our Lord descends.  It will be prophecy and promise revealed! It will be complete fulfillment in Him for those who believe! Every knee will bow and every tongue confess...

So as we begin this Christmas season, let's reflect on the first advent and the glory that was revealed.  Let's also foster a spirit of anticipation for the second advent and the glory that is to come!

Come, Lord Jesus!

Obedience Leads to Revelation

Many times in my life, the Lord has shown me the importance of my obedience to Him even if I don’t know what the end result will be.  Sometimes He even waits to give me the confirmation that I am doing the right thing until after I take what I believe to be the step the Spirit is prompting me to take.  The times when I am trusting that what I am doing is what He is calling me to are some of the times that I feel most connected and most intimate with Him.  It’s funny how obedience works.  It’s one of the most important things we can do to worship God and show him our love, but it is often one of the hardest things to do. 

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The tried and true Oswald Chambers daily devotional book My Utmost for His Highest highlights obedience in its November 2 devotional. I received this book as a gift for Christmas my freshman year of college (Thanks, Stef!) and have read it every year since.  I highly recommend it. 

In today’s writing, Oswald (we’re on a first name basis) speaks to the importance of obedience.  He says that “Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it.  We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit.”

Our sermon Sunday echoed this.  Am I doing what God is calling me to do? Am I living out His plan for my life by seeking Him daily to discover what my step of obedience should be in that day, in that moment? My sweet friend Mary Ellen often talks about moment-by-moment, circumstance-by-circumstance obedience.  Obedience in each and every situation, no matter how small it may seem.

Oswald says, “Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean; but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed.”

The Lord wants to use us.  He wants us to live the abundant life He has planned for us.  We so often strive and stress over how to be used, how to have a more abundant life, how to know Him more.  Simply obey.

Oswald concludes, “If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.”

Obedience leads to revelation.  The more we seek to obey Him, the more He reveals His character and His plan to us.  We become more in tune to His desires for our lives and for our role in the lives of others.

Are you doing what God has called you to do? How are you seeking to obey Christ today?