For Such A Time As This

On the evening of Christ’s birth, in the year two thousand and nine, I am humbled by the idea of the sacrifice that was brought and born into this world. His main purpose for becoming human was to die. To die for me. To die for my sin. To die for my ignorance.

My main reason for being born into this world? To live. To live for Him and with Him. To live near Him. To live for His glory.

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.

My thoughts this season have been different than they would’ve been in past years, for a variety of reasons, but my heart is the same. Christ’s birth is a time a celebration, of joy, of beauty. However, many of my thoughts were more directed at smaller ideas. First, God told the shepherds -the lowest of society’s low- that their King and Deliverer was born. They were told before anyone else, so that they may have the opportunity to worship the Prince of Peace the same as people of higher class. I can only imagine them there, in their rags, with their blistered feet and sores around their fingers that had gripped a rod and staff for many years. I can see the dirt in their hair and the affect time and the elements had taken on their faces. They were probably hungry and thirsty, cold and tired. Yet, when they received news that God’s son had been born, they gathered up whatever strength they had left, and made the trek to the stable. Maybe God provided the stable for Mary and Joseph as a means of making the shepherds feel more welcomed, more at home. I wonder, no matter the amount of faith they had in the angel, if the shepherds would have traveled to a palace to welcome a king? Maybe the stable was a means of making the wise men, wisest of all, feel more humbled? That was train-of-thought number one…

Number two? The wise men gave the gift of myrrh, oil associated with the burial process. They may not have known the significance of that gift, the representation of the suffering that would take place, and the pain that would proceed death. Yet somehow, they knew it was the perfect gift for this humble being. They may not have known what would come in the days to follow, but they knew it would change the course of history. They simply followed a feeling on what to present to the King of Kings, and it was their humility in presenting them to Him that made them men of honor.

As I look to the future, I also look to the past. All that has happened, and all that is left to come. I think of fears and failures, of dreams and hopes. I sometimes shy away from the bigger issues because they intimidate me, but then I am reminded, by that still, small voice…

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline”
2 Timothy 1:7

Be courageous like the shepherds and be humble like the wise men. Be blessed the way God wants to bless you.

-Rin