Don't Fall Into the Holiday Jesus Trap
Luke 2:7 (ESV) And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke spends just 7 verses on the Birth of Christ. SEVEN! His Gospel contains over 1000 verses and is the longest book in the New Testament. Yet these seven verses are some of the most read verses in the world because the only time people hear the Bible is when they are read for the annual Christmas service or movie once a year. I imagine the average person unfamiliar with Jesus thinks this is the highlight of the story.
Don't get me wrong. It is an amazing beginning for the Son of God. Inauspicious to say the least for the King of kings to spend his first night on Earth in the feeding trough of animals. And another thing - this is the Incarnate Word of God and yet He cannot utter a single phrase. Wow. Truly a gripping scene as Joseph and Mary are then visited by the Shepherds in Luke's account.
But that's only the beginning. Therese 993 other verses to read and find out that Jesus is much more than simply a baby with a slightly inconvenient birth story. His ministry blows the details of this narrative out of the water!
Then I wonder. How many of us have Jesus closed up in a box of familiarity? Do we hover only around the verse about God's love and mercy while forgetting the God of justice and holiness? Do we love the tenderness of Jesus but ignore the firmness of Him? Do we only love the strong words of woe and not the kind words of love?
Everything Jesus did was for a reason. He was the Incarnation of the Creative Word of God! He reversed the deterioration of sin. He stopped the effects of the fall. He ordered demons to flee and waters to be stilled and changed them to wine and walked on them when He desired. He was and in the Amazing one.
Don't leave Him in the manger. The story is just getting started. And it only get's better from here.
PRAYER:
Father, help me to know and see Jesus more than ever before. As we study through Luke together, I pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to read and understand the wisdom of all You did and the way in which You did it.
Luke spends just 7 verses on the Birth of Christ. SEVEN! His Gospel contains over 1000 verses and is the longest book in the New Testament. Yet these seven verses are some of the most read verses in the world because the only time people hear the Bible is when they are read for the annual Christmas service or movie once a year. I imagine the average person unfamiliar with Jesus thinks this is the highlight of the story.
Don't get me wrong. It is an amazing beginning for the Son of God. Inauspicious to say the least for the King of kings to spend his first night on Earth in the feeding trough of animals. And another thing - this is the Incarnate Word of God and yet He cannot utter a single phrase. Wow. Truly a gripping scene as Joseph and Mary are then visited by the Shepherds in Luke's account.
But that's only the beginning. Therese 993 other verses to read and find out that Jesus is much more than simply a baby with a slightly inconvenient birth story. His ministry blows the details of this narrative out of the water!
Then I wonder. How many of us have Jesus closed up in a box of familiarity? Do we hover only around the verse about God's love and mercy while forgetting the God of justice and holiness? Do we love the tenderness of Jesus but ignore the firmness of Him? Do we only love the strong words of woe and not the kind words of love?
Everything Jesus did was for a reason. He was the Incarnation of the Creative Word of God! He reversed the deterioration of sin. He stopped the effects of the fall. He ordered demons to flee and waters to be stilled and changed them to wine and walked on them when He desired. He was and in the Amazing one.
Don't leave Him in the manger. The story is just getting started. And it only get's better from here.
PRAYER:
Father, help me to know and see Jesus more than ever before. As we study through Luke together, I pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to read and understand the wisdom of all You did and the way in which You did it.
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