It's Christmastime again, and I'm looking at my little wooden nativity set—the one I bought for the girls to play with when they were small—and thinking of what to write for my December blog. I could try to create a story for one of the characters, but so much has already been said about them in the songs we sing.
“Breath of Heaven” is my favorite for Mary's perspective. Joseph has “A Strange Way to Save the World”. We sing about the magi in “We Three Kings” and the shepherds and the angels with “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Angels We Have Heard on High”. The animals have “I said the Donkey”. Even a small percussionist who I've never seen in Scripture has his song.
Then there's the baby Jesus. I pick up this little wooden figure and I have to wonder. Leaving the glory of Heaven to become a human is mind-boggling. Leaving the glory of Heaven to become a human who is going to die a horrendous death is incomprehensible! So, I ask, “Jesus, what do You want for Your birthday? And I scan the gospels for ideas.
He asked some to follow Him (Luke 1: 17, 20) and praised Mary for choosing to sit at His feet (Luke 10:42). He praised her for sacrificing a costly vial of perfume. (John 12:7) and he also praised the widow who gave two coins. (Luke 21:2-3) He had no patience for those who made a show of their faith, but praised the humble (Luke 18:10-14) Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-40 that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love others so I'm sure He'd want to see more of that happening!
In reading the above passages of Scripture, I envision Jesus' wish list to look something like this:
This year, for Christmas, I would like for My people to:
Love God
Love others
Listen to and learn from Me
Give sacrificially
Be humble
It reminds me of another list from Second Chronicles 7:14. Here, God wants His people to:
Be humble
Pray
Seek His face
Turn from their wicked ways
God doesn't only take our gifts. In the same passage, He promises to give to us by:
Hearing us
Forgiving us
Healing our land
The Bible is filled with other “gift suggestions” for us to give to Jesus, and I encourage you to make your own list as you read the Bible between now and Christmas. As you act on as many as you can, remember James tells us that every good thing is given and every perfect gift comes from the Father. (James 1:17) This year, rather than looking at Christmas as the same old story with the same old characters, let's have a gift exchange with Jesus!
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” Second Corinthians 9:15
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