For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . . Isaiah 9:6 Last night I was at my sons high school holiday concert when the choir began to sing Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king . . . As I listened I had two thoughts, my first one was that many of the people singing and listening heard nothing more than the words of a familiar Christmas carol, in fact, the reason that it could be sung without being cast down as offensive was that it was so familiar. The cynical side of me wanted to be bothered that the most incredible truth was being announced and overlooked all at once. Im thankful that more and more in my life the cynical side of me is not winning the battle for my thoughts. From Joy to the World the choir and band went directly into the Hallelujah Chorus, they began to sing And He shall reign forever and ever . . . King of Kings, forever and ever, Lord of Lords, forever and ever and that is when I had my second thought, the one that won the battle for my thoughts. The shepherds didnt fully understand the announcement of the angels on the night of Jesus birth but that didnt keep the angels from singing and it didnt diminish the reality that A Savior, who is Christ the Lord was born. The truth of the matter is that Christmas is a cultural holiday, in and of itself it has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Gifts will be given, families will gather, songs will be sung, food will be eaten. There will be happiness for some and agonizing pain for others. But in the midst of this cultural holiday the character of God continually appears, God continually redeems things that may or not be of His doing, and He shows Himself, not only to those that understand or are looking or are prepared, He simply shows Himself because He wants us all to know that to us His son has been given, to us, His only begotten child has been born. And so I sat last night in the auditorium of my sons high school and became teary eyed and overwhelmed in my heart because it stopped being a holiday concert, it was not even a Christmas concert, this had become an announcement to my heart, a reminder to my soul that Gods Son has been born for me so that I can become Gods adopted son. I dont want to offend anyone, but Christmas is cultural, it is a holiday not a holy day but with that being said, it can also become a day that we choose a culture for ourselves and for our families in which we sing the beautiful truth that the Lord has come, that we live devoted to His great love for us and that we devote ourselves to loving Him in response. Isaiahs prophecy has become our reality, the Creator became the creation for us. Whether you celebrate or not and no matter how you choose to celebrate if you do, lets forget what we call Christmas for a moment and just sit absolutely amazed that Unto (insert your name here) a child is born, unto (insert your name here) a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:10:26 +0000
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