Merry Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful blessed holiday - blessed with some “alone” time. Now I know I blogged about it not being all about me previously, but by “alone” time I mean alone with just you and your Savior. To me, that is the “blessed” part of the holiday.
Don’t get me wrong, I love
being with my kids and the grandchildren and giving the gifts and all that - that
is certainly a wonderful part of the celebration but the most blessed part of
Christmas is my time and my worship of my Savior.
Prophets for centuries
talked about a savior that was coming to save the world. These prophecies were passed on for
centuries. The Jewish people were the chosen
race and when the angel told Mary she was to be with child, right from the “get
go” she took ownership of this miracle, proclaiming:
My soul glorifies the Lord and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done
great things for me. Holy is His Name. (Luke 1)
This “miracle”, this great thing was
for all mankind but it also was Mary’s – He was to be her Savior – blessing her. Her
soul rejoiced. He has done and will do
great things for her. She goes on to say:
His
mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.
His
mercy extended to me and you – He is our Savior – our Lord. He has come for you. He has come for me.
I know you are saying, “duh!” right now but hear me out. I think this is an important point because when
John says in that verse we all know and love, that God so loved the world – he means everyone. And that is comforting
and wonderful to know that all are loved by God and He wants all to be saved
BUT we can’t generalize here – we can’t take this and shrug it off. We can't take it for granted.
This
Savior that was born, this Messiah – this Jesus, who died for the sins of the
world – died for YOU. He is YOUR Savior,
YOUR Messiah, YOUR Lord. He wants to
live in YOUR heart, not just be in your world.
Paul prays in Ephesians (Chapter 3):
For
this reason, I kneel before the Father, from Whom His whole family in heaven
and on earth derives its name. I pray
that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His
spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith.
Your
heart - your inner being - indwelt with Christ.
Weymouth
Is
He? At home in your heart, that is? My heart is all full of myself - I need to make room for Him daily. Daily I pray to love Him with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole strength . . . He SO wants that for us, dear friend.
Dear
Lord, I open my heart to You, Your way, YOU.
It is Yours. All of it. May it be Your home. Be the keeper of my heart, Sweet Jesus, not just at Christmas but every day, in Your Holy Name, I
pray, Amen.
Very inspirational! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKelly