You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Deuteronomy 5:15 (ESV)
We are told to remember what God has done for us. With Thanksgiving next week it seemed like a good time to pause and do just that. To often I find that the whole advent season goes by way to fast. It’s one of the busier times of the year and it’s easy to get caught up in all the hype and miss the bigger picture. So lets take some time to look and remember what God has done for us.
To start with we have Nativity Sets, God Himself came down from heaven and was born as a man. Joseph and Mary have just finished a 80 mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem and can not find any place to stay. This forces Mary to give birth to the Creator of the universe in a manger. And no one even knows of this except for a few shepherds.
So let us remember Christ’s humility as Philippians 2:6-7 says “Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” So let us be humbled as we look upon the birth of our savior.
And we have presents. The wise men came following the star in the sky. Not one of God’s chosen people of Israel followed this star but foreigners from the east. Let us remember from this how fast our hearts can turn from the God whom we love. In Romans 11 Paul speaks of branches being broken off so that we might be grafted in. But he warns us to not become arrogant toward the branches but rather that we should fear the severity of God but that we should see His kindness and continue in His kindness.
And the wise men brought gifts to the new born king. But God gave the real gift. As John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” and Romans 5:8 says “God proved His love for us in that while we were still sinners…” God did not wait for us to make the first move. So as we give presents this Christmas season let us remember that God also gave us a gift. One of love that we did not earn, deserve or even want.
And we have “Happy Holidays” or “Season Greetings”. Let us remember that the world has never wanted this gift from God. Indeed the world is trying to destroy this gift. And there is no end to the evil that they will do to try to destroy it. King Herold ordered that all 2 year old boys and younger be killed. So let us remember that the world hated and rejected Jesus and continue to reject Him to this day.
We have Christmas trees. We should remember why Jesus came to the world. He came to free us from sin. And sin started a long time ago in a garden when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. This single act brought upon all man kind pain, sickness and death. But we need to remember that it was also upon a tree that Christ died for our sins. It was on the Cross that the price of our sins were paid for and it is by this single act that we are given life (Romans 5:17)
Lastly let us look at the Christmas lights. Let us remember that while Jesus was upon the cross that the sun it self went dark that the earth shook and that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Let us remember that what men intended as evil, God intended for good (Genesis 50:19). May we remember and have faith in the God who humbled Himself becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). And as we look at the lights of Christmas may we also remember that Christ has called us the light of the world and may we be obedient to Christ and go forth and let our light shine before all men so that they may give glory to our Father who is in heaven.
All Scripture taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Holy Bible
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