Morning Moments - Christmas Day 2012

There are so many things about Christmas Day and the Christmas Story that thrill me.  Some I have shared this month, but to us, here is the USA, this is December 25, and so I asked The Lord to let me see something I have not seen before.  To do that, I am taken to a period from the Birth of Jesus to the Baby Jesus, from the Shepherds to the Wise Men who came from Persia.

I'm sure that throughout the centuries there are been "laborers" and "leaders" that have come to know and appreciate the true meaning of Christmas through a personal knowledge of Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Today, I simply want us to be reminded that the shepherds who devoted their lives to caring for sheep who were often dirty and needing to be bathed, straying and needing to be found, hungry and needing to be fed, etc, spend many long hard hours doing what most "leaders" would never do!

In order to come to Cumming for Christmas, Janet and I had to drive about 245 miles one way which only took about 4 1/2 hours going through downtown Atlanta.  We don't know just how long it took the Shepherds to get from the field, but we DO know that they probably didn't run in and get a shower before they left.  What would it have mattered anyway since they were going to a stable?  The point here is that shepherding was certainly not the kind of job one would be "well educated" for, but they didn't have to be "well educated" to respond to the message of God and follow the star.

On the other hand, a couple of years later the Wise Men, who were NOT astrologers, but more like astronomers, travelled some 800 miles, we are told.  Now if one could travel 20 miles a day, seems to me that would take about 40 days to get where they were going.  Today we could make that trip in a day is about 12 or so hours on the Expressway.  These guys travelled in a caravan with animals to care for, pack animals, and no telling who and what else.  But they came...seeking HIM who was born KING of the JEWS, which would indicate to me that these were students of the men of God of the Prophet Daniel's teaching!

What I want us to see here is nothing profound, but it is something that is IMPORTANT for us to remember:  It doesn't matter what you GET or GIVE for Christmas and it doesn't matter what you have or have not, nor does it matter what your position in life is, whether you are in prosperity or poverty, CHRISTMAS is for YOU!  It is for you because God loved YOU to such an extent that His only begotten Son was "smitten of God and afflicted" and died and rose from the dead to live in you!  He can bring joy in jail, praise in prison, delight is desperation, happiness in horrible experiences, adoration in adversity, belief in bad times, cheer in crisis, devotion in distress, eternal life in economic loss, faith is fatality, good in grief, happiness in hopeless times, and on and on and on.  TRUST HIM TODAY and make this Christmas a MERRY CHRISTMAS for YOU!