Every week, the leadership in my church take turns writing an essay for the church’s blog, which then gets distributed to us via e-mail. This week’s essay was written by a friend of mine and it struck home for me because it was a topic I had just discussed with a friend and had been thinking a lot about as of late. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
We’ve all been in this place…
…so I won’t spend too much time explaining it, but let me set the scene. You’re running around all day at work. You rush home to whip together the same dinner you make every week. You drop the kids off for youth group, or practice, or lessons or something. You hit every red light on Memorial Drive, and finally make it to a few stores to buy some Christmas gifts.
This scene repeats itself a handful of times every December. Soon enough, you’re taking the Christmas tree down and you never really had time to enjoy the season. You never paused long enough to truly marvel at the fact that our Savior came to dwell among us.
Hey, that’s me too, and I don’t even have any children. But together, can you and I commit to making this December different? I understand there’s a lot responsibilities that lie before you, but what if we spent even 15 minutes each day thinking about that baby born in a manger?
How would that impact the way we see the Christmas season? How would it impact our relationship with Jesus, and with others?
I’ve often found that the most influential moments in my spiritual life happen when I just sit in uninterrupted silence, and ponder the cross. The benefits of course then show outwardly in my marriage, my work, and everything in between.
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I recently heard a line in a song on the radio that I’ve heard a thousand times, “O come let us adore Him.” It stuck out to me in a way it never has before. I had to ask myself, do I actually do that during the Christmas season?
I’m sure the wise men had a lot of things on their plate when they decided to travel a great distance to adore Him, but they didn’t let that stop them from beholding the King of Kings.
“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
Matthew 2:11
The Bible
We can learn a lot from those men. By adoring Jesus, worshiping Him, and spending time with Him, I believe that this can and will be the most wonderful time of the year. I believe we will experience the peace and joy that all the songs talk about, because we will be looking to and admiring the Author of peace and joy.
The next time you are like me and tempted to stress and fret about all there is to do before Christmas day, will you take a few moments to adore Jesus? He came, He lived a perfect life, and He died on the cross, so that (among many other things) we could do just that. Adore Him.
Billy Peterson
Children’s Ministry Director, LifePoint Church, Chicopee, Massachusetts
(Reprinted with permission from The Pulse: The LifePoint Church Blog, December 3, 2020)
