The holiday season is in full swing, and many people are thinking about Jesus this time of year. This is not a bad thing at all. I am very thankful that people are thinking about Him. I believe we can do the same. I believe we can take advantage of these opportunities to honor our Lord. After all, isn’t Jesus worth honoring? Now, I understand and believe Jesus should be a part of our everyday lives and that is a crucial element of our lives, but we should take time to honor our Lord. In this case, His very incarnation. The main points of this article are not original to me. These come from a meme that was shared by my good brother in Christ, Chris McCurley. Let’s look at them together as we consider how we can respond to the fact of Jesus’ birth.
We should believe like Mary (Luke 1:26-38). Imagine yourself in Mary’s shoes. You have been told that you are going to have a baby boy though you are a virgin. What would be your reaction? I would venture to guess it would be similar to Mary’s. She said, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34, LSB). So, the angel tells Mary how she will conceive of the Holy Spirit and the child would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35-36). The angel ends with the statement “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37, LSB). In response to this Mary says “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38, LSB). Mary believed the angel’s message after he said that it would be God’s doing. Our response should be similar. We should believe Jesus. This belief involves our entire obedience of course. Mary may or may not have completely understood everything about the event of His conception, but she believed the message from God. Likewise, we may not understand everything surrounding this, but we can be assured that this was a miraculous and Divine event that gave us hope.
We should trust like Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25). Likewise, I think we should consider Joseph’s reaction to this. Joseph was a righteous man (Matthew 1:19) and when he knew Mary was with child without his involvement, he wanted to privately put her away. Joseph thought that Mary had been involved with another perhaps and so he wanted to put her away. He wanted to do the right thing, and this was his plan to accomplish that. He did not know that the child in Mary was Jesus the Son of God conceived of the Holy Spirit and not a man. an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and reveals to him that the child is of the Holy Spirit and to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:20). Joseph is also given the name of the child, Jesus, meaning “savior” for “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Joseph’s response was that he did what the angel said and even kept her a virgin until Jesus was born (Matthew 1:24-25). Our response should be like Jospeh in trusting what God says and obeying Him. One added lesson would be the impact and need for purity.
We should hope like the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20). When the shepherds were in the field, an angel appears to them, and it causes them to be frightened (I believe due to the glory of the Lord) (Luke 2:9). The angel calms their fears and announces the good news about Jesus after which a host of heaven praise God and celebrate. After receiving the good news (gospel) and seeing the praise, they immediately set for Bethlehem and after seeing the baby in a manger, they told other and began to celebrate! I believe this is fair grounds to say we have authority to celebrate Jesus even the event of His birth. Of course, things can go too far, and everyone’s conscience would need to be considered as well. But this shows us that this is an event worth thinking about, being thankful for, and worthy of our honoring. Let us be at least willing to be thankful that Christ was born in Bethlehem!
We should seek like wise men (Matthew 2:1-12). It’s true that we do not know for certain how many wise men there were. There could have been two, three, four, etc. What we do know is that wise men sought the Lord. Their purpose in finding the Savior was to worship Him. The wise men saw that this event was worthy of honoring or celebrating. Herod used this motive to his sinister plan. He would have these wise men to go to where He is so that he could note the location so he could eliminate Jesus! However, God’s providence and His message, not only spared the Christ, but also spared the lives of the wise men perhaps. The men were wise to heed the message. Let us not miss the fact that these wise men rejoiced to see His star. Mankind today would be wise to rejoice in walking in the Light that guides us! When the wise men arrive, they came into the house where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were staying. This tells is He was no longer in the manger. We don’t know His age for sure. The wise men worshipped and gave gifts to Him. It seems we would be on fair ground to say it is completely biblical to worship Jesus and celebrate the fact of His birth. Nonetheless, what a response of these wise men! We’d be wise to be impressed with Jesus as well!
We should worship like angels (Luke 2:9-14). We’ve discussed the shepherds earlier. In this same context, we see angels worshipping and rejoicing at the good news. Their praise was, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased”. Peace is something we should be seeking. Peace with God and peace with all men if possible. But don’t miss the fact that God deserves the glory from our own lips. We should shout glory to God for He alone deserves all the glory and praise from us. After all, it’s His breath in our lungs. May we see Jesus like the angels did and give Him the glory for taking on flesh and dying for us and His resurrection that gives man hope!
Yes! Jesus is worth celebrating! He is truly God and truly man! Any event of Jesus, whether birth, life, death, or resurrection, is worth honoring. If you seek to honor it more so on certain days, then do so with the reminder of who Jesus is. May we continually be impressed with our Lord and continue to love and serve Him. We should believe like Mary, trust like Joseph, hope like the shepherds, seek like the wise men, and worship like the angels! May your Christmas be joyful and peaceful as we remember Jesus at this time as well as everyday of our lives!
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