JOHN 1:14-18 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS. Are we familiar with today’s scripture? Yes, we are, and “dangerously” so! How would such a glorious truth of God becoming a man, sent to earth on a rescue mission of reconciling man to God be a “dangerous” portion of scripture? One word – familiarity. The danger is we know it so well it doesn’t move us in our hearts and minds. The “awe factor” has lost its punch. And the evidence isn’t hard to find.
Here it is . . . did we read the “Christmas Story” found in Luke’s gospel chapter two sometime this past week? Hear a Christmas sermon this past Lord’s Day? Did we attend a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service last night and sing Silent Night? What about today? Are we going to spend time marveling over the birth of Christ or give the event that changed the world a passing nod out of a sense of obligation? If we participated in any of those Christ-centered activities and were not in awe at the wonder of Christmas as if it was the first time hearing it, then we are guilty of familiarity which leads to spiritual indifference.
Paul David Tripp in his book titled Awe wrote, “I am aware that I need to spend more time gazing upon the beauty of the Lord. I need to put my heart in a place where it can once again be in awe of the grandeur of God that reaches far beyond the bounds of the most expressive words in the human vocabulary. I need awe of Him to recapture, refocus, and redirect my heart again and again. And I need to remember that the war for the awe of my heart still wages inside me.
So, if the wonder of Christmas is losing the battle to familiarity in our hearts, what should we do? There are three things to do. First, confess it to the Lord. Be open and honest. Even use Psalm 51 as the “template” for prayerful repentance because familiarity that produces spiritual indifference is sin – the loss of first love (Revelation 2:1-7). Next, admit to the Lord our inability to produce awe or the wonder of Christmas in our hearts. Another great Psalm to use for prayer to recover the awe factor is Psalm 16. Pay attention to the opening and closing verses. Finally, read the Christmas story again. Maybe daily starting today (Luke 2:1-20) asking the Lord to give us the heart of those Christmas shepherds. They sure had the wonder of Christmas in them! And don’t forget this . . . God wants us to live the wonder of Christmas each and every day!
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the love and wisdom in giving me Your Son to be my Savior.”
QUOTE: “God became Man. Is anything more staggering to the mind and stirring to the heart?”