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When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. Luke 2:15-16 (HCSB)
There are precious few more exciting events than when we experience personally the revealing presence of God calling. Multiple emotions of awe, exhilaration, humility and even fear may be felt simultaneously. Yet, we may experience this presence and not respond. We may have a flow of overwhelming excitement and still be unresponsive and unchanged. Experience and excitement are never enough to change us unless they drive us to embrace beyond the revelation to the Revealer. I remember with some amusement now, opening Christmas presents when I was a child. I would rip and tear though the wrappings, tags, and bows as fast as I could to see the gift, and then suddenly hear my mother say: “Who was it from Sammy?” Oops! Ouch! I knew the “what” but not the “Who.” I desire to operate far beyond that with heaven’s gift…don’t’ you? The shepherds on that night long ago embraced the message and at least two things resulted. The first result was a new determination. They said (v.15), “let’s go straight, (immediately, now)...and see what has happened.” There would be no delays, no distractions, no detours and no doubts. They did not go to see IF it happened they went to see what HAD happened. They were embracing truth, they were after Him…they were determined. There was another far reaching and eternal result that night; they found a new deliverance. Their response to heaven touching them brought them face to face with their Savior (deliverer), Christ the Lord…lying in a feeding trough. They viewed a baby where cattle food had been. He needed changing and feeding…BUT…down the road this “baby” would be feeding and changing others here and for eternity. No, the stable that night did not have the appearance of an earth shaking, life saving event like the skies displayed earlier. Still, the shepherds found exactly what they had seen, heard, and embraced the night that heaven kissed earth…and them…and changed them forever. What love! Have you embraced this Jesus? Jesus, help me to move beyond experience and excitement to embracing you as my deliverer, Savior, and Lord. I give you not only my sins but I surrender myself to you this day. I rejoice in your forgiveness, grace and love…amen. The ExcitementAnd an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." Luke 2: 9-10 (ESV) Context-Luke 2:8-15
When Divine messengers appeared in the shepherd's field that night long ago, it was not to show off, it was to show forth, (a heads up it seems for our personal and church activity). Nevertheless, it is an overwhelming experience when revelation comes down from the celestial of heaven to the common of earth. The shepherds, suddenly face to face with an angel, and surrounded by the glory of God, were terrified. Thankfully, heavens mission was to transform not to terrify; and so immediately the gentle, soothing words "fear not" were spoken. Yes, an invitation to the Divine life was taking place and was the greater miracle that night, not the intensity of the display. To picture the merging of heaven and earth that the shepherds witnessed is beyond imagination. How long the angels had yearned for this moment when they would be sent and burst forth from heaven onto our soil announcing the rescue taking place by Immanuel, "God with us." While the presentation was spectacular that night, the revelation was sublime! The majestic words "A Savior was born for you... and you will find Him" rang in the shepherds ears as it penetrated the previously quiet atmosphere...and the ringing continues 2000 years later, right now, in this moment. Can you hear it? In the amazement and excitement of heaven on earth before the shepherds eyes, it would have been understandable for them to worship their "experience" and miss the "emphasis." It is not uncommon to exalt personal experience and build shrines to the excitement of revelations we witness. What a place to start a church or erect a monument or statue to the angels! Why people would come for miles and would even pay perhaps. NO!...that was not on the shepherds minds, for after the angels left the scene, the language in Luke 2:15 implies the shepherds excitedly repeated to one another, "let's go." They understood the heavenly experience was never meant to center on the method of delivery or the messengers who delivered the news...it was to be about the Message, the Deliverer, Jesus! So off they went to seek Jesus the Savior, who is still saving today...do you have that? Prayer: Jesus, keep me focused on the truth that your Father's desire is for you to be the center of excitement and message in my life. May I never be caught up in activity...even religious activity for or about you, more than I am caught up in you. May I be a channel and not simply a container of your glory...amen. The Experience From the pen and heart of Samuel Burch Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (ESV) Over 2000 years ago the Divine due date of LIFE in the womb of a very blessed young woman arrived…and she delivered a Son. Formal birth announcements were not available in the stable that day. There existed no television, computers, cell phones or tablets, yet the greatest announcement from the beginning of time penetrated the night sky in nearby hills as heaven kissed earth in the presence of simple, but available common laborers.
The message and messengers that night resounded in the “heavenlies” with a force that shook the earth in dimensions reverberating still this day in unfathomable ways. Fears were diminished and hope flowed in the announcement of “good news” of “great joy” that night...but there was more, much more. You see, the child delivered in the stable that night was born to me, for you, and unto “all” people. You see, this was not just Mary’s child, he was ours; yours and mine, for the “announcer” on that special night did not proclaim simply that a son was born, but that a Savior, (Deliverer), had come. The crib in the stable was holding The Christ…The Savior!! The common folk, (who were really uncommon in God’s eyes), “got it!”… And they left all that night to come face to face with their future. That night they knelt because there was One who was willing to lower Himself, so that we could be forever lifted…and this my friend is Christmas…only please remember that leaving some things behind and kneeling will always precede being lifted. Prayer: Jesus, deliver me from self and sin, and deliver me to the safety, security, and splendor of life that can only come when the desperate meet a Deliverer…because Heaven kissed earth on a night long ago. MERRY CHRISTMAS When they saw the star they were overjoyed beyond measure...they saw the child ...falling to their knees they worshiped him." Matthew 2:10-11 (HCSB)
I hear the word "wow" a lot these days. It is used, maybe too frequently, seemingly as a concise way of describing something great, magnificent, or at a minimum surprising. The language of Matthew's narrative uses words like "mega," "exceedingly," "large," and even vehement to describe the emotions of the wise men when they saw the signs and star of the Savior. Yet, when they saw not only the star, but the Savior Himself, they moved from the exhilarating "wows" to face down worship. It was then that gifts followed. Since my childhood the Christmas season has been one filled with my own "wow" moments. Bright lights, colorful decorations, music in the air, smells of fresh baking, and fancy wrappings were everywhere. The events were impressive on the senses and the spirit. Yet, all of these special wow moments were designed to be "stars" leading to something more, really Someone more...God in a feeding trough. I confess that my coming to Christmas as a "mega" or "vehement" worshiper has been and is a progressive journey. When I was a toddler, I thought and acted like a toddler and found more excitement in the wrappings at times than in the gift, which was normal. When I became a child, I thought and acted like a child and quite often had thrown the wrappings and "giver's" name away to delight only in the toy, which was pretty normal. When I became a young man I learned to appreciate the gifts, the monetary cost, and the sacrifice of the givers, which should be normal. One treasure of my youth at Christmas time was a heritage of worship. On Christmas morning, before gifts were opened, the Matthew and Luke narratives of Christ's birth were read. This was followed by kneeling and lifting prayers of thankfulness to the One who had come down. All of the "wows" before hand had now come down to this one thing...a Savior was right here, right now, for me! So as I age bodily and spiritually from those youthful days, I am coming to understand more the Supreme Love that spared no cost and no sacrifice to give me much more than the "wow" of a star's splendor. I have been given the gift of worship for my Savior Jesus. Will you bow with me and move on from the "wows" of the season, however good, to the Worship of the Savior...right here, right now? From Your Father's Heart Samuel 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
Some intrinsic needs of almost all humanity are to know love of a heavenly kind, to have a unique and “forever” relationship, and to have the assurance that our lives bring delight to someone who knows perfectly what makes us priceless. Imagine the moving confirmation in the mind and heart of Jesus when the heavens opened and He heard that He was loved, in unique relationship (My beloved Son), and a delight (well pleasing), to the most important Person in His life, His Father God. This kind of experience would cause us to love back almost uncontrollably, which is another need placed in us…not only to be loved but to love. There is no real relationship of the heavenly kind without both.Your heavenly Father wants you to have a real affirmation in your life, even now, of real love, real relationship, and real delight in your life. The irony is that our secular world gives us the exact wrong prescription for achieving the things above. The advice of the day is to live for ourselves, seek our own pleasure, and use relationships for our own comfort and purposes. On this road, at journey’s end we will still be searching for something higher or we will have given up in bitter hopelessness…used and using, or both. Did you know that God “so loves” you and desires to open an announcement from the heavens along the lines of what Jesus heard that day long ago? That announcement did not come to Jesus by self-seeking, but by self-surrender to the love and purposes of the One He was “one” with. Losing the wrong kind of life and love, which is temporary anyway, in order to win the right kind of life and love, which is eternal, seems to be most sensible. The difficulty is the truth that there are times we indeed will be giving up the “seen” for the “unseen…” but remember, that the unseen is not really unseen it is just not yet seen. From your father's heart, DWJ |
AuthorI have a desire to be the physical demonstration of the person of Jesus through all the ordinary activity of my life, and on this site through my "devotionals." My deep desire is to have intimacy with Jesus and the heart of my heavenly Father beating in my heart and impacting my wife and family, and then whoever and wherever God places me. Archives
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