Christmas Journey
As we head into celebrating Christmas, the day celebrated by Christian’s as the birth of Christ, I thought I would post a few thoughts about Him.
Jesus never spoke of salvation as a recitation of a prayer. Thats right I said it! Now if you are like me and grew up in the Bible belt of the south, you heard it every week and probably still do! You need to pray the sinners prayer. No dont misunderstand me. I prayed that prayer at 14 and my life was forever changed. And many of you who prayed that prayer also can attribute a changing point in your life to that time. But it wasnt the prayer! It was the decision. The decision to believe! Believe that God is real! The decision to follow God! No matter where that might take you in life, to follow. The decision to allow Jesus to be Lord of your life. Yes, not just believe and follow, but to follow whole heartedly giving it all to Him. You see it was not just an event, but it was an event and a process.
A process! Belief and action! A journey in pursuit of God, as experienced through the mercy and grace of Jesus! And just like visiting your relatives on the holidays, we have to remember that any journey is riddled with great wonders and deep conflict and occaisional tragedy. Yes, you know what I mean. Those uncomfortable moments where uncle so and so said something and everyones eyes got as big as silver dollars or that grandpa pissed off your mom!
Somehow we have allowed the concept of being a Christian to morf into something entirely un-Christian. We have moments where we sense a deep presence of God and exclaim “God showed up today!” and other moments where we find ourselves in so dark a hole that we cry “Why have You forsaken me!”. Yet strangely, I recall that my Sunday School teacher said God is everywhere, all the time. Hmmmm. if that is so, how can He just show up, or how can He abandon me? No, perhaps it is more that at times ,I welcome and recognize Him who is always there and at times I totally ignore Him, even though He is sitting right across from me here at Starbucks today.
We love the sermons that teach prosperity, peace, love and joy, but Jesus didnt describe it that way. He said the journey is hard and full of sacrifice, their is a cost to following. In Luke 9:57-62 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
The one about the plough really gets me. I grew up in rural East Texas and for several years lived with my grandparents. And I remember Jack, my grandfather’s mule. Yes, grandpa plowed up 1/2 acre every year for a garden. He had an old mule named Jack. I would sit and watch as he hooked Jack up to his plow and all day he would drive jack back and forth across the garden, breaking up the soil, hitting rocks and large hard lumps of dirt. I was always amazed at how grandpa kept Jack on task. That crazy mule would try to veer left or right and would have, but it was important that grandpa keeps looking forward, because jack really didnt seem to have a good sense of what was straight. If grandpa let him alone he would stray all over, no grandpa had to hold the plow and reighs and work straight on. Thats kinda what I think of when I see that scripture.
No it is not an easy journey. Jesus described it as being born again. I remember as each of my children was born, that process was not easy. I remember watching as Sandy gave birth, the pain, agony, and joy and wonder all at the same time. That is what I think Jesus had in mind. It is not easy. It is not all smiles and hey brother! No their are moments when the path is clear and paved and times when it is overgrown, thorney and flat out full of ravines.
So as you head into this holiday season, consider this: did you simply pray and prayer, or did you embark on a journey? A journey that will consume the entirity of your life. O, sure sometimes you might stumble off the path, or get run over, but thats part of journey. If you are well on the path, WAY TO GO! But if you are strugling and feel lost. Stop. Look deeply, He is right there! Perhaps you need to refocus, line back up! Or perhaps you prayed a prayer, but never embarked on the journey. If so I pray that the holidays are a time you do that!
God bless you on your journey.
