Are you weary this December when the world seems so jolly? Are you grieving when you feel like others are celebrating? Is your tired heart desperate for just five more minutes at the feet of Jesus? Do you find yourself longing for The Light as you sit next to the sparkling tree lights?
How did the "ding" of our iPhone's cookie decorating invite or holiday ad steal our ear away from the sound of angels trumpets in the fields of Bethlehem? How did we get from the smelly, crude stable to the glitzy, bustling mall parking lot? How did we shift our focus, so easily, from the King of Glory who came to lavish extraordinary grace on the undeserving to the Elf on the Shelf who is watching our every move, ready to judge us?
How do you embrace the festivities of the Christmas season when you feel spent from the year that is coming to a close? How do you embrace the festivities of the Christmas season when all you want to do is sit quietly at Jesus' feet and soak up as much of him as possible?
I need this Christmas like I need water. How about you?
We don't need the glitzy, loud parties. We don't need the exciting, new presents. We don't need our nails coated in red-sparkled polish with the adorable snowflake decal. While each of these things aren't inherently bad they do have the potential to become tangible distractions from the One we cannot see, for whom it is all centered around. These distractions have the potential to become playing cards in the hands of Satan who is eager to use them to keep us from looking at Jesus. Anything but Jesus is his primary goal for our hearts this Christmas. Anything but Jesus.
I need Jesus. I need Jesus like I need air. I need the refreshment of the Christmas story. I am not referring to the cheese and olive refreshment platter being passed around the holiday gathering. I am talking about the refreshment of bread when you are on the brink of starvation. I need the Bread of Life Himself to refresh me...
He came.
I have him. You have him. He came. We were in prison and he came and opened the doors to our cold, locked cell. We were trapped where we deserved to be and stay (and pay!). But God - he came! He opened the door wide and said, your time here is over if you choose to come out.
He's beckoning us again this Christmas...Come, come and live. He'll show us the way. Follow him and receive. Be still, rest, and be refreshed by your Savior who came for you.
We can breathe sighs of relief, dear one. Breathe deep of Jesus and let go of the expectations you have for yourself, or the expectations of others that are weighing you down this Christmas season. Stop working so hard.
You don't have to work anymore.
Don't you want to sit with him? I do too. We need him. This world will tell us our refreshment will come from that person's approval, or that outfit that we can't afford, or that party hosted or attended, or us making that child's dream gift a reality (I want to be a good parent, don't you!?), but it's not true. Our refreshment comes from Christ, the Messiah! The One that came to tenderly whisper in your ear that he left Heaven to come to Earth to rescue you if you'll just step out of the cell and follow him to life.
The King came. He entered in our mess. He did it in the most humble way imaginable, more lowly than any other. He need us not, yet he loved us too much to turn his back. So he came. And he keeps coming. Let's not miss him. Immanuel is here.
Jesus is the refreshment!
Encouragement:
Make it a point to stop and spend time in solitude with Jesus this week as you prepare for Christmas Day. Meditate on the conditions that surrounded Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the Shepherds that night in the stable. It was smelly. It was simple. It was uncomfortable. It was minimalist. It was crude. It was poor. It was the humility of a barn. Close your eyes and picture what it looked and smelled like. He did this for you.
Matthew and Luke chapters 1-2
Peace and Rest to you this Christmas week, friend.
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