At Christmas - Preparing For Jesus

"Today's Devotion" For December 16, 2005

Read: Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 1:1-17

AT CHRISTMAS - PREPARING FOR JESUS

"A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.'" (Is. 40:3)

In the past week my wife and children have gone out Christmas shopping a couple of times after school (my wife is a teacher so it's "after school" for her too). They're getting ready for Christmas. We still, however, don't have our tree up, nor are there any other decorations cropping up around the house. Except for some Christmas shopping, by the cultural standards all around us we're not very "prepared" for Christmas.

On the other hand, our preparations for Christmas as a family are more focused in the spiritual than the material. Over the years we've not had a lot of money and there's always something that seems to come up around Christmas that becomes a higher priority than buying Christmas presents (ex.- earlier this week my van broke down; today I found out the transmission has to be replaced). What we have done as a family is strive to focus on the spiritual purpose of the solemn feast of Christmas so that our celebrating is focused on worship, prayer, and spending time with family and friends enjoying the precious gift of Jesus given by our Father in heaven.

Preparing for Jesus at Christmas isn't easy. There are so many distractions that we often see Jesus' birth being overlooked. The struggle to truly prepare to receive the Christ Child at Christmas has become a “cause celebre” these days. Editorial columnists have had a field day with the issue of whether Christians are being discriminated against because "Happy Holidays" has become the mantra instead of "Merry Christmas." No matter the argument, it seems foolish for God's people to get caught up in the debate because it only distracts us from preparing for Jesus. After all, Christmas has no meaning for God's people without Jesus. Without Him at Christmas there's really nothing of worth for which we would need to be preparing.

God knew from the beginning how important it would be to keep His people focused on His promises of a Savior and keep preparing them for His coming. Through the prophets, such as Isaiah, God sent His Word to His people to encourage them to hope in His promises. He sent the prophets to declare His promised salvation to them over and over again in order that they might be ready for the Savior to come. Over and over again, God sent the prophets to lead His people to repentance, preparing them to receive His precious gift. Matthew's genealogy (Matthew 1) is a firm reminder of God's plan of salvation working through the ages, preparing His people, preparing us, to receive Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins so that we might be saved through faith in Him.

How are you preparing for Christmas? Are your preparations focused in the material - baking cookies, preparing food, holding parties, attending parties, looking for just the right gift - or are they focused in the spiritual as you prepare your heart to say "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on the solemn feast of Christmas? Certainly the aforementioned activities can be carried out as acts of love and devotion to the Lord as we love others as He loves us. Preparing for Jesus means keeping all the material preparation for Christmas in a spiritual perspective. Preparing for Jesus means always being ready for His return to take us to Himself forever in heaven.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for every blessing You give and every gift You give so that I may be Your child, forgiven and restored to You through faith in Jesus. Forgive me when I let the world influence me in such a way that I forget just why I live and what Your purpose for my life really is. You give me the solemn feast of Christmas so that I might always be reminded of how much You truly love me - enough to send Your One and Only Son into the world to take on my condition and be tempted even as I am. Help me to continually be preparing my heart for Jesus so that He might live in me and I in Him forever. Remind me, Father, that in Holy Baptism, You have not only made me Your very own but You continue to prepare me daily to know You and Your love for me in Christ Jesus and to share that same love in Christ with others. Thank You, Father, for all You do to prepare me to meet Jesus in Your time; in His precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @ 2005 The Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.