This Christmas season, have you spent any time alone with God, just rejoicing over the fact that He loved you enough to become man? That He was born to poor parents, laid in a manger, grew up and died on a cross for you?
Have you really been stunned this year by the beauty of the incarnation?
Over the years, it can get harder and harder to feel that childlike wonder and fascination. It's another Christmas, another time when we're supposed to focus on the birth of Christ, but it's so easy to get distracted by everything else.
During the Christmas season, there can be a lot of pressure on pastors and church leaders. It's almost like we think we need a better program each year to get people focused on the birth of Christ, rather than simply being able to quiet our hearts and souls.
Now, instead of thinking about my own desires or other people's expectations, when I prepare for a Christmas service, I try to start with this question:
"God, what would honor You most in this service?"
Because it would be easy to just prepare a message, get everyone fired up about Christmas, sing songs, and create a great atmosphere. But is that really what honors Him?
If I were God, and this was the time when people were supposed to focus on me, what would honor me most? Would it be a big show with great singing, a great production, and applause? Or would it be something deeper?
I think what would honor Him most is if His people came ready to worship - not expecting something "cool," but arriving amazed:
"God, I'm still stunned that You came to earth and died for me. I'm still amazed that You, Almighty God from eternity, would come down here as a tiny baby."
If we're honest, most of us would admit that this year has been so busy that we haven't had time to still our hearts and be amazed again at the incarnation.
So right now, I invite you to pause and just take a few minutes to meditate on Philippians 2:5-7. Pray and worship God in your heart as you read these words:
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:5-7)
Try to picture what it would be like to be one of those shepherds in the field, getting to see the Son of God on the day of his birth. How they must have marveled, rejoiced, and worshipped on that night!
If Jesus were physically here, we'd all know what to do. We'd adore Him, do anything we could to serve Him or care for Him.
When Jesus washed his disciples' feet, He told them, "I've set you an example. Now you do this for one another." He also said in Matthew 25, "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me."
If you want to honor Jesus this Christmas, don't just come to church and sing. Come looking to meet someone's need, to find those he calls "the least of these." That's what He asked us to do. As we marvel at the humility of Christ, we are instructed to take on the same mindset of a servant and empty ourselves out for those around us.
Let's not get so distracted by all of the extra stuff that we miss this invitation to pause, celebrate the goodness of God made manifest in the incarnation, and let it overflow in acts of love and mercy. May we honor Him like never before this Christmas!
