HEAVENSREEF

It’s interesting to me how your focus on gifts change as you grow older.  I now identify with the phrase: I really don’t need a thing.  Because what I do need more than anything in this season of my life is JESUS.  Isn’t HE just the perfect gift each year?  HE is and always will be what CHRISTMAS is all about.  And the story of HIS coming thousands of years ago should never grow old to us.

BE CAPTIVATED BY THE CHRISTMAS STORY THIS YEAR

Don’t let the store windows and all the tree tinsel distract you from the real reason for the season.  Behold…….JESUS…….instead!

JOHN 1: 29   “BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

Behold today the Babe born in a meager manger, who became a man on the CROSS dying for mankind’s sins.  Behold the baby who was born to change the course of history.  Behold the baby who came with the touch of GOD’S grace upon HIM.  Behold the baby who came to love you and me.

LUKE 2: 7   “AND SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HER FIRSTBORN SON AND WRAPPED HIM IN SWADDLING CLOTHS AND LAID HIM IN A MANGER, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PLACE FOR THEM IN THE INN.”

Imagine that for a moment………no room in the inn.  No place for JESUS.  But Mary and Joseph found a place and the KING for all of eternity was born in that stable filled with straw and dust and animals.  Did the animals cry out too at the sight of the Babe? 

BEHOLD THIS JESUS WHO COMES IN UNEXPECTED AND EXTRAORDINARY WAYS!

Even the lowly shepherds out in the fields at night were visited by an angel of the LORD…….

LUKE 2: 10 – 11   “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.  FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD.”

Love came down at Christmas and love still comes now for us.  Put JESUS at the center this year of all your celebrations.  HE should be our priority and focus now and then all year.  Let HIM be the only glory you see.  Stand in awe at the manger and see what GOD has done!

Go and see……….look and embrace all that happened thousands of years ago.  Read the text with new eyes this year and be in awe like the shepherds.  Behold the special event in all of history that happened……..

LUKE 2:  16   “AND THEY WENT WITH HASTE AND FOUND MARY AND JOSEPH, AND THE BABY LYING IN THE MANGER.”

This Christmas, seize the ultimate gift you could ever possibly have.  Behold and be amazed.  No matter how many times you have heard the story, never let it get old.  Because HE still comes for us, from the womb to the Cross and then to our hearts.  JESUS comes every day of the year, but make sure this year HE is the centerpiece and the focus of all you do and say.  O come let us adore HIM!

LUKE 2: 14   “GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE TO MEN ON WHOM HIS FAVOR RESTS!”