Tuesday, December
26, 2017
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies! Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven! Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars! Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds! Let every created thing give praise to
the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked. Praise the Lord from the earth, you
creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather
that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings
of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young
men and young women, old men and children.
Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers
over the earth and heaven! He has made
his people strong, honoring his faithful ones—the people of Israel who are
close to him. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 148:1-14(NLT)
It is really difficult to get your mind around a sleeping infant in a
cattle feeder being He who created everything. Yet, that is exactly what Scripture
proclaims, that the pre-incarnate Jesus, before time, space, and anything else existed…made
it exist!
Christ is the
visible image of the invisible God. He
existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on
earth. He made the things we can see and
the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in
the unseen world. Everything was created
through him and for him. Colossians
1:15-16(NLT)
It’s pretty easy to get some Christmas
spirit and get all gushy over holiday gatherings, family reunions
and a newborn child on the Hallmark Channel special. Throw in a little after-dinner football and
you’ve got a winner for everybody. Well,
except for the one who has to clean up after everybody, while everybody else is
watching football…but that’s another subject.
We do a pretty good job of putting Jesus into that manger. Each Christmas I take note of all the
decorations, especially the manger scenes.
The whole world is alive with festivity, parties, gift-giving and carol
singing. By December 26th it’s
time to move-on.
And, move-on we do! Decorations,
lights, tree, nativity sets are all carefully packed away. The Christmas specials disappear from the
networks until next year. And all the commercials
morph to President’s Day white sales, or even Valentine’s Day chocolates.
The point is, for this day after THE
DAY we really need to focus on getting that child out of the manger and onto the cross, and then out of the tomb.
After all, that is the cycle; you have Advent, Passion, and then Easter’s
resurrection. The child in the manger
can become a sweet memory and a very controllable
part of our heritage. But if that
happens we have missed the whole point of His coming.
Jesus laid aside all the prerogatives of deity in Heaven to be born in
that vulnerable way; but there is no wavering on the fact that the child in
that feeding trough was fully God on a mission to die. Let us not miss the subtle point that most
every artist portrays in a nativity scene:
worship. The kings, shepherds,
Mary, and even the animals are in rapt attention and bowing towards Jesus on
the straw.
For You
Today
It’s
a fast-moving world in which we live; it’s right to move-along (so you don’t get
run-over). But take some time to worship
as you put away the lights and garland this year. Get Jesus out of that manger and onto a
cross.
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