What choices have you made that will shape your Christmas this year?
From what food to eat, to what presents to give, to who you may spend this Christmas time with, this season is full of choices.
Over 2000 years ago, God made the choice to send his Son into the world He had created. A young girl called Mary chose to believe all the angel Gabriel said to her would come to pass, and it did! Joseph, Mary’s fiancé, was less sure until an angel appeared to him in a dream, after which he too chose to believe and took Mary to be his wife.
Arriving at Bethlehem, they had no choice where Jesus would be born – all that was available was a stable with all the animals.
Born as a baby surrounded by the animals, Mary & Joseph chose to use the manger
(the animal’s feeding trough) as the King of the Universe’s first bed!
God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to some shepherds (outcasts of the day), who chose to go and see for themselves this wondrous event that had taken place. Afterwards, they chose to tell everyone what had happened.
Magi from the East, saw a special star in the sky, and chose to make a long journey to visit the one who had been born King of the Jews. They chose to bring gifts fit for a King. Soon after, King Herod, threatened by the birth of another King, chose to kill all the young boys up to the age of 2, but Jesus and his family escape safely to Egypt.
All this reminds us that many choices were made surrounding Jesus’ birth…and many choices were made by people that surrounded Jesus throughout his life…we learn of these in the Bible.
This Christmas, may I encourage you to choose to explore who Jesus is – both the baby who was born and the man he grew up to be, because there is so much more to Jesus than all of us could ever dream or imagine. He is the world’s Saviour; He is the world’s true King; and He chooses to love each one of us, both now and for all eternity.
So how will we choose to respond?
With every blessing,
Tim