The Spirit's Work

Good Christmas joy to you on this fine day! Only a few people knew that Jesus had arrived. A few wise men from the east began their journey; a few shepherds in the field stared in awestruck fear at the angels; Mary and Joseph sat near a manger; a few relatives knew that Jesus and John were something special, but the birth did not make the Roman News Network report for that day. The birth looked forward to for hundreds of years kind of came and went. No big deal for the biggest deal of all time. The Son of God had become a human baby in a manger in a small town in Judea.

Most young couples might have taken off for home as soon as the registration was complete. It seems that Mary and Joseph stayed put though. Did the registration Rome commanded require a long stay? Was Joseph broke after the journey or Mary unable to travel after her first birth? Perhaps the reason for the stay had to do with a sense of responsibility. We know how fragile a baby is. Now imagine that fragile baby is the Son of God, the promised Messiah waited for since the first prophecies. How would you like to have that responsibility? Joseph and Mary might have been careful to do everything possible to make sure the child would grow up strong and healthy; no easy task in those days and not all that easy in our modern times. But who was responsible for Jesus as an infant and toddler? Well, he is the Son of God.

We often have that same problem. We have given our lives to Christ and now God the Father is responsible for bringing us up in the right way and time. We grasp at the responsibility for our own development having some idea of the direction we should go from the Word of God, but we see poorly as in a bad mirror. The work of saving me was completed by Jesus on the cross. Yet if it were up to me today, I would concentrate on making myself acceptable through external changes. You might try to gain acceptance through good deeds that people can see and applaud. Another person might sit on a mountain peak and meditate for days on end. We have the wrong way of going about this thing that God has taken over in our lives. I suppose the real repentance is in turning from what we think we know and from telling God how good we are or what we are going to do to make ourselves ready for Him. Jesus started out His perfect life as a very incapable infant. When we are born again we start out the same way, but we sometimes forget that and start planning our own sanctification. Trust in the Holy Spirit of Christ to do His own good work in you!

Bucky