December 28, 2003
Now that Christmas Day is past, all the presents unwrapped, the baking done, the guests on their way out the door (just kidding), maybe you’ll now have a chance to kick back and relax – unless, of course, you work in retailing and have the dubious honor of being mobbed at the Returns Counter in an area department store.
Over the weeks preceding Christmas much is said and much is written about hope, joy, love and peace. For a little while, faces seem almost lit from within with optimism, a much better “light” show than the Christmas lights dangling off the gutters of my house. For a little while, some hearts are kindled with hope and the gloom of worry, resentment and fear recede for a time. Perhaps we finally understand how fleet and fragile our lives are and that some things are much greater and precious than so many things we “settle” for in life. We may recognize that defining success and happiness by any measurement other than a growing relationship with God is a tragic mistake.
But then the Christmas season draws to a close, we return to work and… the lights dim. The significance of Christmas is lost hardly before it has begun and certainly before what seeds of genuine faith that may have been planted have had time to come to fruition. The gloom of “business as usual” returns and once again lays its ruthless claim to our hearts.
Clearly we so often miss the point that Christ’s coming isn’t an end in of itself. It is a beginning… a dawning of a new era of lives being for the better. It isn’t about just talk of hope… it’s about coming under the power of that hope and experiencing new life.
Almost immediately after His birth, Jesus’ mother, Mary, and His “step-father”, Joseph, took Him to Jerusalem to have Him consecrated to the Lord (see Luke 2:22-24). While at the temple, they were met by an older man named Simeon to whom God had revealed Jesus’ identity.
The Scriptures say in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, that “Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.’ The Child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about Him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother, ‘This Child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed….’”
Even today, as you and I “meet Christ” and the understanding of Who He is grips us, we have placed before us a choice to enter into a “higher life” of walking with Him in faith or of returning to “business as usual.” It is a great tragedy to come into contact with Him in reading the Bible, receiving a special word through something done or said at church, or perhaps a “chance realization” of His working in your life only to then leave that encounter with God and return to “life” an unchanged person.
Don’t leave this Christmas season an unchanged person. As God has revealed something to you this holiday time about His love and power at work in your life and in the world, hold on to it and take it with you, especially as you reenter the mainstream of yearly activity.
“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss, for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” (Philippians 3:7-8a).
(Thom Mollohan has ministered in southern Ohio the past eight years and is currently the pastor of Pathway Community Church. He and his wife are the parents of three children. He may be reached by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).
