Making the Christmas Story Personal

Making the Christmas Story personal can be a challenge. We know the story well. We’ve read it, told it, sang it. This year the characters have become more real to me.

This season I feel I “met” the characters for the first time. I know them as real people with emotions and desires just as we. They made choices, they grew weary, they questioned, they obeyed. At one point in history, God changed the focus of each of them and changed the world forever.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary was betrothed to a young, handsome carpenter in Jerusalem. A betrothal meant the couple was seen as married although the bride-to-be would remain a virgin in her parent’s home for a year. Consider her strength when the angel announced that she would be the mother of Jesus.

Her faith in God gave her strength to tell Jacob the amazing story, to face certain ridicule from family and friends, and eventually make the long trek to Bethlehem while very much ‘with child’.

Joseph, the Earthly Father of Jesus

The young, strong carpenter loved his bride-to-be, he wanted the best for her. He knew to accept Mary’s story could bring shame and ridicule upon them both. Would they believe Mary had been faithful? Or that he had not slept with her before marriage? Was he prepared so soon for a wife and a child?

The Birthplace of Jesus, the Messiah

Over seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Micah predicted the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:2  Yet, Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth in Galilee. How could he be the One? Just prior to Jesus’ birth, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world which required Joseph and Mary to make the journey to be taxed. God is not limited by any boundaries or time or space!

Meet Simeon in Luke 25-35

It was reveal to Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Lord Jesus, the Christ. Imagine the love as he held that baby and blessed him. And, it was Simeon that announced to the world in Luke 2:32 that Jesus came as a light to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Jesus was to be the Savior of the Whole World!

Anna, the Prophetess

Widowed after just seven years of marriage, young Anna served the Lord faithfully in the temple for over eighty years, praying night and day. She rejoiced with praises that baby Jesus was the promised Messiah..

Jesus’ first recorded words at age 12

Read Luke 2:49. Jesus left his parents and went to the temple to listen and to preach. When asked about it, he simply stated that He must be about His Father’s business  .For more on the birth of Jesus including videos, click here

Consider these truths; ponder them in your own heart; make them a part of your daily life.

1. God’s Love will calm your fears. Wherever He calls you to go and whatever He calls you to do, God is with you.
2. God will provide all your needs. He provided for Joseph and Mary and met their needs in ways they could not imagine.
3. God is with you now; do not have to look as Simeon for Him. He wants to live in your heart  Does He? Be sure, be very sure.
4. God will fill all your empty places. It’s okay to be old and alone, or young and alone … because with Jesus in your heart, you are never alone.
5. God has a plan for your life. Jesus was about His Father’s business at age 12; that must be our plan as well. What has God called you to do?

 

Hugs,

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