Dec 10, 2012
Don’t Let Christmas Busyness Destroy Christmas (“O Holy Night” video)
Christmas busyness
Christmas can be a time when our worship of Christ deepens, our faith in Him strengthens, our joy in Him increases.
But too often this is squashed by Christmas busyness.
But think about it —
- Could this Christmas be your most meaningful ever?
- Might it be a time when you behold Jesus Christ like never before?
- Might God have a special way He wants to encourage you this Christmas?
Yes, yes, and yes.
But that probably won’t happen without some effort. Some planning.
So here are —
Some suggestions
Take time to pray over Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, asking the Father to help you see what He has done in sending the Messiah. Consider Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-9, and Micah 5:2.
Be careful about overscheduling. You will have more demands on your time in the next few weeks than usual. So be careful not to take on too much.
Take time to pray over the Christmas story in Matthew 1:18 – 2:23, and Luke 1:5 – 2:21. Ask the Father to open your eyes to see the glory of Jesus’ birth (Psa 119:18). Read slowly. Linger. Be there. Worship.
Use Christmas as a time to advance the Gospel with neighbors and work associates. Organize a neighborhood Christmas party. Take cookies to neighbors. Invite them over. Take people to Bethlehem re-enactments or special Christmas services.
Worship with Handel’s The Messiah. Here’s a $1.99 MP3 version on Amazon that I’ve enjoyed.
Offer to read the Christmas story at family gatherings.
Use these suggestions for family devotions during the Christmas season.
And one more —
“O Holy Night” is a powerful Christmas worship song, and below I am posting a version I found on YouTube.
Let this song bring you to your knees at the manger (and let me know how it impacts you) —
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh-yR0pbmU
How did this impact you?
I’d love to hear. Leave a reply below — thanks.
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And here are some related posts you might find helpful —
How To Sing Lyrics You Aren’t Feeling (“Lay Me Down” worship song)What God Promises When I Have Too Much To DoWhat To Do When You're Not Feeling Worshipful (Worship In Spirit)How Can I Worship God? (with video of "Jesus Messiah")
(sorry that this is another long post)
I know I’m supposed to feel joyful worship when listening to songs about Christ during Christmas and a part of me does but more overwhelmingly it makes me sad and brings me to tears sometimes.
The closer I am to God and the tighter I hold onto Him, the sadder they become to me.
I am reminded of my mortality and how fleeting time really is. Yesterday I was the innocent infant, today I’m a young adult and, if I’m allowed, tomorrow I’ll be an old woman and then I’ll be gone and at some point forgotten. I remembered this in November visiting my grandparents grave. I hadn’t been in a while and had forgotten about the grave in front of theirs. The grave stone is huge and slanting forward, a little further and it will fall over entirely. Its so corroded and the writing is faded, I can barely make out the names.
All that’s left is the year 1857, one man being the 22 year old son of the other man buried there. That’s all thats left of them and I wondered when was the last time someone put flowers on their grave? Who was the last person who thought about them and how long ago was that? Anyone who remembered them, family, neighbours, friends, have been forgotten too. In the end, there is no one left but God who will remember you.
Jesus started out his life the same way we all do. With God but what’s different is that he chose to have his life end with God too.
It’s innately in us to want to be loved. We don’t want to be alone, we dream of the soul mates in epic romantic stories, someone who could love us so much they’d die for us. Here, we have such a man and we have such a being watching over us and offering such a love so freely and all we have to do is ask for it.
God has been with me before my own mother realised I was there. He watched me grow in the womb, He was there when I was born, remembers me as a small infant, crying, naked and helpless. He was there when I cried for a bottle or wanted to go sleep. He was there when I first smiled, when I first laughed, my first word, got teeth, when I started to crawl and took my first steps, my first day at playschool, elementary school, my first bike and all the countless times I fell off it a few years later when I demanded that I was big enough to go without the stabilisers, my first day at high school and all the essays, exams and heart aches that followed, throughout college and even now in adult life, jobs, decisions I’ve had to make, lessons I’ve had to learn and everything yet to come in my future. The mother and father of my soul, never losing sight of me even when I didn’t want Him there. He’s always lingered just in case I changed my mind. Always being giving a choice, always being saved from trouble, always being forgiven and accepted as I am. Always that little child in His eyes.
To live my life with my back turned to Him, to ignore and mock His devotion and die without a word to His kindness to me, is the saddest thing I could ever think of.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful description of how deeply God loves us.
To have a Savior who loves us so much that He saves us, changes us, forgives us, and enables us to behold His glory forever — that is of infinite worth.