"And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them."
Normally I don't listen to Christmas music. If you have followed my blog at all, you know how odd that is. Music is very powerful to me and a venue God uses often to speak to my heart. Many turning points in my life are marked by a song. I have a song title tattooed on my foot for goodness sake......but I don't listen to Christmas music?? I have one favorite Christmas song, How Many Kings. I could listen to it over and over. So, why the day after Thanksgiving, when my favorite radio station, WBGL switches to Christmas music do I switch the station til after Christmas????? I am really not sure, but I usually do.
When I shared that at a recent hometeam meeting my friend Kim said, "I can't believe that from you, of all people". So, I decided to listen this year to not change stations. I have been totally surprised. There are a ton of great Christmas songs out there. Many with a message that spoke to my heart. But more than that God began to speak to my heart.
As I listened to song after song I began to focus on the true Christmas story. I began to think about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, Herod, and the baby boy. They all began to come alive for me. I began to try and picture what it must have truly been like. Can you imagine what Mary's top 10 things about her birth story would be?? Won't it be neat one day to hear about the most famous birth ever, from the most famous mama ever?
But something else began to become apparent. I realized how much I separate Jesus and Christ. Just like the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three in one. I began to realize that Jesus and Christ are two in one. I see Jesus as the tiny, beautiful, perfect, baby boy born in the manger. I see him as a sign of hope, a promise, a beginning, something pure, precious, and innocent.
But that baby seems so far removed from the man, Christ. The man who took on my sins and yours on the cross. In my eyes there is nothing sweet, or innocent about the cross. It represents an ugly, horrific, horrible death scene. It represents all the ugliness of human kind in one spot. As far from innocent as you can get. Except, that He, Christ was a perfect, sinless, innocent man. I began to notice that when I speak of the manger I refer to him as Jesus. When I speak of the cross I refer to him as Christ. I had compartmentalized them as two different people but they are one in the same.
I was recently asked the question "which is more important, the birth or the cross?" I think the answer is; just like you can't separate the trinity, you can't separate the two. The birth of "Jesus" in the manger, and the death of "Christ" on the cross gives us Jesus Christ. His life is a precious, beautiful, innocent, glorious story from start to finish.
So, I hope each time you hear the Christmas story, or see a nativity scene this season, you will reflect for just a minute on the WHOLE story. On what the true meaning of this precious baby boy means for each and every one of us. Life eternal.
MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Sapp household!!!!!
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