Hi how are you today? I am well and have just finished Christmas production at church which was held over two nights. It was amazing and people came to know Jesus through it which makes it extra special and totally worth it. Is your church doing something?
This Christmas I want to write about it a little differently. Too often we just read the Bible stories and sometimes can quote them like we are reading a novel with made up characters in them. But these peoples stories in the Bible are real and really happened. So this Christmas let’s look a little deeper at the key person/s in the Christmas story. I am going to start with Mary.
Mary was a young girl just going about her daily life when an angel visited her. She was an ordinary girl with something special over her life and heart that could only be seen by God.
God chose this young girl to carry His Son. Let’s think about that? In looking back at this story, we would all think it was a privilege to do what Mary did. Hang on, if you are a Christian, you do carry Jesus with you wherever you go. Look at it now as a privilege.
But with that privilege comes persecution and so it must of, for Mary also.
Mary was not only a young girl, she was unmarried. For a young girl to get pregnant in those days was considered scandalous and outright sinful.
She must have done something wrong. Was she raped? No, she said she wasn’t. Did she play up with her betrothed? No she said she didn’t but is she lying? She said God came upon her and she fell pregnant. That is unlikely as it has never happened before.
Mary would have been talked about, lied about and even shunned. Could you and I have borne such controversy over our life. Probably not!
The only place Mary found comfort was in her cousin Elizabeth’s house as these things were also happening to her even though she was married. The reason- she was probably considered too old to have a baby.
When things like this start happening in our lives because we carry Jesus, let’s seek out godly women who will come alongside of us and encourage us. In times of hardship, we all require love and mercy not judgement and condemnation.
Then one day something happened that was not expected. The government made a decree that all had to go to their ancestral place to be counted like in a census. Mary probably thought to herself – God why now? I am heavily pregnant and don’t want to be away from home.
But there was nothing she could do and started making preparations not only for Joseph and herself but also for the baby.
They started out on the journey and came to Bethlehem. Because they needed to take it slow, they arrived late. Joseph desperately tried to find suitable accommodation but none was to be found. The only place that wasn’t being used was the stable where the Passover lambs were kept.
Joseph took it- at least it was dry and a place to rest. In that unlikely place, Jesus was born.
Little did Mary know that in the hardships she faced with the decree, the journey and the accomodations that Gods perfect plan and prophecies of years before were all being fulfilled in her hardship.
Prophecies that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem had to be fulfilled. The eventual perfect Passover lamb was birthed in the place where Passover lambs were held and Jesus was laid in that special manger.
We all go through hard times where plans change and/ or we have no control over our circumstances. Little do we know whether this is Gods perfect plan for us right at this time.
Mary teaches us much in her Christmas story. Let’s be men and women of God that say with Mary- let it be to me according to your word.
Bless you heaps and keep living the life God intended for you.
Bless you
Karen
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