Hi how are you today? I don’t know about you but this Christmas has come up very quickly. I think time may be speeding up. Thankfully I only have some more cooking to do and then I am done. I had my first Christmas party with my youngest son on the weekend, hence the reason my blog is late.
This week I want to talk about the messiness of Christmas. Most people who don’t know God yet say they can’t accept God because their lives are too messy. I am here to tell you that God specialises in messiness.
Just look at that first Christmas:
Mary’s life was ordinary with nothing spectacular happening except she was waiting to get married. In the middle of that, God chose her as the virgin to give birth to Jesus then raise Him. Can you imagine what her friends and family thought. Even Joseph was going to break up with her quietly.
Her ordinary life had become messy and all she could do was trust God.
Joseph was a working man who was happy he had found an amazing girl, Mary to become his wife. He was busy building their home and making sure she was provided for. Then he heard the news about the pregnancy which turned his world upside down. He not only had to trust what Mary was saying was true but also God.
Truth needed to prevail in his life.
The time came for Mary to give birth. But it wasn’t in her cosy bed at home. No the government decided a census would be a good idea. Joseph and Mary had to travel a four day journey to Bethlehem whilst Mary was really pregnant.
Then there was no room for them in the inn and all the accommodations they could find was a stable. Jesus was born in the messiness of a stable. The lamb of God born where animal lambs are born. The messiness of the stable was the perfect will of God.
Then Mary received her first visitors. They were not family as she had hoped but shepherds who came with an incredible story. A multitude of angels was singing in the sky and proclaiming the news that a king had been born.
The shepherds were dirty and maybe a bit smelly from being out in the fields. But in the messiness of the shepherds visit was a promise that Jesus was the Good Shepherd.
So we can see from the above that out of messiness can come truths for our lives. They are:
- Trust God- even when our lives look messy or the circumstances around us feel messy, we need to trust God because out of messiness comes a message.
- Truth needs to prevail in our lives. Out of messiness can come truth. We realise what is true and according to the Word of God and what is a lie. The commands of God can feel restricting but they aren’t really, they are freeing. Truth always brings freedom.
- The will of God for our lives. Sometimes in our pain and suffering, God can birth in us His will for our lives. It is often in hard times that passions rise within us to right the wrong. This can lead to Gods perfect will for us.
- The Good Shepherd is always with us even in our messiness. His staff pulls us out of mucky places and His rod directs us through the mess or sometimes around the mess. Jesus is our comfort, provider and everything a Good Shepherd is.
So this Christmas think about your own life at the moment. If it is messy then seek God and see what He wants us to learn from the situation. A perfect life does not always equal easy; sometimes it equals messy.
Have a great week and keep living the life God intended for you.
Karen
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