Underwhelmed

I have the privilege of co-teaching an 8 grade girl's class at church.  These young ladies are absolutely amazing!!!  This past Sunday we talked about how the Christmas story can become so commonplace that it loses its significance.  Like many of the stories in scripture, they become so familiar that we can recite them without feeling the weight of the story itself. 

But this shouldn't be. 

Think about it.  Generations of Israelites have lived without a hearing a word from the Father.  Silence.  Deafening silence.  Many Israelites began making up rules and traditions that they thought would help them win God's favor until the promised Messiah would come.  Some just lost hope and eventually stopped believing altogether. 

However, some continued to pass the prophecies down to their children and grandchildren.  They believed their God was faithful and would fulfill His promises.  They knew that one day the story of the Messiah would no longer remain only a story.  That one day Emmanuel would become flesh and be with His people.

400 years.

Silence broken by an infant's cry. 

Silence broken by angels singing of the long awaited Messiah.

Silence broken as men and women who had lost hope began to believe.

Maybe this year your heart has been silent.  You aren't in the Christmas Spirit and the holidays seem monotonous and lackluster.  It could be that you have lost a loved one this year, or that you aren’t spending the holidays with family and friends.  Maybe this year the Christmas story has become underwhelming and commonplace in your life.  You aren't alone.  We have all been there. 

Father, overwhelm us with You and the undeserved gift of your Son.  Remind us of the hope that only you can give.  Break through the silence in our hearts and show us your glory.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  It is also the most stressful.  I know I am not telling you anything you don't already know.  But I think it helps me to just put it out there; acknowledge the craziness.  Adding birthdays, a new niece, anniversaries and family in from out of town, this December is more than a little hectic. 

Yet in the midst of the madness, I find myself not feeling exhausted, but exhilarated!  I love the hustle and bustle.  I love the mall and crowds.   I love the electricity in the atmosphere. 

At the same time, I also cherish the quiet moments in the living room sitting in front of our Christmas tree.  It is so peaceful to snuggle up on the couch with my family and just "be" for a moment.  Strangely, it always seems so much easier to do this during the holidays, when days are short and schedules are full. 

Maybe because we make time for it. 

Maybe because we want our children to have great memories.

Maybe because we want to cling to this time of year because we know January is just around the corner and life will be back to normal.

Maybe because it is in the quiet that we stop thinking about the gifts we need to buy and the parties we need to attend and focus on the true reason for the holidays.

Hope.

Love.

A fulfilled promise.

The Savior.

This Christmas I choose to allow more time to just "be."  Be present.  Be grateful.  Be intentional.  Be the hands and feet of Christ to everyone around me. 

But I want this to last longer than December 31.  I want this to last throughout the year.  Every year. 

May this Christmas we cherish the gift of rest and peace found in Jesus, and make the choice to carry it through the year.  So when mid-summer rolls around and our days are packed with summer activities, remind yourself to just "be."

It was for freedom....

So often I hear women say they want to live a life free in Christ, yet they have no idea how to do it.  I am so guilty of saying, and thinking, the same things.  My heart longs for nothing more than to truly be free in Christ and not burdened with my flesh.  This sounds like such a beautiful life, right?  No stress.  No worries.  Just… bliss.

Then the alarm goes off and we are snapped back into reality.  We are not able to balance the reality of life with the freedom of Christ.  For some reason society has convinced us that the two are incompatible and we must simply accept a stress-filled life.  And so we continue living in bondage and slavery, content to be miserable.

Should we continue this life???

Please allow me to quote Paul for a moment…. BY NO MEANS!!!!

Breaking that down a little… absolutely not!  There is no good reason to continue to live a life of misery when Christ sacrificed everything to set us free!

Let's jump into Romans 6…  Paul explains it all so well….

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him,  because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him.  For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

When we live daily in bondage and slavery, we are living daily in sin.  Paul reminds us here that we died to our old selves and are made alive in Christ.  We are not to continue living in sin, but to live in Christ.  This is a choice that we must make daily. 

Will there always be stress?  YES!  But the key to freedom is how we handle the stress.

Will there always be baggage?  YES!  But we don't have to keep picking it up and carrying it around.

Will there always be heartache?  YES! But we can allow Christ to heal our hearts rather than carry around the broken pieces.

Will there always be drama? YES! But we don't have to allow it to consume our lives. 

Will there always be meals to cook, diapers to change, schedules to coordinate, friends to talk to, arguments with spouses, disagreements with friends, bad attitudes, illness, death, fear, uncertainty, questions, shattered dreams….  YES! YES! YES!  These things will always be in our lives.  However, we do not have to let them control us!

Learning to see Christ in our everyday mundane is the beginning of freedom.  Knowing that the small things in life matter.  Trusting that even when life is hard, God is working in the background doing amazing things we may not see with our own eyes.  Believing that even the smile we give to a stranger made a difference.  Reminding ourselves that even though life gets out of control, God is still in control. 

Want to know a secret????  The more we chose to walk in freedom, the more God will increase our courage!  He will make us brave!  He will use us in ways we could not begin to imagine. 

So live free in Christ!  Allow him to break those chains and you hold your head high.  Don't allow the little things to hold you down, but allow them to lift you up.


Let this song sink deep in your heart today....   Break Every Chain - Jesus Culture