How do you get ready for Christmas? Some work through an Advent Calendar each day. Some display an Elf-on-a-Shelf in a different way each morning for their children to find. Some have a particular recipe that absolutely must show up on the table every year. In Sweden, millions watch Donald Duck cartoons every Christmas Eve. I have no idea why.
Be sure your Christmas preparations include, well, preparation!
The Christmas story includes the birth of a boy named John whose only job was to point people to Jesus. John’s old father expressed this mission when he sang over his newborn son (Luke 1:76-77):
And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins.
God still prepares preparers. When you listen to the story of how someone came to Christ, you will always hear about someone who pointed the way. They’ll tell you about a loving Sunday School teacher from their childhood. They’ll tell you about an influential camp counselor in their teen years. They’ll tell you about a Christian colleague who befriended them at work. They’ll tell you about a Christian neighbor who spent time with them.
All these people were preparers, and you’re meant to play that role, too.
A Quaker mystic once said that God “plucks the world out of our hearts” and then “he hurls the world into our hearts, where we and he together carry it in infinitely tender love.” I like that. Does your Christianity only involve the first part of that process without the second?
I have more to say about this in the second chapter of the book I wrote with John Parker. It’s called Repeat the Sounding Joy! It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. Pick up your free copy when you attend a service at Hillcrest or order it from Amazon by clicking here.
--Tom
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.