Christmas draws near and this year for me is different from all the other years. Far away from home, I am experiencing a whole new thing. I appreciate how for Americans this is the time when family gets together, its really lovely., however as for me, family is always together so Christmas is just a day as any other day, only that its a special day. I don't think that makes sense but that's okay, my mind is a mess. My friends are going home for the christmas holiday and am getting homesick. The goodnews is God has given me family wherever I am , so at the end of the day I will celebrate Christmas with the Family God has blessed me with this side.
The Christmas story has gotten me thinking. I keep looking at Jesus' birth story and it has striking similarities with several people I know aswell as differences. I tend to think of various way I think God could have done it, and I try to think of how I could have handled it if I was God, or Mary, or Joseph , or Jesus Himself. I mean, I hope it's not a sin but sometimes I analyze and over analyze things, and ofcourse sometimes i mess things up because of thinking too much, sometimes it helps. Get me right, there is no problem with the way it happened, I love the way it happened. God is really amazing , all knowledgeable , all powerful, He is God and there is no other way it could have been done better., but knowing this doesn't keep me from thinking.
He chose that virgin girl and Joseph, they were just engaged not married. My first thought at this is Jesus was born out of wedlock, but then, his was a supernatural birth. God could have chosen to make him be born through a married couple, maybe zechariah and Elizabeth, but He did not. His birth was a controversial issue, so he faced it. Jesus knows how it feels to be an outcast of the society, to be called a bastard, or an accident, or a shame. Jesus knows the shame, fear, accusations, judgement Mary and Joseph had to pass through from friends and family. Jesus knows it all and when you hear these words, they are real. He does not know it all from watching it from a distance but from experiencing it all.
Mary, the highly favoured woman. She agreed to being a mother to a child born of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:38, says she said"Iam the Lords servant. May it be to me as you have said". Trust me if I was Mary I could have asked more questions than Luke 1:34, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" I would first think of what the public will think of me being pregnant before I was married. I would be thinking of what Joseph will say about it, like, won't he dump me? So, if Joseph dumps me, how will the world look at me when I say the child am carrying is God's? What will I tell my family? I think my answer would be, let me think about it and ask the people who matter in my life and then I will get back to you angel Gabriel. You know what I want? I want to have faith enough as Mary had to simply say use me Lord, however way you want.
Joseph, the guy who was about to marry the girl of his dreams, and this girl got pregnant, not by him though. How do men handle these situations? Who wants to raise somebodys child. And then Matthew 1:19 says,"because Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace , he had in mind to divorce her quietly". So, if he wasn't a righteous man he would have exposed her to public disgrace right??? Again, I am just curious. Here is a righteous man who was about to deny being the father of the king quietly. Everyone had been waiting for the messiah and Joseph was about to walk away from being a great part of the messiah's life. Sometimes we walk away from the promises God has for us because the circumstances around us are confusing and we want to save our worldly reputations. When things get confusing, it's not the time to quit. Somebody said, "quitters never win and winners never quit".
Am glad Jesus came to earth the way He did. I love praying to a God who knows what am feeling because He experienced it all from the moment He was conceived till He died. I am even more glad because He can relate to me, my mum, my dad, my brothers, sisters and friends, at once and fully. He gives us all a full and complete part of him not just a piece. If you invite Him in your life, He will come and stay in there as a whole, while He does the same to everyone else who has invited Him in. Am glad I can't describe my God fully, and I can't comprehend His works, I can't put Him in a box, but I can love Him so much and trust Him and know that He is always there for me no matter what. Am even more glad that He loves me so much that He sent His only begotten son to become human, experience life like I do and walk with me through it. His story has given me a story. He has given me life. Have a Merry Christmas and remember Jesus Christ is the reason for this season.
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