Monday, December 23, 2013

Thinking about Christ

Luke 2:8-20, "That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (NLT)
 
Under normal circumstances I do not use this lengthy of scripture passage because I have read all of the statistical information concerning our short attention span. But we are not living in "normal" times! Give me a moment to climb up on my soap box and vent. I am constantly amazed at our ability to have our attention span so captured by a movie, a sporting event, conversation with friends and many other "social" events yet we can become bored so quickly when it comes to the Word of God and the things of God. Is it possible that we need to examine our "process of thinking" about the things concerning the Kingdom of God? Verse 19 of this passage has captured my attention over the past few weeks. Let me remind you of the content of the statement made concerning the process of Mary's thinking; "but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often." Isn't that an amazing and thought provoking look into the heart of Mary? I fully understand that we only know what is taking place in the heart of someone through the words that they speak and the actions that they take. We do not have the ability to discern nor fully comprehend all of the activity of someone's heart and this post is not written to create that desire on our part. These words are being written to challenge each of us to take a close look at our "process of thinking" concerning the things of God.
 
Mary had heard the declarations of the shepherds regarding the information that the angels had shared with them yet she wanted to think on them for herself. Is it possible that she realized that she could not be content just knowing what the shepherds knew? She had the ability to think and reason and she would use those abilities to meditate on the things of God pertaining to the life and purpose of Christ. It appears that she involved herself in this "process of thinking" on numerous occasions throughout the earthly life of Christ. Is it possible that we have grown content just to know what other people know about Christ and have never taken the time to think and learn for ourselves? Yes by all means we need ministers, teachers and scholars to unfold and open the truth to us so that we can learn the principles of God. But this in and of itself will never take the place of our individual thinking, meditation, and inward desire to know and understand Christ for ourself. Let this Christmas season be a time in which you hit the "spiritual refresh" button of your heart. Take some time and "think" about Christ and what He desires to reveal in your life. Don't settle for just knowing what others know about Christ; desire to know Him for yourself.

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