Weekend Words (Advent)

 Weekend Words on Tuesday, because my computer has been offline all week.  Finally, up and running again, so... better late than never!

From Be Still and Know…

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” - 2 Corinthians 8:9)

Another Christmas is almost here. Although we are caught up in the multitudinous preparations for the gala season, we need to take time to meditate on the real meaning of Christmas – remembering the birth of Jesus.

Once there was a king who wanted to really know his people. He wanted to know the conditions under which they lived, that he might better understand their problems. So he removed his kingly robes and crown and put on the dress of his people. He left the magnificence and splendour of his palace, travelling incognito across his kingdom. Although he had laid aside his riches, assuming the poverty of his people, this did not change his position as king.

This is a picture of what the Lord Jesus did for us. He had lived with His Father in heaven. All the glory of heaven was His, and all the riches of heaven at His disposal. He, the Son of God, was willing to leave it to come to earth as a human being that He might identify with us and experience life as we do. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). Yet His real purpose was to become our Saviour, making possible eternal life for us, and making available all the riches of heaven.

He became poor, that we might become rich.  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Through our relationship with Him, all the riches of heaven are available for our use. May we not live in spiritual poverty today because we have failed to claim all He has provided for us!

From Christmas: Quiet Moments for the Season…

The Real Christmas

Read: Luke 2:25-35

A quotation in our church’s Advent devotional guide caused me to rethink my approach to Christmas:

“Let us at all costs avoid the temptation to make our Christmas worship a withdrawal from the stress and sorrow of life into a realm of unreal beauty. It was into the real world that Christ came, into the city where there was no room for Him, and into a country where Herod, the murderer of innocents, was king.

He came to us, not to shield us from the harshness of the world but to give us the courage and strength to bear it; not to snatch us away by some miracle from the conflict of life, but to give us peace – His peace – in our hearts, by which we may be calmly steadfast while the conflict rages, and be able to bring to the torn world the healing that is peace.”

When Mary and Joseph presented the infant Jesus to the Lord, Simeon said to them: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35).

Christmas is not a retreat from reality but an advance into it alongside the Prince of Peace.

- David McCasland