Week 2 day 2

 Read: Isaiah 7:14, Sing: Who Would Have Dreamed (lyrics), Memorize: Isaiah 7:14

What does the birth of Christ mean to me? It would be easy to start off our study with this question- but it takes the narrative in the wrong direction. The birth of Jesus can mean anything to anyone. Look around us, there are a million different takes on the holiday we call Christmas. The right question to ask is: What does the birth of Christ mean? This has far deeper, stronger and eternally significant answers. This is why, as we memorize small portions of Scripture that foretell of the birth of Christ, we should not do so mindlessly, but with the truth that we are hiding the promise of the Messiah and the birth of a Savior in our hearts and minds. The prophecies foretold and the promised kept! It is why it is so dangerous when preachers claim we don't need the Old Testament to understand the New. That we could do without so to say, that is a lie from the abyss. We should know the Old Testament, even if parts make you feel uncomfortable, or parts are hard to understand, because it lays out the foundation for the coming of the King. 

During our family Bible study right now we are learning about the Reformation as we study church history. As we watched the video last night it made me pause to think, are we raising up people today, who so truly believe in the Bible that they are willing to die for it? That we so much believe the need the truth of what God has spoken that we would give our last breath proclaiming and sharing it? so many men and women paved the streets to our religious freedom with their blood...yet we forget it. Its so easy to get a Bible these days in the Western world. One on my phone, one in the car, 3 on my desk... a blue one a pink one, a coloring one...so easy it becomes...taken for granted. My fear is that I can find myself doing the same thing at Christmas. That I take the most sacred, miraculous, grace giving, loving moment of mankind, when God himself, came to us; and take it for granted. Another year, another holiday. A preschool nativity, a church choir, candy canes and extra pounds...and all of it drowns out the moment where God dwelled with us. 

( I promise this is on point with Isaiah) In Isaiah 7 if you back up a few verses, there is one that hit me like a sack of potatoes. Verse 9b says, "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." Am I firm in my conviction that Jesus Christ came as Immanuel. That He is fully God fully man? What do I find myself building on this Christmas? A platform of tradition and religious routine...OR the miraculous moment of the Incarnate? If you are going to be committed to something the season, choose Christ. He is the hope of the World. He is the Savior. And He has come to set men free. Sickness and politics don't have to define your year, Christ can. For in Him is the fullness of life. This Christmas, as every year and every day- let Jesus be enough, because Jesus is enough.