“So here’s what the Christmas story is all about: a willing Savior is born to rescue unwilling people from themselves because there is no other way. Jesus was willing to leave the splendor of eternity to come to this broken and groaning world. He was willing to take on human flesh with all its frailty. He was willing to endure an ignominious birth in a stable. He was willing to go through the dependency of childhood. He was willing to expose himself to all the hardships of life in this fallen world. Jesus was willing. You see, it’s not just the Christmas story; rather, the entire redemptive story hinges on one thing—the eternal willingness of Jesus. The Advent willingness of Jesus is your guarantee that he continues to be willing today. And he remains willing to do everything necessary to feed, guide, sustain, and protect you until eternity is your final home.” Paul David Tripp
Heavenly Hindsight
“All growing things change, all changing things grow.” Christine Cain made this statement and I thought, if we have changed so much and we do, we change, then we have what I call, “Heavenly Hindsight”. Heavenly Hindsight is a really good Christmas tradition to have and develop. What is heavenly hindsight? It is when you look back in your past and you see a divine intervention of God changing things up in your life. This 1 Minute Encouragement Video, it explains it well, so take one minute and listen up:
The Christmas Story
The Christmas story, people love to argue about when they think Jesus was born, but I say, don’t sweat the small stuff, keep the main thing the main thing. The point is that Jesus was born. He came here to us and it is my thought that we should never get over that, the heavenly hindsight of a King of heaven coming here to us, to save us from the consequences of our human condition, our sins. This precious account of hindsight is written in the Bible for us to glean the reality of truth about Christmas: “My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He is the Righteous One. He defends us before God the Father. Jesus died in our place to take away our sins. And Jesus is the way that all people can have their sins taken away, too.” (1 John 2:1-2 ICB) Christmas did not happen last year or a few years ago, it happened a couple thousand years ago. Our precious heavenly hindsight of Christmas, of Jesus coming to us, can be found here in Luke 2:8-20:
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,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! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” [b] 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,“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. 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. Luke 2:8-20
Hindsight – Jesus
This is our heavenly hindsight, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. So, how does this impact our life? Well, since “Jesus Came To Us” on mission with God, He came with an incredible purpose. To say the least, He was born with the God mission to save us all from our sin, to deliver us from eternal death and to reconcile us to our Father God. This was and will be the greatest transformation known to mankind. Quite the heavenly hindsight, and something humanity will never get over as the King of heaven came here, to us and the endgame, purposefully played out from here to there unto forever. Awe God! Our Christmas Heavenly Hindsight Is Jesus!
“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” Romans 10:1-10 NLT
Mind Blowing Hindsight
The miraculously merrily so, heavenly hindsight of this huge gesture of love by our Father God, it changed everything for us. In fact, it was the greatest transformation ever known by mankind, from death to life. And to top that off, which, we really can’t, we, human beings today still have access to this life changing transformation. If that doesn’t blow your mind about this heavenly hindsight, there is more.
“At one time you were separated from God. You were God’s enemies in your minds because the evil deeds you did were against God. But now Christ has made you God’s friends again. He did this by his death while he was in the body, that he might bring you into God’s presence. He brings you before God as people who are holy, with no wrong in you, and with nothing that God can judge you guilty of. This teaching is the secret truth that was hidden since the beginning of time. It was hidden from everyone, but now it is made known to God’s holy people. God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious truth which he has for all people. This truth is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory.” Colossians 1:21-22, 26-27
Jesus Came Here
Jesus came here to us, sent by a heavenly mission of love, He took on our death debt, one we could never have paid, and died our death, so we could live His life. Because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, it paved the way for the Glory of God to be with us and in us. What an incredible transformation happened because of sacrificial offering. That is where the Bible verse: Christ in us the hope of glory, becomes our reality of truth in our personal heavenly hindsight. We can look back on our life in heavenly hindsight, and see Jesus, His way, His truth, His life strewn miraculously so, all over our life path. Our Christmas joy can be full, because Christmas, the heavenly hindsight of it, never fades, it is Christmas every day for us. As we know and experience in our Christianity, Christ has come to stay with us, a servant leader with us forever. We also can be a servant leader, Christ in us, the hope of glory. Jesus was a servant, make us one too. Listen Up To This 1 Minute Encouragement Video. You have never heard a Christmas Oxymoron quite like this one…
It Gets Better
And, when you think it couldn’t get better, it does, it simply significantly does! Jesus, left us His Holy Spirit. Yes, amazingly so. Awe God! We are not alone! The Father God thought of everything for us, He had a good plan and He carried it out. He loves us so much! The moment we asked for forgiveness, accepted Jesus Christ, God’s Son into our heart, salvation came to us and with that precious gift, also comes the Gifter, The Holy Spirit, comes into our heart to stay with us, guide us, navigate us home!
“If you love me, you will do the things I command. I tell you the truth. He who believes in me will do the same things that I do. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper. He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you and he will be in you.” John 14:12-17
A Future Hope
Home! The best is yet to come. In our heavenly hindsight we clearly see, we have a future and a hope. We are in this world, purposefully so, but now, not of it. We are adopted by God, we belong to His Kingdom, we are actually citizens of a forever kingdom. How is that for heavenly hindsight?! Wrap your mind tightly around all the heavenly hindsight of Christmas, as you get into the Word of God, which will renew your mind in the truth of God every single day, by the power of our Advocate here, God’s Holy Spirit! Awe God! We all have “Christmas Heavenly Hindsight” some of the sweetest of it was foretold way before Jesus Came To Us! Meditate On This:
“A child will be born to us. God will give a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace. Power and peace will be in his kingdom. It will continue to grow. He will rule as king on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom. He will make it strong, by ruling with goodness and fair judgment. He will rule it forever and ever. The Lord of heaven’s armies will do this because of his strong love for his people.” Isaiah 9:6-7 ICB
A Family Tradition
As a family, we can develop our Awe of God by talking up together our heavenly hindsight. In fact, it is fun during our Christmas season to take a week as a family, gather together, shut down all the technology, and sit together and share heavenly hindsight. We still seek Him daily, and He is still working in us and through us daily, and that means there is much heavenly hindsight to find and share! Try this with your family and friends! It is based on this scripture:
“Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him. Tell the nations what he has done. Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Tell about all the wonderful things he has done. Be glad that you are his. Let those who ask the Lord for help be happy. Depend on the Lord and his strength. Always go to him for help. Remember the wonderful things he has done. Remember his miracles and his decisions.” Psalms 105:1-5 ICB
Heavenly Hindsight ~ Talk It Up
Heavenly Hindsight: Looking back on our personal family life, in heavenly hindsight, when did we see the miraculously merrily so of Jesus, intersecting with our life in a heavenly way. We have everyday miracles that happen, let’s talk it up. Game pieces: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince Of Peace, Everlasting Father. Write them out separately and put them in a bowl. Each morning, pick one and for the younger kids, explain in a way they can understand what the word means, and have them think about it all day. Think about your heavenly hindsight: What God moment happened to me that I experienced God being Wonderful, or as my Counselor, or as a Mighty God, or as a Prince Of Peace, or as an Everlasting Father? Share your heavenly hindsight together as a family and increase your Awe of God! It is a great family tradition you can do every Christmas season, to capture and captivate the mind and heart of your family with Jesus first, so you don’t forget to leave room for Jesus in your Christmas Season. It is easy as a family to get trapped in the hustle and bustle of a worldly viewpoint of Christmas, but if you intentionally take a “family time out” with Jesus, your family will experience the gift of Christmas joy that heavenly hindsight brings! Have fun!
A New Year Challenge
Dig Deeper: Here is a challenge for you, personally. Christmas, we can see clearly in heavenly hindsight, we see Jesus, we see He came to us and we know He is with us. So, we have heavenly hindsight every single day. This New Year coming up, you are challenged to take time everyday at the end of your day before you turn the light out to sleep, to reflect in heavenly hindsight, on who God is and has been to you personally on this day. Journal daily, put the day of the week, the date and begin writing in an atmosphere of awe-gratitude how you saw God miraculously merrily so, intersect and intervene in your day. Keep a “Heavenly Hindsight” journal everyday next year and you will definitely see an increase in your personal Awe of God.
A Way-Maker God, Generously Birthed Hope On Christmas Day,
Emmanuel With Us ~ A Heavenly Star Shone Brightly From Afar, A Brilliant God-Glory-Glow ~ We All Would Eventually Know, Jesus, Disrupted Our Death-Destiny ~ Miraculously-Merrily-So! Merry Christmas ~ God Bless You Much!
KimberlyMac https://thebridegroomscafe.com/emmanuel/
Thank you for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Cafe today. We hope your spiritual meal on The Family Table was nourishing for your soul. Always be listening up for The Bridegroom’s Voice. You are always welcome here. Please leave a comment and let us know how you enjoyed your spiritual meal. God bless ya, Kimberly Mac