John the Baptist: Look! This man is more than He seems! He is the Lamb sent from God, the sacrifice to erase the sins of the world! 30 He is the One I have been saying will come after me, who existed long before me and is much greater than I am. John 1:29-30
Jesus Came To Us
Jesus came to us. He came in meekness. The Christmas Savior arrived from heaven to earth with His power under the control of God’s Sovereign Will, which was purposefully in play in the midst of this amazing Christmas Story. What an incredible witness of the love of heaven and the wisdom and will of God braided together in an unbreakable three strand cord. Jesus would be like us, He would experience everything of our humanity and take it all on His shoulders, making our burden light. Our Christmas Redeemer was sent to be the sacrificial lamb, to pay a sin debt we owed, that we could not pay. This Heavenly Savior was sent, swaddled in the purity of righteousness, to die our death, so we could live His forever life, with God, with the robes of His Righteousness wrapped around our soul.
Luke 2:5-7 The Voice: Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy that the messenger Gabriel had predicted, 6 accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.
Kingdom Expectation
Christmas expectations come into play through a holiday-worldly viewpoint. God wants to flip-flop them to a Kingdom perspective, yielding into our lives, a miraculous merrily so. Our expectations of this life are dashed by the false narrative of our culture, which puts its trust in finite knowledge, instead of Infinite Wisdom. The truth is, no good thing comes from the way of the one who puts his trust in a failing human condition. Our human nature fleshes out on the broad path of life as we impulsively take the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to work out our life expectations. Kingdom expectation is found in the truth that hard work pays off, the narrow road leads to life and laying down ones’ rights is the right way to true justice. Jesus was born into this truth, that the lowly and meek are more powerful in the end. In retrospective heavenly hindsight we see the stumbling block of prideful expectations. The prideful are unwilling to give up their rights, and cling desperately to what they want and they usually stumble, fall and don’t finish life well. A lot of prideful people cheat growth by just doing what they need to get by. Cheating your way through life, pays forward demise to upcoming achievement. Jesus came to teach us all we need to “grow through” this life is to be found in the will of the Father God and know the wisdom of leaning our lives into His Sovereign Sway.
A Narrow Path
The narrow path of growth creates a life that feels hard at times. We take so many shortcuts, we forget that hard is good for us. We want easy, we want quick, we want temporary and we end up with an impermanent fakeness and a reality altered by the false narrative of selfishness. Life is hard, there is no other reality, yet we have a strength like no other available to us because of Jesus, because He took the hard road, grew through life on the narrow path and conquered because of these good choices. Being wholly-holy aligned with God’s Spirit and truth does not happen with a casual Christianity that plays out on a broad life path. The narrow path is an all-in life choice, where your Yes is always on the table with God. Even before God asks us anything, the answer is always YES.
Two Choices
There are two choices. Good or evil. We lean our lives into good or evil with every choice we make. It is our human nature to cut corners when we come against something that is hard. We cheat growth, instead of facing the situation and pressing through with truth, we take the broader path. Our human condition is wired to find the easy way, therefore we cheat the purposeful God growth in our lives when we depend upon ourselves, instead of on God. From every moment to every choice we make, it is either for good or for evil. Our two Kingdom choices, play out like this on the narrow path of life: First we should not underrate the influence of evil, we should diligently guard our hearts. Second, we need to never underestimate the power and wisdom of God in us and through us, to make good choices, which place us on the lowly narrow path, the way of the power of meekness. Meekness is seen as the beginning of the Christmas Story unravels, to the end of Jesus’ life in the power of His resurrection. Jesus made the right choice, the first time, a choice to put the greater good above His natural reaction and respond with a choice for God’s Kingdom first.
Christmas Story Perspective
The easy way out, was not seen in the Christmas Story. Easy is not always God’s way. Jesus told us life would be hard, but He would always be with us. Our Father God sent the Savior, from Heaven, His sacrificial lamb, to be born as a baby in a cold, dirty stable among the animals. This was not the easy way out, it was the hard way into this world, a way of lowliness and self-sacrifice for all involved in this Christmas Story. Even though we did not exactly see perfection in the situation of Jesus’ birth, in a lowly manager, we did experience the only perfect, sinless human being birthed on Christmas Day. What does this speak to you about your high expectations about life? Has everything turned out as you planned? What happens when God’s plan is less than perfect? Do you look for the perfect King in your imperfect situation? Do you seek a Kingdom Perspective, or do you settle for a worldly viewpoint? The Christmas story has a unique God perspective on the imperfection of our worldly viewpoint and the grandiose perfection of a Kingdom perspective.
“Laziness is not just a bad habit; it’s a threat—a clear and present danger. Since the beginning, God has made us in His image to create and tend His good creation. In other words, God has made us to work. It is in our spiritual DNA. We must do it in order to be who God made us and to fight off the threats of poverty and want.” Voice Commentary
Laziness A Broad Path
Laziness is an easy road, a broad pathway that does not lead to Kingdom growth. There is a Kingdom perspective seen in the life of Jesus, in the showing of proof that lowly and lazy are never found together. The worldly viewpoint of lowly is: you are deprived. There was nothing in the nature of Jesus that was disadvantaged, He was fully God Incarnate. His coming to this world changed everything in a way, which all things normal and status quo, would be forever transformed. Laziness is not an option for the lowly. Even though a room was not available in the Inn for the Savior of the world to be born, the course of the Father’s will was not changed. The Savior’s life began in a manger, and continued on this lowly narrow path, where laziness was never found. There was no room in the Inn, because of the broad choice of prideful rejection. Yet, there was a narrow, lowly path which God provided and chose for the birthing foundation of His Son, purposefully so. When we give way to the Christian laziness of pride, we make no room for Jesus. When we choose to lay down our rights and our self-importance, and we trust, believe and grow through this life on the narrow path, we change it up to lowliness. We can live up with meekness, powerfully unto God, and never turn away from Him again to choose the broad path of this world. Meekness is a narrow path, a kingdom way, and never will laziness be found on it.
Humble Lowliness
Jesus, being born in a lowly manger was a humble, modest and a below ordinary act of God’s ways, which are not our ways, and was very difficult for us to wrap our finite minds around. The birth of our Savior-King, pronounced a new definition of lowly and added a new Kingdom supremacy to humility. Later on in life, as Jesus grew in stature and Godly characteristic, He would actually speak the truth He was currently growing through as a baby. The Bridegroom’s Voice would go on to speak the revelation that in our weakness, we were made strong in God and in our vulnerability, God is our place of refuge. Jesus would be proof of the powerful, purposefulness of meekness. Authority under control of Sovereignty, is meekness that will never be weakness. This Christmas Savior came in the vulnerable state of a baby and submitted Himself to the care of imperfect humanity. Through this purposeful plan of God, Jesus learned a valuable empathy, a compassion that would never be fatigued. The humility of our King of Heaven, coming incarnate into our humanity, was an astounding miracle impassioning meekness, flipping it from human weakness to God empowered strength.
Proverbs 6:12-19 Someone who struts around taking advantage of unsuspecting souls and deceiving others is to be avoided. With a wink of his eye, a quick shuffle of his feet, and a slight gesture with his hand, he signals his roguish treachery. With a warped mind and twisted heart, he constantly looks for his own gain at others’ expense, causing friction everywhere he goes. But you watch: his actions will bring sudden disaster! In an instant, his life will be shattered, and there will be nothing to save him. Take note, there are six things the Eternal hates; no, make it seven He abhors: Eyes that look down on others, a tongue that can’t be trusted, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that conceives evil plans, feet that sprint toward evil, A false witness who breathes out lies, and anyone who stirs up trouble among the faithful. The Voice
Are You Strutting?
The lowly do not strut. What can flesh out the “strut” in our body language? Getting in touch with the purpose, provision and perfection of the “lowly” of our Christmas Redeemer’s entrance into this world. The Christmas Story and its powerful truth will “flesh out” the “strut” in our soul that causes pride to rise and our flesh to fail, stumble, and fall in defeat. There is no “strut” that remains in the heart of the lowly, the power of meekness washes our soul attitude, cleansing it of all of our “unrighteous strutting”.
Got Roguish Behavior?
Where lowly is, there is not roguish behavior. There is no unscrupulous, double-dealing dishonesty among the meek. Lowly was a significant characteristic in Jesus’ birth, purposefully so. A humble beginning paved the way for the greatness of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We should all mirror this Christmas characteristic of lowliness. The foundation of the lowly is strong and it pays forward a winning Kingdom strategy of Godly charisma, wisdom and growth. The greatest victory of this world, the defeat of our original death-destiny, has a foundation of lowliness and will never be tainted by the roguish behavior of the enemy of our soul. It is finished, God has won the victory.
Lowliness Of Heart
Jesus was sinless from the point of His birth to the last breath He took on this earth, as He defeated death and rose victoriously to sit at the Right Hand of God. Sin is not a stranger to our world. A big, driving motive to sin is self-gain. It is a good day when you have fleshed out your soul of self-centered increase and ushered in a lowliness of heart. Jesus had no expectations that tripped up His pride. Why? Because He put His Father’s Will first. The lowliness of His heart, kept His “Yes” on the table with God’s Will. He was completely satisfied to be born in a lowly manger, because He put the purpose of The Father God, His Kingdom and His people, first over Himself, His wants and His life. This was His joy, this was His strength on the narrow path of lowliness.
Spirit Of Meekness
What keeps us from the spirit of lowliness that our Savior Jesus has, and what keeps the growth of our humility stunted? Pride. Pride runs rampant in our human condition in times such as these. How can we change it up, so we walk on the lowly, narrow path of meekness? Lowliness is a powerful living and leads us to the narrow path of forever life. Look at the Christmas Child, look at the life of Jesus and glean the truth about the Spirit of meekness. How and where can we change it up in our lives to be a mirror image of our Christmas Savior and His humble, meek and self-sacrificing nature? The power of the Christmas Child, the lowliness of His birth, the meekness of His servant leadership, changed everything, it was the greatest, most powerful transformation known to mankind. Miraculously Merrily So. Merry Christmas. Catch The Christmas Joy. Change It Up To Lowliness. Jesus, Others, You the perfect priority plan for the meek as they stroll down the lowly, narrow path of life with a powerful Kingdom Impact.
Revelation 12:11 By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witnesses, they have become victorious over him, for they did not hold on to their lives, even under threat of death. The Voice
Merry Christmas to you and yours from The Bridegroom’s Café. The greatest gift you can give Jesus this Christmas is yourself. One of the sweetest gifts Jesus has given us is His Voice, The Bridegroom’s Voice. I have written a book that is an amazing God Adventure, a journey with Jesus that births an incredible, vital-vertical relationship with God. God still speaks, so I encourage you to listen up. Purchase a copy of: “The Bridegroom’s Voice” and change it up in your life. God bless you MUCH, KimberlyMac. Please share this Christmas Encouragement with others by using the Social Media buttons below. I would love to hear from you, how this Christmas Devotional changed it up for you. Please leave a comment below. Thanks. Merry Christmas.
