Christmas Mission

Christmas brings memories to mind of a childhood filled with fantasy.  I still remember my early Christmas seasons that almost glitter with tinsel and I can see a foggy aura that frame my memories.  It was a magical time!  When we move from the department store Santa to the Church and the story of the birth of Jesus, it all can run together.  The smells of baking and the Christmas tree in our warm comfortable home turns to humble beginnings in a stable with the smells of hay and animals.  This is where the fantasy ends.  The life of Jesus began on earth as the song writer wrote, "away in a manger no crib for a bed."  He started his life on earth without comfort.  He lived his real life without fanfare and wealth.  It was a choice He made on the journey to the cross of redemption.  His suffering and sacrifice by His choice paid our price and paved the way for our life of salvation and abundance.  He did so very deliberately.   Now that the price has been paid and we are living recipients of His sacrifice let us go out daily with a very deliberate mission of redemption.  While Jesus has paid the price, He now needs us to be His voice and hands.  Today, as we are in the middle of the Christmas season, with all the hustle and bustle, may we not lose our focus on the real message of the season.  What a waste it would be if we were captured by the self-centeredness of the hour and missed our real commission in life.   The emphasis of Christmas for the believer is certainly His birth but our mission is His Commission.  "Go into all the world!"  Separate the fact from fiction and live and share His Truth today in the midst of the fantasy.