No, I mean REALLY surprised? Do you remember as a child asking for something that you really, really wanted, maybe you were testing the whole "Santa" thing to see if "just in case" he was real?
Sure enough, Christmas came and there it was. Or the thrill of your own children or grand children when they receive that special gift they were truly longing for?
I have had several of those experiences in my life. Maybe not on Christmas, but definitely the experience.
Like when I gave birth to 2 daughters. That truly was an amazing gift. One that has continued to give to me daily for the last 34 years. The days each of my grandsons were born. Each of those moments are recorded in my mind and I can replay the waiting and the fear as I paced the floor and prayed while my daughter Summer was in surgery giving birth 3 times by c-section. The utter JOY that overcame me when I saw those precious boys and then even greater joy still when I saw my baby girl doing well after the ordeal and the happiness on her face.
I especially remember the third time when Walker was born on January 25, 2008, I asked to be able to go to Summer (after all she is MY baby) and the shock she was feeling because God had entrusted her and Matt with yet another son. She was overwhelmed at the fact that they had another boy. Mainly the responsibility of raising a son to be a mighty warrior. Summer knew even in recovery what having a boy meant. Raising up Godly men is not an easy task, but one she knew God must think she was up for. She felt overwhelmed and honored that our Father thought she and Matt were up to the task.
Thinking back on all that made me remember another very young mother 2000 years ago. Her name was Mary. She was all of 14 or 15. She was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. But one night the Spirit of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she was going to be pregnant before she and Joseph married and going to bare a son. Not just any son but the Savior, The Messiah, the PROMISED ONE! Mary, did you know?
Can you imagine what must have gone through Mary's mind immediately following the visitation of the angel? Why me? What is so special about me that God, the one true God, who made heaven and earth is trusting me to bare His Son as a human to bring God to Earth. What will I do? How will I know how to raise Him. Who will help me? I am but a child. I can't know how to raise the Son of God... It's impossible.. I can only imagine all the sleep she must have lost wondering if this was real let alone true.
And what about Joseph? Don't you think he must have had a little bit of doubt in his mind about what his betrothed was telling him. "Ok, let me get this straight, you are going to have a baby, we are to raise Him and He is the Son of God and you are pregnant by the Holy Ghost?". I imagine the thoughts of what others might think, say or even do to them must have tormented Joseph as well.
And what about Jesus, do you think that when the Father talked to Him and told Him that He was going to Earth, as a baby to be born and raised as a human that His Father didn't warn Him about what was ahead? Do you think that when Jesus left Heaven the conversation between Him and His Dad went something like this: "Oh, by the way, once you have been raised by these humans, I'm going to send you to a cross to die a brutal death and you will be resurrected again after 3 days and come back to live with me. But other than that, do all that you can to show people who You are and why I sent You and what Our love is all about."
No, I don't think the cross was plan B, C or D. I believe the cross was the plan before the first Christmas!
I believe Jesus knew He was going to die and rise again to give us the most amazing gift of all: eternal life.
I always say Christmas is wonderful, but without Easter, it really wouldn't have mattered! You see, Jesus could have been born and died just like all other humans. But because He was GOD in man, He died and rose again on the first day of the week to give us what God had tried to give us from the Garden: Eternal Life with Him.
We were created for one reason and one reason only: to have a relationship with God. He created Adam to have communion with Him. Not that God was lonely. He just desired fellowship, just as He created us to desire fellowship with Him and others.
Do you realize the value of the GIFT? The gift of Jesus?
He came and lived a very normal life (if you take away the part of Him teaching the elders in the temple at 12) and worked as a carpenter, maybe he built furniture or cabinets, I just know that Joseph taught him the family business even though Joseph knew that his first born was the Messiah. Jesus had siblings, he had a family life, just like you and I, but always, always there was the knowing in his mind that his mission was to be fulfilled with His death and resurrection.
He came to give me, you and every human that has been born in the last 2000 years the same gift. ETERNAL LIFE with HIM and a home with Him and the Father in Heaven forever.
This was the most unselfish act anyone could ever perform. He knew those 2000 years ago that someday there was going to be a little brown eyed girl who claims Arkansas as home that would love to sing and would need a Savior. That she would someday meet a boy who called Oklahoma home whose parents and her parents had served in the same church some 16 years prior and they would make a home and a life for 2 daughters who would marry men of God and give them grandchildren who also needed a Savior.
I love my children and my grandchildren enough to die for them. Without a doubt, no questions asked. But to say I would die for Charles Manson or the men who caused 9/11 or Jeffrey Dahumer, probably not. I owe these men nothing.
But Jesus owed me nothing!! And He said, Yes, Father, I will go. I will die. I will sacrifice my life for this person and all others before and after her to make sure they can have a home here with us forever. Where there will be no more pain, no suffering, no heartache. I will go Father. Send me.
Do you think when Jesus was in the garden and He prayed "Father, if it be Your will let this cup pass from Me" , He was saying God is there any other way to save mankind? He was proving He truly was human. He didn't want to bear the pain of the cross, but He was willing and He did.
I am trying even now to wrap my head around the gift.. THE GIFT! Eternal life. Just what is that? It is eternally being with God. Never separated again from Him, our loved ones and family, the saints who went before us. The joy of being with not only our family forever but also being able to talk to Jesus, David, Moses, Peter, John, Abraham, Mary, should I go on?
No cancer, no diabetes, no heart trouble, no illness of any kind. No death, no separation. I try to imagine this by putting it into perspective as to how long my Dad has been in Heaven. Dad has been gone over 5 years. To me it feels like a very long time. But to him, it isn't supposed to feel like time at all. How can he not miss us, when we still miss him horribly? THAT is what makes it heaven! There is no concept of time. We can and will enjoy the beauty that God created and all His creations forever without ever having to give it up or say goodbye. But even when I look at it from the time Dad has been gone, it still doesn't really come through. We don't use enough of our minds to be able to understand God.
He not only numbers the stars, he NAMED them. He set them into place by blowing them out of His hand. When astronomers find new planets and galaxies, I just smile, because I know my Father is ever expanding. He isn't bored, I like to suppose He just like making things!
We humans aren't so much for Him that He is too busy to be creative!
Do you get it? Do you understand that the creator of the universe wants a relationship with you like NONE you have ever experienced before? Do you understand that your Daddy owns the cattle of a thousand hills and that His children have never been forsaken. That He (this same creator) actually is still pursuing you. Yes, you.. Little insignificant you. And Me. He pursues us!!
We are His children and He wants us to get "the Gift"!
Mary, did you know that the baby you bore that day in a cave or barn, wherever it was would someday SAVE the entire world? Did you understand that the gift you gave was "THE GIFT". Did you understand that this was the answer to the world's problems? Did you know that 33 years later you would be required to watch that Son die on a cross for you and me?Did you know what would be required of Him? Did He share with His Mother about what would happen to Him?
I don't know any of these answers but I do know that He IS the "GIFT" and that those who ask can freely receive.
I don't understand all that I know and I don't know a lot. But I know I trust Him. I know that I have chosen to serve Him & worship Him even when I don't understand.
If He could do what He did by dying on the cross for me, then I can do what the Word of God says in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you brethren, in view of God's mercy , to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God , this is your spiritual act of worship."
THIS IS THE LEAST I CAN DO!
As I try to comprehend what Jesus did for me and try my best to comprehend His GIFT, I realize I'm not ever going to be able to in this life or with this mind. He is more than amazing, more than my mind can conceive. I'm so grateful.
As the season of Christmas winds down for another year, I am doing what I always try to do. Keep the true meaning of Christmas and the GIFT that Jesus brought with me on a daily, moment by moment basis. He came to bring me eternal life. I have chosen that life. Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!
Thank you Jesus for "The Gift".
