Newsletter - December 2004

Christmas comes at the same time on every calendar I have ever owned, but it seems to get here quicker and quicker each year. Here it is December already and it seems like we just celebrated New Year’s! How are you doing this holiday season with schedule, pace, self-control, and balance? As I began adding events to my calendar, pondering what to get for whom, and planning holiday dinners, I realized that Christmas, for me, becomes a time of adding. I have my normalized schedule that continues through this month, but then I add all this other stuff to it. No wonder I feel overloaded about halfway to the finish line. And I have talked to enough of you to realize that I am not alone in this frustration.

Then I began to think about what Christmas was like for Jesus. He did not add anything to his “to do” list to prepare for the first Christmas. Coming to earth in human form was all he had to do. Everything else was set aside, eliminated from the list. We were all that he was about. Heaven, ruling with God, receiving the moment-by-moment praise of angels, and all that we would call splendor and glory were set aside. He pointed his will toward earth and turned his back on all that was known, comfortable, and good. His birthday was the beginning of an earthly journey that would result in his bringing home a family for eternity. But it required stripping down, getting rid of all that had been part of His life, and opting instead for what He declared was the most important – us! Here is how it is stated in the Bible:

“When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion” (Philippians 2:6-8 The Message).

Then I look at the scriptural command that we “must walk as Jesus did” (I John 2:6b) and I wonder if the adding to my “to do” list this holiday season is really a God-like characteristic. Jesus deleted a whole bunch of things to make me the only thing on His “to do” list. What am I deleting to add Him to mine? Or maybe He should be the whole list and everything else should go? If I commit to following His example to the detail, I, too, have to go through the strippingdown process to make room for my most important “to do” – Jesus.

The apostle Paul wrote many letters in the early years after Jesus returned to heaven and, in doing so, gave us great insight into what a true follower of Christ might have had to give up in those days. Paul himself was a well-educated young man and had been part of the ruling council of the synagogue in Jerusalem. He was, as far as we can tell, fairly well-off financially and highly regarded in the social circles of his day. He had a nice place to live, plenty to eat, and the respect of others. But once he was confronted with the person of Jesus, none of that stuff mattered any more. He experienced a total stripping down. He describes it this way:

“All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant . . . I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him” (Philippians 3:8 The Message).

In another letter he talks about living in danger all the time; being naked, cold, and hungry; going without sleep; enduring storms at sea and even a shipwreck; being attacked and left for dead; and suffering beatings at least five times. He had eliminated from his life all that the world would call good and respectable and honorable and replaced those things with a love relationship with Jesus. But the baggage that came with that trade seemed to be abysmal. It doesn’t seem like a good exchange from a human perspective, but Paul saw more than we did. He had met Jesus and nothing else mattered anymore. Now the eternal was of far more worth than anything he could own or be on this earth.

As I consider the concept of stripping down, I have to go back and re-think my “to do” list. What have I rid myself of lately so I can know Christ better? Are there things I am hanging onto as important that are really insignificant in light of being embraced by Jesus? If He were to look at my list with a black marker in hand, what would He cross off?

For some of us the stripping down is a step-by-step process. As we eliminate a bit at a time the things we once thought important, we will find ourselves closer and closer to the real essence of Christmas – our relationship with God, with Jesus, and with all the other members of our eternal family.

I close this letter with this prayer and wonder if it touches you as it does me:

“Set me free from self consciousness, from anxiety about tomorrow, and from the tyranny of the approval and disapproval of others, that I may find joy and delight simply and solely in pleasing you.” Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust

May you enjoy a stripped down Christmas this year, where only the essentials remain. In those essentials you will find joy and delight!

Bev

P.S. If you want some tips for simplifying your Christmas this year, read a devotional outline entitled “ABC’s of Simple Holidays.” Hope it helps!

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