An Advent Challenge

So today, here I was standing in the supermarket evaluating the prices of dishwashing detergents, when all of a sudden I caught myself silently singing along to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, my favorite Christmas carol. Why is it my favorite?
Not because I used to think it was Harold the Angel singing.
Nor because have a beautiful collection of angels.
Not even because the melody is so lovely.
No, it is my favorite because of the lyrics. To think that all over the world people are singing the gospel truth. “God and sinner reconciled!!”
That, in a nutshell, is what Christmas is all about. Jesus left His home in heaven for one purpose, to redeem us.
Yes, He set an example for us to follow.
Yes, He healed and did miracles.
Yes, He taught parables to thousands.
But His crowning achievement and His ultimate purpose in coming was to reconcile us to Himself. How awesome!!

This time of year, people all over the world are singing the gospel truth, yet they don't realize it. They sing words without recognizing what they mean. What an opportunity to share the truth with those who don't know Jesus personally, but who know ABOUT Him and the story of His birth.

We say it's the "Christmas story", but in fact, it is sharing the Word of God when we share that "story". When I began to seriously read Matthew 1 & 2 and Luke 1 & 2, God began to show me things that I never noticed before. Since it is such a familiar portion of Scripture, we tend to read it without really reading it, just like I was singing God's Word without being aware of it.

Advent is a time of expectation of the coming of the Savior. May I suggest that you use the days of Advent to experience the expectation of His coming deeper into your life. Read those 4 chapters asking God to show you something new. He'll meet you there! And then you'll have something to share!

Susan

3 comments:

Mari said...

You are so right. It's easy to sing those songs without really thinking about the words, it's also easy to read the Bible and not think about those familiar passages. Thanks for the reminder.

Sit A Spell said...

I love that song and the message it tells. Christmas is the perfect time to share God's love with others. Saw you over at Blessed and wanted to say "hi" : )

Bless...Shell

Anonymous said...

Hi, just thought you would like to know that my friend Debbie did a devotional on Friday night at our ladies Christmas Fellowship, I suggested she might want to use your blog about Hark the Herald Angels, she did and I heard it went very well, I wasn't there to hear it because I was sick, Nancy