Humble Savior

The Service was great, the turkey was fantastic, the relatives are napping, and I'm... blogging!

Merry Christmas all! I don't get to see my dad preach much these days... different states... but we were able to visit today and he asked me to read the "gospel" reading, which I was honored to do. The sermon was very inspiring. In my own words:

The little town of Bethlehem... what good can come out of such a little town? The humble girl Mary... what good can come from her life? A King who 'ruled' with Love... what??!!!

Power-seekers, money-seekers, self-seekers, etc, are not the ones you see God living in and through. The poor, the humble, those who Trust God and not Mammon or Power... these are the ones who relate to the babe born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough.

Christ... who though He was rich yet He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.

I can't say that I'm never self-seeking or that I never lust after the things of the world, but I can say that the more I understand the poverty of Christ, the more I understand the true wealth that I already have. The things of the world become less and less appealing.

I once tried to "give up" the things of the world through "trying." I thought I had to somehow come up with the strength to let go of the things of the world, and then to embrace Christ. Long story short, I can't. But through growing in my understanding of who He is... over a long period of time... by and by the world looks more dim and the things of heaven a little more clear.

It's no longer my effort, but rather His working in me. He's patient, AMAZINGLY patient! Soooo patient, in fact, that He never loses His patience with me. :) No wonder that any time I'm patient in any area of life, it's not any good quality that I've come up with. It's the fruit of Him in me.

I seem to be digressing... but all that to say... Merry Christmas! And thank Jesus for humbling Himself... coming to our level... becoming one of us... coming to an obscure small town, to an inn with no room for Him, to a people with no room for Him... and living and dying for us. For bringing God to us, since we could never make it there ourselves. And for making us to be like Him.