And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:35-38)
First, the word “story” means an accounting of events. It used to mostly refer to non-fictional experiences. People would tell their stories, recounting things that happened to them. It seems that things have changed so that now people think a story is fictional unless otherwise clarified. With that in mind, I clarify that the Christmas “story” means the recounting of the events that brought the Christ into the world. True story.
Second, by the very nature of our creation in the image and likeness of God, we are all involved in God’s world uniquely. There is no other us. Our birth parents are only one father and one mother. Even if our parents had other children, none of them are us, and none of us is them.
I emphasize this because of the way we need to receive from others. It’s designed into us. It begins before we are born. Our development to maturity is largely conditioned by what people invest in our lives. Parents who nurture loving attachment to their children affect their children with positive development. Parents who traumatize their children through either neglect or abuse affect their children negatively. In this there are kazillions of stories that are unique unto themselves, but also universal in the fact that we are all affected by others.
Third, the most universal experience of being affected positively by others is the salvation story of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. One scene after another shows how God has blessed us today through the way he blessed others in the past. Elizabeth and Mary are the two people front and center in Luke chapter 1. Next, we will see shepherds invited to witness the birth of the Christ as a newborn baby. Matthew will add how the Magi are included as the first Gentiles to meet the Christ as a little boy. All these people who were blessed with joining God’s work back then are blessing us today with our attachment to the same Savior they welcomed into the world.
We could go back even further than this to the blessing given to the prophets to be told of the things that would come. We can look forward from the ones who welcomed Jesus as the Christ child to those who welcomed him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We can even go through the history that followed the completed scriptures to men and women whose blessed participation in the work of God has blessed so many others to run the race of faith with perseverance.
Today, what matters the most, is how you and I personally connect to the way God has blessed others to participate in his work so that we are invited into his work in some unique way that only we can join. Even two people joining God’s work at the exact same time will be blessed by the testimony of others in unique ways and will be gifted to serve others uniquely as well.
The bottom line is that all of us are either blessed or cursed based on how we respond to the Christ. So, if you are reading this far, please consider how many people God has blessed with some participation in his work so that you could be invited to join God in his work today in the most unique expression of God’s blessing towards you.
© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
No comments:
Post a Comment