Days 22 & 23: What IS the Real Meaning?

Matthew 2:10
When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!

Luke 2:12
And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Wow!  I cannot believe there are only two days left until Christmas!  It is finally snowing here in Michigan and quite beautiful!  This has been quite the journey towards Christmas for me with this blog.  It sure has brought me back to the basics and I have learned many things.  Today we discuss the star and the manger, two items which can be easily traced back to the birth of Jesus.  The star of course led the wise men and the shepherds straight to the place were the King lay in the hay.  The star plays an important role in Christmas in the meaning we all need something to lead us where we are going, now that Jesus has been born, we no longer need a star to guide us, we need the Holy Spirit.  The manger was the most humblest of beginnings for a King but it shows that no matter where we begin, God has great plans for us.

What are you following?  Are you following the star still in search of Jesus?  Have you yet to come to the realization that He is calling you to journey with Him?  Those who were following the star back then really had no clue to what there were headed for.  They were seeking because of a story that God would send us a savior who shall save us from sin.  We today already have seen the miracles which have occurred because of this wonderful birth in Bethlehem.  Today our focus should be on Jesus, not the star if we have been led to accept Him as our Savior.  If we are still searching for Jesus in our lives perhaps we are not on the narrow road where we should be.  Jesus is in love with us and He desires for us to know the Father, therefore, we need to keep our eyes on Him alone and focus on doing what He is showing us to do for others.

Can you imagine being born in the middle of a stable and being placed in a manger?  How strange it must have been in all respects, yet I am sure Mary and Joesph were just fine with the idea, after all they knew God was behind all of this.  If God wanted His only son to be born in a palace then He would have done so.  If God’s desire was a house or a tent, then too it would have happened.  No, God chose a stable.  A humble beginning for such a great King, yet any other place just would not have made much sense in the way God works.

So as I begin to wrap up this blog series, I realize that from the moment I stopped following the star and chose Jesus to be in my heart forever, things changed.  Even though I was young when I found Jesus, I began to have an urgency for decency in my life.  I wanted my life to mean something and I wanted to do good for others.  Sure my journey has had its’ ups and downs, yet they have all been worth it.  As now my focus has purely begun to dwell on Jesus, I see more clearly than ever why Jesus was born in a manger.  We start out just a humble as our King and He is calling us to greatness.  He is choosing us to be overcomers and this means even in the realm of understanding what His original agenda is for everything.

What I mean by agenda is simple this:  do we really think God intended for Christmas, which is suppose to be a celebration of the birth of His Son, to be this big of an event?  With all of the hustle and bustle do we really have our focus in the right place?  Sure we have followed the star to the manger but what have we done since we arrived?  Wow, that bore heavy in my spirit just now.  Have we really filled the call that is upon our lives? Have we truly sought out a Savior or is He just a way out of our troubles?  I urge us all to stop following the star and pause for a moment at the manger to discover what the real meaning of Christmas is to us.