REASON FOR THE SEASON....Day 2

I awoke this morning and immediately my mind began going over the day's TO DO list:

• CHRISTmas shop
• Grocery
• CHRISTmas Home Tour
• Make dish for tonight's CHRISTmas party
• Wrap white elephant gift for party
• Attend Party

But as I got up and was fixing my morning cup of coffee, a thought struck me: "Gaze on Jesus".  That was the message I shared yesterday from Proverbs 31....Behold Jesus, gaze on Him.  Let the trappings of the season fall to the wayside, and GAZE ON JESUS.  

And so, before I began my day of Christmas activities, I settled in with my cup of coffee and picked up one of several CHRISTmas devotionals that I have.  It is called THE GLORY OF CHRISTMAS written by Chuck Swindoll, Max Lucado and Chuck Colsen.  

I would like to share one with you today and I hope that it will help you to GAZE ON JESUS today:

Untethered by time, God sees us all.  From the backwoods of Virginia to the business district of London; from the Vikings to the astronauts, from the cave-dwellers to the kings, from the hut-builders to the finger-pointers to the rock-stackers, He sees us.  Vagabonds and ragamuffins all, He saw us before we were born.

And He loves what he sees.  Flooded by emotion.  Overcome by pride, the Starmaker turns to us, one by one, and says, "You are my child.  I love you dearly.  I'm aware that someday you'll turn from me and walk away.  But I want you to know, I've already provided a way back."

And to prove it, He did something extraordinary.

Stepping from the throne, He removed His robe of light and wrapped Himself in skin; pigmented, human skin.  The light of the universe entered a dark, wet womb.  He whom angels worship nestled Himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into the cold night and then slept on cow's hay.

Mary didn't know whether to give Him milk or give Him praise, but she gave Him both since He was, as near as she could figure, hungry and holy.

Joseph didn't know whether to call Him Junior or Father.  But in the end he called Him JESUS, since that's what the angel had said and since he didn't have the faintest idea what to name a God he could cradle in his arms.

Don't you think their heads tilted and their minds wondered "What in the world are you doing, God?" Or better phrased, "God, what are you doing in the world?"

"Can anything make me stop loving you?" God asks.  "Watch me speak your language, sleep on your earth and feel your hurts.  Behold the maker of sight and sound as He sneezes, coughs and blows His nose.  You wonder if I understand how you feel?  Look into the dancing eyes of the kid in Nazareth; that's God walking to school.  Ponder the toddler at Mary's table; that's God spilling his milk.

"You wonder how long my love will last?  Find your answer on a splintered cross, on a craggy hill.  That's me you see up there, your maker, your God, nail-stabbed and bleeding.  Covered in spit and sin-soaked.  

That's your sin I'm feeling.  That's your death I'm dying.  That's your resurrection I'm living. 

THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU!"

---Chuck Colsen