It is NOT about you!

The mind does not help us sometimes.  I wonder sometimes whether in God's original design what the mind was like.  

I am a selfish person.  But so are you.  Maybe it is better said that we both tend to work towards self preservation.  Our personal safety gets in the way.  Oh there are times where heroes forget their own safety for the larger good.  It is most of the time done without thinking.  But there seems to be something deep inside all of us that makes us self centered.  It is healthy to acknowledge this and even own it.

So Christmas is not about you.  Someone in this world puts it this way, "It is NOT your birthday!"  It is more about God.  It is more about others.  It is more about the oppressed, the lost, the lonely.  When you begin to understand this, the holiday season takes a whole new meaning.

A man wrote a letter to his pastor about the Christmas Eve services at the church.  Over the past few years, the emphasis of the service had been on third world countries--their poverty, their strife, etc.  In the letter, the man asked that the focus return to HIS world.  "I want to feel the warmth of my old sentimental Christmas Eve services."  The pastor wrote him back, "I promise that you will see the focus of Christmas Eve that Jesus came to share with us.  We will see and experience HIS (Jesus) world."

Think about it.  The manger was a cold and dingy cave--not a cozy stable that we imagine.  The mother and father of Jesus were alone--no place to stay.  The shepherds who came to see the baby were the outsiders--the oppressed, the marginal.  Christmas is about God's message to the world!  The Savior is born!  Heavenly peace is the aim of the kingdom.

Maybe the invitation for each of us this year is to own up to our self-centeredness and get out of it!  Move towards what Christmas is all about--God is doing wonderful works.  God is inviting us to join in where God is.  It is NOT about you or me.  It is NOT our birthday.  It is about Jesus.

Pray for me as I pray for you.

Dr. M. Jack O'Dell

www.stlukesimpson.org

www.midweekmanna.com