The Word of the week is KING!
We went to a Christmas Concert last Sunday night and it was fantastic! One of my close friends (shout out: Susie, you were fabulous!) was singing in it and I cannot express with words what an amazing showcase of praise this concert was. It was exactly what I needed to instill a little more Christmas spirit in me. Combine that with all the snow we got last weekend, and I am officially in the Spirit!
I grew up singing Christmas Carols in church every Sunday from Thanksgiving on. I miss that. Our church is a little more contemporary, so I dearly miss singing those old hymns. This concert was a great combination of the old and the new, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe because I wasn’t singing and just listening, I really tuned in to the words of the songs. There is a common theme in many of them. That commonality would be the word, "King." Here are a few songs I heard that night and also a few I looked up, but they are all from traditional Christmas Hymns.
The King of Kings, salvation brings,
Let earth receive her King
Glory to the newborn King
Born the King of Angels
A Newborn King to See
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
These are all so familiar we sing them without even thinking of the words, but what a powerful word, KING. When we think of a King it is someone who is revered, respected, and honored. We are talking about our King Jesus in all of these songs.
My question to you today is, what or whom is your King today? Sure, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it's easy to feel the spirit of awe for this King. This King who came to earth as a baby to die on a cross and save us all from sin so we could have eternal life. The problem is the enormity of what he did, gets lost in all the preparations this time of year.
Don’t get me wrong, I love most of the preparation that goes into Christmas. Okay, being honest here, all of it, but the decorating. Many years of working in a business that revolved around Christmas year round has scarred me from holiday decorating for life.
What I do love is everything family that surrounds Christmas. The baking with my girls we do every year, the group texts of suggestions for gift giving, and having my quiet time with God in the morning with only the light of the Christmas tree, just to name a few. I love to shop, so I have to remind myself (often) not to say “Merry Christmas to me” when I see something I like. Sometimes I am strong and sometimes I am not. Always a work in progress!
Then there is the issue of all the treats we are inundated with! I have not helped this cause any. I have bought the peppermint bark at Costco TWICE. Totally intended to save it for a party. I can’t buy that stuff. This sugar addict is on high alert. So, I have made a few rules for myself this holiday that I am trying out. I’ll let you know how that goes. Needless to say, if I buy any more bark it will not be until Christmas Eve.
When you think about all the fun and preparation for Christmas, I believe it is exactly what Jesus wanted. We are getting ready to celebrate! He desires for families to come together and celebrate. Just don’t forget what we are celebrating. The birth of our King.
So what about the other 11 months of the year? What becomes your King when the focus is no longer on the birth of our Savior? How do you keep him lifted high on the throne in your own life? It is so easy to lose focus on this after Christmas. It seems we immediately go into New Year's celebrations, resolutions, and vacation plans to get away from the cold. We take down the decorations and with it, we lose the spirit of Christmas. We bicker with people we were nice to on Christmas and we focus on diets and other goals for the New Year.
I think our King deserves more than a month, don’t you? What other King would leave a throne beside his Father to come here to save you from your sins? The enormity of that is too big for our brains to grasp. At least, it is for me. He came here on a rescue mission that he could have aborted at any time, but he didn’t. He stayed long enough to spread the good news of salvation and then to die a slow, painful, death nailed to a cross.
I have some New Year's goals that involve keeping my eyes on the King. Praying into what he wants me to accomplish after the decorations are down, not what I want to do. God has been nudging me into some different things that will require me to step out in faith. They all require me to work on my biggest weakness, self-discipline. I'm feeling challenged to say the least.
On Christmas this year, I would challenge you to talk with the ones you love while you are together, about what this King did for each and every one of us. Challenge each other to keep our eyes on the King twelve months out of the year instead of just one. This happens when you stay close to God in all you do. We serve a King who conquers with Love, all that is required is that we love him in return.
Love always wins.
Peace on your weekend,
Sherry
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