Seeing What’s Truly Significant
But the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”
(Luke 2:10–11)
Things haven’t changed much, have they? Every Christmas season the significance seems to get lost among the insignificant. How often have you heard from people on the street, behind the counters, or outside the church of the wonderful yet simple story of Jesus Christ? If you have heard it once or twice, you are very rare. Apart from Christian friends, it is remarkable if you hear that the Christmas message is Jesus Christ—His virgin birth, His incarnation, His coming to the earth. Because, you see, our world continues to be caught in the web of insignificant things like busy commerce—the profit-and-loss issues of life.
And Christ? Well, who can worry too much about Him when history is being made at the cash register. Or is it?
One true story I read told of a commercial venture of one of the largest department stores in our nation. It proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. It was a doll in the form of baby Jesus. It was advertised as being unbreakable, washable, and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin crib and plastic surroundings and appropriate biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete.
It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores in the department chain panicked. He carried out a last-ditch promotion to get rid of those dolls. He brandished a huge sign outside the store that read:
JESUS CHRIST—
MARKED DOWN 50%
GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN
My friend, Jesus is God’s Lamb, the Son of God. He didn’t come to be packaged and offered for half price where, if you hurry, you can get Him. He came as very God. And the world in its tinsel and tarnish has just about ruined the picture. As in the days of Rome, our God is not panicked over the scene in America or in other nations of the world. Are you wise enough to see the significant in the midst of the insignificant?
Has there been a time in your personal life when you have asked Christ Jesus to occupy your heart, as He once occupied the manger? Honestly now, does He have first place? The Lord Jesus Christ is available in the same form He has been for centuries—the Son of God who died for you, who paid the price for your sin, who was raised from the dead, who is living. If you will, by personal invitation, ask Jesus to become the Lord of your life. He will come in.
