Here at the beginning of the month of December I want you to use your imagination for a bit… not about the miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, but try to imagine a Christmas and a life without presence.
No! I did not misspell that word. I want you to imagine a world without the presence of God. I want you to use your imagination and follow me as I try to describe what “Xmas” would be like. Thank God we only have to try to imagine it.
In my opinion the most beautiful Christmas decoration is the Manger Scene. Mary and Joseph… the shepherds… the Angels… and (bear with me I know they weren’t there on the night Jesus was born but…) the Wise men.
What would be missing in the “xmas” manger scene is Baby Jesus in the manger… Mary instead of the humble holiness would be bowed down there in that “xmas “ manger scene in the shame and disgrace like the woman the priest were going to stone. Joseph instead of gazing upon her with love and in worshipful awe at the Saviour, would be either looking upon her with disgust and hate or he would be bowed in the same shame and dishonor.
The shepherds instead of going everywhere telling of the announcement by the angels and seeing the Saviour would be telling of some strange vision in the sky and everyone would think they had finally cracked under the strain of the isolation out on those hills and were just crazy shepherds. And can you imagine the wise men… following a star that lead on and on and never coming to rest anywhere? They were Looking for the King of Kings and there was none.
We would be left to find our own way through life with our own blind faulty failing wisdom. Jeremiah God’s prophet to Israel that had turned away from the presence of God says in 18:12 “And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.” There are several places that scripture shows what life without God’s presence would be like
We must determine to set out like the wise men that came to see Jesus and not allow anything to prevent His presence. They didn’t let distance or weather or relatives or their profession or anything else stand in their way. They did not allow for distractions to detour them from their priority. The Wise men made being in the presence of God a priority.
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