Christmas is coming! A time to again welcome Christ as the King of King and Lord of Lords. A time to welcome him by having made preparations.
Unfortunately, many of us spend a very disproportionate amount of time preparing our houses with decorations inside and out, preparing our gift lists and holiday shopping items, wrapping them up just so, preparing our meals and Christmas cookies so that everything’s nice. But what is the time we are spending preparing our hearts, making them making them ready for Jesus Christ to live there by his Spirit in a way that’s ever new.
Jesus said about the Pharisees: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Mt. 23:27) Our houses and Christmas trees and presents and Christmas cookies may look stunningly beautiful, but if that’s the focus of our preparations, and we neglect our moral obligations to clean out the sin in our lives and die to ourselves this Christmas we’re no better off than those Pharisees.
As we continue to prepare for Christmas, let us prepare our hearts and lives for Emmanuel, “God with Us-Revealed IN us! “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:23