This Christmas, what will they See?

In just 8 days, all eyes will (for an instant) be on Jesus. But what will they see? A baby in a manger?

Will they see Jesus on the Mount teaching with authority? Or walking on the water, calming a storm, and healing the sick? Will they see Him in the Garden praying with loud crying and tears? Will they see Him impaled on a cross, abandoned and alone. Will they see Him standing at an empty tomb in His resurrected body? Will they see Him seated on high at God's right hand. Will they see Him as the Alpha and Omega, the I AM, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? 

In consideration of these rhetorical questions, there are two much more personal questions we must ask. First, what will we see? And second, when a world of people who are blind to, and ignorant of, the real Jesus look at us, what will they see? Will they see Jesus?

Alone No More

In the last post, when I wrote about the sweetness of being with family at Christmas, I realized that many people have such dysfunctional families, there is no “Home Sweet Home.” For them, Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of year. As I thought about this sad reality, I thought it oddly contradictory, because the message of Christmas is “Emmanuel—God with us.”

For the disconnected peoples of earth, this has to be the greatest Christmas message: Jesus came to indwell us, and we will never be alone again. And not only have the Father and Son made our hearts their home (John 14:23), we have been raised up with Christ and are presently seated in the heavenlies with them (Eph. 2:6). So, not only are we His dwelling place; His is ours. Think about that! We are living in the fellowship of the whole heavenly realm. When Jesus departed this earth, His last words were, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Alone no more.

Cosmic Loneliness: Alone in the Universe?

During our darkest hours, we instinctively turn to God, knowing that nothing else can cure our feeling of aloneness. This God-given drive is a “cosmic loneliness” that cannot be satisfied by any person on earth. It is aptly described by Augustine: “God made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Him.”

In ‘Alone in the Universe,’ Astrophysicist David Wilkinson says, “Men and women made in the image of the Creator of the Universe feel alienated from God. The Christian faith says we are not alone. God wants to be in relationship with us.” Likewise, Scripture says God desires for all to “seek and find Him” (Act 17:27).  

If you’re the kind of person who feels this loneliness, you’re not alone. Moreover, if you’ve been rejected, misunderstood, and alienated, you’re really not alone. The man who was more “despised and rejected” than anyone who ever lived, a “man of sorrows and grief” (Is. 53:3), says to you, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (Heb. 13:5). And that alone is the cure for cosmic loneliness.

Close the door behind you

We used to take our kids to a water theme park in San Jose called “Raging Waters”—replete with towering slides and ‘white-water’ rapids. I strongly doubt it would have drawn many crowds if it had been a place of quiet reflection pools. 

In the 21st century, we are (metaphorically speaking) bombarded by a cacophony of crashing waterfalls and raging waters! And not just external, the noise is inside our heads. If we can’t hear ourselves think, how will we ever hear the voice of God? Have the words, “be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10) ever been more relevant?

Even a casual survey of God’s men and women in the Bible reveals that all were alone in quiet places when they heard God. And of course Jesus’ sought out “solitary places” (Mark 1:35) to be alone and quiet with His Father.

Perhaps knowing that his 21st century followers might not find that kind of solitude, Jesus said, “when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you [shut off your digital connectors], and pray to your Father in private” (Matt. 6:6). In today's parlance, “Let’s get out of this noisy place and go somewhere quiet where we can talk.”

The Power of Two

As I read a book on prayer last  week, I was struck by the phrase “the power of two-pray.”  The idea of "two-pray" comes from Jesus words: Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst, [and] this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him (Mat 18:20; 1 John 5:14-15).

After God created Adam, He said “It is not good for man to be alone.” When Jesus sent out his disciples he sent them two by two. It was not merely a matter of being lonely if they had gone out singly, "Lone Ranger" ministry was not God’s design.  He intends  that one partner complement (complete) the other. The principle: two together do more than two apart.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor, for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion, but woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (Ecclesiastes 4:10-12).