KALAMAZOO, MI (December 8, 2005) – Editor’s note: In preparation for the Christmas observance, Covenant Communications is sharing devotionals that originally appeared in local Covenant church newsletters and are being published here by permission. The following comes from pastor John Kepler of Kalamazoo Covenant Church.
By John Kepler
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been filled among us . . . (Luke 1:1)
So begins Luke’s gospel as it unfolds the story of Jesus Christ in his particular style of writing. Isn’t it typical for a physician to want to give an “orderly account?” In fact, Luke mentions it twice in the opening five verses.
His narrative gives us the most complete of the two accounts of Christ’s birth, providing details of the common, human touch and the miraculous. The good Doctor Luke sees Jesus as “fulfillment,” as God’s promised action to provide humanity with a final gift for their salvation. His gospel is filled with the humanity of Jesus more than any other . . . God reaching out to touch their lives.
During the Advent and Christmas seasons, perhaps we need an orderly account of things for our lives – perhaps we need a fulfillment of our own. It is terribly easy to be side-tracked during this time of the year. It is easy to let fun divert us away from a true sense of joy. It is easy to let purchased gifts replace the gift of Christ. It is all too easy to place worship at the end of the list of things to do. It is easy to replace Luke’s ordered account of the first Christmas with the more modern stories of Santa, Christmas trees, family traditions, and the constant refrain, “It’s such a busy time of the year” . . . (translated: chaos).
Christmas may be about the birth of a child, but it was never intended to center on our children to the extent our culture has manufactured it. In fact, Christmas Day wasn’t established until the Fourth Century, and the holiday didn’t start emerging toward what it is today until the Nineteenth Century (many point the finger at English writer Charles Dickens).
Let me encourage you this Christmas to find that ordered account for your life and to put it at the top of your list. Be drawn into the magnificence, the simplicity, the life-changing reality of the birth of Jesus Christ.
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