Christmas. I've always felt that, if there is anyone who should celebrate Christmas, it should be believers in Jesus. After all, we are among those who know the "reason for the season" (as we are fond of saying). Question. What is the reason for the season? I mean, I know what the reason is but, what does that really mean for us Jesus-followers? Hopefully it means that Christ is more to us than simply a seasonal sensation that comes around once a year. There is always such a build up to Christmas and then, before you know it, it's gone.
A week later we find ourselves ringing in the New Year. And so...here we are. The holidays are past and we are now into a new year. Hopefully, it causes you to look back to review where you've been, in order to consider where you are going.
So? Where have you been? Where are you going? Do you even know who you are? Really? I know that they are hard to keep but the new year is a great time to make a resolution to discover, more fully, who you are in Christ. The bible tells us that, in Christ, we are made new.2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."
The problem is, we have inadvertently allowed ourselves to become so influenced, so conditioned by secular humanism that we have lost a true sense of the magnificence of Christmas; of who Christ truly is; of who we are in Him and what it really means to be made new. It reminds me of a story (and you know how I like to tell stories)
An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the changeling eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly. Years passed. and the changeling eagle grew very old.
One day, he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" said the changeling eagle to his neighbor. "What is it?"
"That's an eagle-the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."
So the changeling eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken.
So, what's the point? The point is, don't be a dumb cluck (couldn't resist saying that).
So the question is, are you a prairie chicken or are you and eagle. In Christ, you are an eagle. However, lack of faith, neglect of your spiritual man and failure to walk in the statutes and commandments prescribed in God's word may have caused you to live like a prairie chicken.
The point is, many of you do not even realize that you are an eagle. God knows your capabilities, possibilities, gifts and talents. You need to make a Resolution. Will you resolve to remain a Prairie Chicken? Or, will you resolve to have a fixed purpose; to be determined; constant; steady; bold and unflinching?
The sky is the limit. So, resolve to be that Great Golden Eagle, soaring high upon the powerful wind currents of God's Spirit. Resolve to be fully persuaded in your Heart, Mind and Body that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. Then...live like it.
Now. Go ahead. Soar.
Just a few thoughts from the heart and mind of Victor.
