Your Way is Better (Day 18)
“Hark! The herald angels sing ‘Glory to the new-born king…’”1 YES! “Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.”2 RUN! Let everyone rejoice “that Jesus Christ is born”!
What incredible news this Christmas day was! “For unto us a child is born… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”3 “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”4
Can you imagine if you lived in the time of Jesus’ birth? What a glorious confusion that day would have been. People thought that Jesus was going to be this mighty warrior who would defeat the Roman guards (the biggest worries of their days), but instead he came “away in a manger, no crib for a bed… The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay”5. The people’s expectations of HOW Jesus was going to save them were completely different than the reality of him coming as a lowly baby.
As people of today’s time, let’s stop thinking that we have the right idea of how our lives are supposed to look, and let’s allow God to “make all things work together for my good”6. What if THIS DAY, you gave up your ideas of how your life is suppose to look, and you just took a “jar of expensive perfume… [and] poured it on Jesus’ feet”7? What if you sacrificed your status, your mantle of trophies, or your weekends of ‘always being busy’, and took a Sabbath rest and really asked the Lord what He wants to remove from your life/heart, and asked what does He wants to replace it with (“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”8)?
“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”9 Talk to God. Ask.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face”.10
“And I will make room for You, To do whatever You want to, To do whatever You want to… Shake up the ground of all my tradition, break down the walls of all my religion,
Your way is better, Your way is better”11
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”12
“Jesus we love you. Oh how we love you. You are the one our, our hearts adore.”13
1 Song: Hark the Herald Angel Sing
2 Song: Go Tell It on the Mountain
3 Bible: Isaiah 9:6
4 Bible: Psalm 118:24
5 Song: Away in a Manger
6 Song: Your Love Never Fails
7 Bible: John 12:3
8 Bible: Galatians 5:22-23
9 Bible: Matthew 7:9-11
10 Song: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus 11 Song: Make Room
12 Bible: Isaiah 55:8-9
13 Song: Jesus, We Love You