Words of Faith

Helpless. Do you know the feeling? Have you ever been there? Your son or daughter ships out for military duty overseas. A loved one runs headlong into what you can see is a bad relationship. It is the feeling that hits you as you watch your loved one being loaded into the back of an ambulance on the stretcher. I’ve been in the emergency room several times in the past year, and talk about helpless- you can’t even get a cup of water! Surely you have had those moments of helplessness either for your own condition or the condition of someone close to you. You want to help, to DO something, to solve the problem or correct the situation, but it is not within your power. You are not in control. You are helpless, just like the baby in the manger whose birth we celebrate this evening.

Unable to lift His own head or even hold it up, the Baby in the manger came to earth that miraculous and awesome night so long ago. For the moment, He was helpless, but He was not to remain that way. For His purpose in life was to become the Helper of the helpless. We can identify with the helplessness of Jesus before carrying out His mission in life. We, too, are helpless. However, as we grow up in life we believe that we “arrive” at some great point of maturity and independence and are now able to “handle” life.

I received a Christmas letter from a relative detailing the last year. It contained a list of struggles of the past year, and the walk through the valley on the journey to the coveted mountaintop experience with the Lord. This dear one was quick to point out one of the lessons he learned in Psalm 46:10, “God wants us to let go and relax, stop trying to accomplish it ourselves, He knows what we need and He wants to do it; but He wants to see-are we going to trust Him to do it, or are we going to try to take care of it in our own way”. In God’s way, helplessness is a good thing. When we realize that we are nothing in and of ourselves, that we would utterly and literally fall apart if He did not hold us together; and that without Him we can do nothing, we are at the beginning of where God can meet our needs and work through us to accomplish great things.

Just as Jesus’ helplessness marked the beginning of His mission here on earth, so our admitting our helplessness marks the beginning of our mission here on earth. Without the realization of our lives as children and servants of the Most High, our lives are futile; our mission left unaccomplished. However, once the helplessness of our estate without God is realized and acknowledged by the human heart and mind, our lives take on new meaning and purpose, and fulfillment of the mission for our new life begins.

Concepts of weakness and strength become clear. There is a song made popular by the group Avalon, that contains the message that Jesus is “only for the weak, for the faint of heart, those driven to their knees, those who live with scars.” That is true. Only when we acknowledge our weakness and need for God can we truly find Him. We do not remain weak, however, for Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12:10, that when he is weak, then he is strong, due to the strength of the Lord within him. In our moments of helplessness, we cry out to the Lord and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2Corinthians 12:9) His Holy Spirit rises within us to be our strength and to carry us through this life and on to victory.

That is the reason Jesus endured the helplessness of the manger. He loved us enough to become helpless so He could accomplish His mission of salvation for mankind, bringing us back to the Father, and making us strong in Him.

If you are feeling a little overwhelmed by life this season or this year, or weak in the knees; if you are one of those living with scars or driven to your knees, if life has taken you to the end of your rope, take heart. If you are looking for more, for help or hope, or SOMETHING, take a look at the Baby in the stable hay. Reach out to Him. Let Him curl His little fist around your finger. Grab hold of His hand. Feel the nail scarred hand firmly envelope yours as you walk with Him- the lifter of your head (Psalm 3). Confidently follow Him as Jesus frees you and leads you to the Father who made you and longs to fulfill your mission with you. Run to Him and lose yourself in His strength, and be helpless no more.

There is only one place in my small house that I can possibly put our Nativity set. My mother passed it down to my daughter, and she graciously allows us to display it over the Christmas season. It is the one I grew up with. It always had a special place on a special table covering on the coffee table in the living room of the home I grew up in.

In thinking of where to set up the small figurines depicting the birth of our Savior in the house we currently live in, we had quite a challenge. The living room doesn’t even hold a coffee table, since it is packed with bookcases and a couch that is really too big for the room, but necessary to accommodate all the people in our family! I won’t even start on the recliner, which is also too big for the room, OOPS….

The table in the kitchen stays cluttered with home school things and bills, and the dining room table doubles as a desk for my home schooled children. We finally decided on a ½ counter separating the living room from the kitchen, and we placed the wooden stable and porcelain figures on it. What a wonderful reminder of the real reason for the excitement of the Christmas season. Jesus, our Savior, is born!

I noticed, however, a few days ago as I walked through the house on some mission, that a pair of gloves and a Chap Stick lay on the end of the counter, crowding one of the camels. I quickly whisked both items off the special counter. The next time by, I noticed some outgoing mail and a mini flashlight on the counter, this time obscuring the line of vision between one of the shepherds and the manger. Ugh! I again took the clutter away. It seemed that each new day I passed the counter, I found additional “things” taking up space and crowding in on the Nativity scene. I was not pleased. I finally made the announcement that the counter was off limits to anything but Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in the stable and the on looking sheep, camel, donkey and cattle. Nothing else!!

As usual, this episode provided a lesson when thinking of the whole Christmas holidays. The remembrance of the real reason we celebrate Christmas- the birth of our Savior, the Gift of our Creator- EMMANUEL- God with us, is central in our lives! It has the central space and place in our lives and hearts, especially during this time that we choose to celebrate Jesus’ birth. If we are not careful and vigilant, however, we can go about our busy lives without noticing that a “glove” or “Chap Stick” or “pack of gum” (or wrapper) has intruded on our special place for the LORD and our concentration on Him.

Seemingly little things, like Chap Stick and a pack of gum creep into our worship of the LORD. Little things, however, have a way of piling up to big things, and soon we are trying to worship our LORD through stacks of mail and magazines, flashlights, dust cloths, and furniture polish! There are an abundance of “things” (and not all of them are bad) that can get in our way of the true meaning of Christmas. We need to be involved in sharing the love and giving to others as we have been shared with and given to by our Heavenly Father. Much of the meaning of Christmas is wrapped up in spreading it around. But we also need to keep our Priority clear. We may simply have to make the announcement, to ourselves mostly, and others, if necessary, that this counter(heart) of our lives is reserved for the Christ child; that Christmas is for the celebration, first and foremost, of God’s greatest Gift to human kind, and the spreading of that news. The bottom line of Christmas is that the Creator of the universe and each human life loved all of His Creation so much that He sent His only Son to be born into our world- like us- to become the Way back to Him. Thru His coming, His death, on our behalf, we may experience the same resurrection that Jesus experienced and led the way for, and live with the Love of our life, forever.

Let’s keep the counter with the manger scene clear this season.

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas to all! Thanks be to God for His Gift, to which we can not even ascribe adequate words!