Mary's Interruption .... a change of plans!?!

About nine months before the first Christmas God intervened in human affairs and radically altered Mary’s plans with an unwanted gift. She was planning on marrying Joseph, a descendant of King David, who made his living working in Nazareth as a carpenter. Matthew tells us that he “was a good man” (Matthew 1:19). He wasn’t rich, but would have made a comfortable living. She planned on getting married, having children and raising a family. It was a good plan. It was a comfortable plan. 

But then God came along and messed the whole thing up. God comes along and says through his angel, “Mary, I know that you have your plans in place and everything is on schedule, but I have a different idea. Before you and Joseph get married you are going to become pregnant and guess what? Joseph is not going to be the Father.” That invitation did not work into her plans.

She had dreams and desires and had sacrificed for years to get a good husband and a future.God messed everybody’s plans up, but especially Mary’s. And not surprisingly she was in what I think could be described as a state of shock initially. Luke says:

Luke 1:29 -  "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be."

I think that could fairly accurately be described as a state of shock. I recall seeing the images of the people who had their lives turned upside down by the tsunamis, Hurricane and typhoons. The video images showed these people walking around looking confused and disturbed as they tried to figure out what had just happened to them.

You would be confused and disturbed too if your whole world had just been turned upside down and Mary was no different.

God's invitation interrupted Mary's life...Are you willing to allow God to mess up your plans this holiday season? Are you willing to ask God Questions? Will you trust that God has your best interest when he invites you to his purposes? Will you accept His invitation?

You know I love ya, Don

The Arriving!

Christmas is known as the advent of Jesus. Advent is a a season observed in many Western Christian Churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning arriving.

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used to refer to the 2^nd coming of Jesus. For Christians, the season of Advent (Christmas) anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming.

Whenever you offer a party or you are going to have an event you extend an invitation. It is the same with Jesus' first arrival. Through the next three weeks we are going to examine how God invites Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and YOU and ME in to this wonder giving “arriving” of God's Son, Jesus.

One of the realities that we need to be aware of this advent / arriving season is that God’s plans often come through unwanted interruptions – through unwanted gifts. Will you allow yourself to be bothered by God’s interruptions this Christmas? Will you accept his unwanted gift? If so this might just be the most interesting, the most difficult and the most rewarding Christmas ever? Just think what loss our world would have suffered if Mary wouldn’t have accepted God’s invitation.

In preparation for the very first Christmas... Mary allowed the Lord Jesus to enter her womb. In preparation for this Christmas won’t you allow him to enter your heart?

You know I love ya, Don