What I Learned This Weekend: Ordinary Miracles

In the midst of the chaos of Christmas, we get so caught up in the preparations for celebrating the day & sometimes overlook the miracles that happened the day Christ was born.

What are miracles? They are situations that happen by divine or supernatural intervention. In other words, when God reaches down and does great work in our lives. 

The miraculous is done:

• without discrimination - who did the angels come to first? The shepherds - the 'unclean' in their society. They weren't able to worship in the temple, weren't trustworthy in the other people's eyes, and therefore weren't worthy of consideration. At the other end of the status spectrum, God told the wise men - important kings, revered by all. Throw in Mary and Joseph and you see every level of society participating in this miracle.
• according to God's plan, not ours. God did not fulfill the prophecies in the way the Jewish people expected. Jesus came in, not like the ferocious lion, but like a quiet lamb in a barn. Because He did not arrive on the scene the way they expected, He was written off as a false prophet, when in fact He saved all of mankind, miraculously taking away the barrier of sin between God and man. Clearly God's plan is so much bigger than we can imagine, and He loves us more than we can ever know. But because we don't have His vision, we tend to write off what we don't plan or understand.
• in ordinary circumstances.  When the shepherds are just going about their daily business, the angels appear to them. In the middle of a tax census - in the middle of a normal work day, Jesus was born. If we open our eyes, we will see that, in the middle of our ordinary days, God works miracles all the time.
• through ordinary people.  God doesn't need us to work His miracles, but He chooses to use us anyway. We must make ourselves available for Him to use us.

The miracle of Christmas is that God chooses to use the ordinary - circumstances and people - to create miraculous situations in people's lives.   Be available - be open - be willing - and God will use you. In the meantime, open your eyes to the ordinary miracles occurring all around you every day.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son. 

That whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16

Knowing Whose We Are - Hebrews 13:14

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.Hebrews 13:14

When we conform, we're trying to make a place for ourselves. But when we belong, it is because a place has already been made for us.

Our home - our comfort, hope and joy - are not here on this earth - our home is in heaven with God. We will never belong here, because we belong to Him.

So much of our time is spent trying to fit in - a square peg in a round hole. No matter how hard we try, we will NEVER fit in here, so we must learn to rejoice in that. Our desire should be to never fit in here on earth, but to stand out - to be set apart - knowing that we belong to the Creator of the universe. 

We belong to the KING of heaven! Don't be afraid to stand out. Rejoice in our separateness - our royalty - and in the better things to come!

Understanding WHOSE we are allows us to be WHO we are.

Changing Perspective: Luke 1:26-38, 46-47

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

Luke 1:26-38, 46-47 

Here's one of the lessons I learned this weekend:

In the middle of the chaos of the Christmas season, sometimes God will step into our lives with a 'divine interruption' to get our attention. He does this, not to hurt or punish us, but to change our perspective in such a way that our lives are changed and His will is done. Our response to this intervention is key. It may completely upend any and all plans we may have made and even make our lives more difficult. 

In these passages, Mary is told that she has found favor with God and will bear the Son of God. This is something amazing to have happen to her, but will cause her a lot of issues. 

It is important to remember that just because we may have God's favor on our lives, it doesn't mean that life is going to be easy for us. It will, however, give us greater perspective on life. The message here is that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.

Mary, knowing that she will likely lose everything, has a choice in how she can react to this - with obedience, trusting God to take care of her or by wallowing in sadness & frustration. Mary chose to praise God for this enormous divine interruption, knowing that, in the big scope of things, God's will was so much greater then her own. 

Here is the big challenge: when God gives you a divine interruption, don't get upset, but instead praise God, because things are going to work out God's way.