The ugly shine of Christmas!
“Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. 8Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. 9So people will be brought low and everyone humbled—“– Isiah 2:7-8
They have everything and yet nothing, they worship their own works (vs.8) – does that sound like anyone you know?
These are people who follow the law, they are “God’s people” the children of Israel but they have fallen for a religiosity based on emotion and seen accomplishments of their own making rather than on the unseen Goodness of God and His Love beyond human comprehension!
They have everything the human flesh could want but nothing the soul desperately craves! This is the Love of God in action in verse 9 – He will bring us low to take our soul to heights unimagined!
For this the Love of God, The God Who Is Love sent the Lowly Baby in the humblest of circumstances to show that His Grace, Mercy and Love flow to the lowest reaches and that is the place you have to go to find it!
In vs. 9 above you can see that when people get stuck in their own accomplishments the solution is sure but not always swift by our measuring tool – keep in mind that Jesus was prophesied about for hundreds of years and in fact longer than that if you look back at Genesis.
The point here is that another reason for Christmas is to show us how His Love works in ways we might not always consider Loving BUT if we pay attention those ways will point us to an Amazing relationship with Him!
Until the shine of Christmas is not in the bows and “new things” but instead in the shine of the light of His Love coming from you and me – He is still working to grow that – but once you accept the Gift of Christ – you are perfect in His sight!