A Moment of Your Time “The Reason for the Season”
BY FRED STOUTLAND
Merry Christmas, my reader friends! I mean merry in the fact that Jesus came to save you and me. And He did! And so we should be doing happy things to celebrate the birth of our Savior – no matter our circumstances. Yes, no matter our circumstances. Personally, I am battling lung cancer. The doctors seem to believe they will rid my body of this awful disease, but my wife and I are confident that whatever the Lord wills for my life is okay with us. And so I should take comfort and be glad that I have a Savior who is my Lord and will be with me forever.
Thinking about Christmas reminds me of a story I ran across several years ago. It’s about a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a very kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with others. But, unlike his family, he didn’t believe all that stuff about God becoming man, which churches proclaim at Christmas. Why would God want to do anything as personal as that?
So when his wife and kids left to attend midnight services on Christmas Eve in the little village in which they lived, he stayed home. Shortly after, snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the flurries getting heavier and heavier. Some minutes later, as he was reading his newspaper by the fire, he was startled by a thudding sound that was quickly followed by another – then another.
When he went to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through the window.
“I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze,” he thought. “But how can I help them?” Then he remembered the barn. It would provide
a warm shelter. He quickly put on his coat and boots and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light.
But the birds didn’t come in.
“Food will bring them in,” he thought. So he hurried back to the house for breadcrumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn.
To his dismay, the birds ignored the breadcrumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction – except into the warm, lighted barn.
“They find me a strange and terrifying creature,” he said to himself, “and I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety.”
Just at that moment, the church bells began to ring. He stood silently for awhile, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. “Now I understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why You had to do it.”
Can the reason for the season be any more clear?
Jesus came one night as prophesied. Isaiah 42:6 reads: “I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness…. And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations” (NASB). That’s our Jesus Isaiah is pointing to. He came as one of us to justify those who want to be the children of the living God. “Adeste Fideles!”
Fred is a former business executive. He is married to Millie and lives in Palm Desert. He has a writing, teaching and radio ministry designed to help ordinary Christians better understand the grace of God. Tune in to his daily 15-minute program Monday through Friday at 12:13 p.m. & Sundays at 7:30 p.m. on 91.7 FM – KHCS. Visit
http://forordinarychristians.org for more information.
December 2011
page 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28