Behold, the virgin shall be with
child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is
translated, “God with us.” – Matthew 1:23
Christmas Presence. That’s not a misspelling. Though we might feel as though Christmas is
primarily about getting and giving presents, it is supposed to be so much more
than that. In fact, Christmas is supposed to be primarily about a presence.
When the angel of the Lord was announcing the birth of Jesus to Joseph he
quoted Isaiah saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His
name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Mat.
1:23; cf. Isaiah 7:14; 9:6). Christmas
is meant to celebrate Immanuel, God with us, the presence of God, Christmas
presence.
In our secularized Christmas
it’s not surprising that the presence of God has been hijacked by presents. In
2009 the buying frenzy included the following statistics:
- For the holiday season from November 1 to December 20, US online
retail sales reached $24.8bn, a 4% increase over the same period in 2008.
- Spending on 'Green Monday' December 14 was $854m, 1% less than the
previous year, but the three following days each surpassed $800m.
- Tuesday, December 15 set an individual day spending record with
$913m. By comparison, spending on Cyber Monday (Nov. 30) was $887m. [1]
Christmas is big business. The
livelihood and continued existence of some companies and businesses is
determined by sales during the Christmas season. The result is pressure to buy,
buy, and buy. We are inundated with commercials and “great buys” and “sales,”
and a host of other marketing propaganda to get us to spend, spend, spend. Now
there’s nothing wrong with giving. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than
to receive” (Acts 20:35). Getting is not that bad either. But when the material
aspects of this sacred holy day of Christmas crowd out the core purpose of it,
we need to reassess and get back on course. If we miss the presence of God at
Christmas, we’ve missed Christmas.
How’s your Christmas spirit? Or
more importantly, are you in the Spirit this Christmas? Are you focused on the
presence of the Lord or presents under the tree? Maybe you’re just having a
real hard time sensing the presence of the Lord this year. Maybe you’re grieving the loss of a loved
one. Maybe you’ve lost a job or are in danger of being laid off. Maybe you’re
finances are so deep in debt you can’t imagine going further into debt for
Christmas presents. Maybe, for whatever reason, you have a severe case of the
Christmas blahs. There’s cure for that. The cure is Christmas presence. Let’s look at what God says in His word about
His presence, the reason some people don’t sense it and how we can enter into
and live in the presence of the LORD. Let’s ask a few questions and answer
them. Hopefully we will, with God’s help, experience true Christmas presence as
a result.
Into The Day
I got up early one morning
And rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
I didn’t have time to pray.
Troubles just tumbled about me
And heavier came each task.
Why God doesn’t help me, I
wondered,
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I tried to come into God’s
presence,
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
“Why child, you didn’t knock.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
But the day toiled on grey and
bleak,
I called on the Lord for the
reason—
He said “You didn’t seek.”
I woke up early this morning
And paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.
—Author Unknown [2]
How can we experience the presence of the LORD? The answer is that we need to repent of our sin. At Pentecost Peter in the power of the Spirit connected
times of refreshing in the presence of the Lord with repentance from sin –
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that
times o refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). To repent is to change your mind about sin and
practically turn away from it. We need to turn away from our sin and turn
toward God. To be “converted” also carries this idea of turning to God. When we
do this God washes away our sins that separate us from His presence and invites
into His presence (cf. Heb. 10:19-23).
Isn’t that what we need this
Christmas, a time of refreshing from the
presence of the Lord? The word “refreshing” means rest relief, refreshing, recovery of breath, revival. Do you want
to experience a revival that flows from the presence of the Lord? Go to God in
prayer and ask Him to search you and then repent of any sin He points out
(Psalm 51; 139). Then times of refreshing will flow into you from the presence
of the Lord. We need a revival. Our
nation needs a revival. It will come through repentance and conversion by God’s
grace through faith in Jesus.
Examine yourself and let God
point out any sin in your life. Don’t be too quick to think you are without
sin. The apostle John was inspired to say if we say we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and if we say we have no sin we make God a liar (1 John 1:8, 10). We need to humbly go before
God and ask Him to search us and
point out any sin that is keeping us from His presence (e.g. Psalm 139:23-24).
If we casually allow sin to go persist in our lives, God will wait and let us
try to live without His presence until we confess and repent of our sin (Psalm
66:18). If we confess our sins God is faithful and will forgive us (1 John
1:9). If we want to experience the
presence of the Lord we must confess and repent of our sin.
All of our responses to the presence of the Lord are summed
up in worship. For all the Lord has done for us, we ought to worship Him. Since
God inhabits the praises of His people, worship creates a cycle of His presence
for us to dwell with Him in. Worship is the climax, the hallelujah chorus of
experiencing the presence of the Lord. Glory! Glory in His presence. Glory to
God in the highest!
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