Preparing for the Party!

Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.
Isaiah 40:3 (MSG)

Preparation...

So much of life is spent in preparation for an activity or a celebration. We prepare for thirteen years to graduate high school and we prepare for four (or a couple extra) years to graduate college and enter the real world. We prepare for nine months for the coming of a new child into a family. We prepare for opening night of a big play through months of rehearsals. For the past four weeks we have been preparing for Jesus' birth; the celebration of the day the whole world changed.

We can spend so much time preparing for what is to come that we miss what we have been preparing to experience or do, just like so many in the nation of Israel. For centuries, the Israelites prepared for a Savior based on Isaiah's prophesy of the Messiah, but despite all of the preparations, most did not accept Jesus as the promised Redeemer. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the teachers of the law and the most religious of the people of Israel were largely threatened by Jesus coming, not comforted and excited. They were so caught up in the ritual of preparing for a Messiah that they were not able to step back and see He had arrived.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Matthew 12:14

These men, who knew the scriptures and the teachings better than nearly any other living soul, were unwilling to see the miracle unfolding before them. They were over-prepared but they under-delivered. They were not ready when the time came to make way for God's salvation in their lives. They had taken their eyes off of God. They had built roadblocks and obstacles instead of paved roads and pathways.

Preparation is good. It is important to be prepared for tomorrow and what will come; to be plan-ful and mindful of the needs of those around us and of tomorrow. But, in the midst of all of that planning and preparing, we must make room for awareness. We must always keep our eyes lifted forward to know when the time has come for the preparations to cease and the celebration to begin.

Life is a preparation for the day when we will get to celebrate in the eternal party, but in the midst of all of our preparations, we must not forget for whom the party is being thrown...

After all - Jesus is the reason for the Season...it is His party and we should keep our eyes solely focused on Him.

Scripture

Isaiah 40 (MSG)

Quote of the Day

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Winston Churchill

Question of the Day

When do you struggle to be prepared?

Merry Christmas...May this day be a blessing and a reminder of the unending love Our Father has for each of us.

Celebrating the Joy of Every Day

I love parties. I will find an excuse to celebrate just about anything - from a birthday to a pretty fall day - life is about celebrating the moments.

When you think about celebrations - what is the first thing that pops into your head?

Good food? Laughter? Friends? Music?

For me, the first thing I think about when I imagine a celebration is JOY.

Joy:

a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated:.
the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety. a state of happiness or felicity.



To have joy is to feel happiness above all things - to feel the delight and pleasure of an experience to the very depths of your soul. Being joyful makes one light and free. Joy is a gift and it is a state of mind.

Although celebrations are joy-filled times, every day we give to our LORD in His service will be a time filled with joy. When we are in the service of Christ we have the opportunity to share His light and message with a dark and lonely world.

Joy surpasses mere happiness. Joy is beyond a simple emotion or a one time experience. Joy is at the center of how we, as Christians are called to live our lives every day. We live with the knowledge that we are saved by the grace of God; not by any action of our own, but by the will of a Creator Who loves us. What could bring you greater joy?

The funny thing about joy is that the more you share it, the greater it grows. Just like parties are better when there are more people, joy gets bigger and better with each person who shares it.

...And on that long ago night in Bethlehem, the angels gave us a perfect example of how to share joy as they sang from their heavenly choirs, "We bring your good tidings of great joy...tonight a Savior is born."

What greater joy do we have than to share the good news of Jesus?

Scripture
Luke 2:8-11

Quote of the Day
“I do it for the joy it brings, cause I'm a joyful girl. 'Cause the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world.”
Ani Difranco (Singer)

Question of the Day

What brings joy to your soul?

Hope you will all join us for the Candlelight Christmas Eve service @ 7PM at Groveport UMC