“What If?” by Jeff Ferguson

eric posted on December 23, 2009

“What If?” by Jeff Ferguson

What if we left the busyness of our shopping malls, crowded stores, and overbooked holiday schedules to go back in time to the dark, damp cave where Christmas first came alive with the advent of Jesus Christ?

Chances are the Christmas music and the various smells that come with the holiday season would give way to the stench of the nativity. As we stand there in the dark among the animals and the young couple who are looking on their first born son in both wonder and confusion, I can’t help but think that our thoughts surrounding Christmas would be confronted by the harsh reality of what is before our eyes.

You see, if we were to stand at the foot of this feeding trough looking right into the eyes of this poor, helpless baby, our thoughts about our world would quickly change. We would suddenly understand the words of Philippians.

“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.”

Philippians 2:5-7 NLT

This experience would transform our worldview to the point where we would respond to the needs around us. We would no longer celebrate Christmas as usual. We would instead live it out! Coming so close to the nativity would drive us to action and out of our normal holiday routine so that our actions would reflect those of the One we celebrate.

Our attitudes would be shaped by the attitude of Christ, which would force us to look outward. We would begin to notice those without food, homes, family, and greatest of all…hope.  We would not cling to our holiday traditions, instead we would respond by dropping them to serve those around us.  Our agenda…our schedule would be second so that we could give ourselves to those who do not know the reason for why we celebrate Christmas.  We would do what this baby came to do for us.  We would invade our world and our communities so that people could experience the incarnation of Jesus Christ through us.  In this way, Jesus would continue to appear in human form all around the world and in our every day lives.  This would have an impact beyond what we could hope for.

What if we went back to the nativity? What if it was something more than a decoration that we pull out every year?

What if?