The King's Birthday

Have you ever had a surprise birthday party?  I did for my 21st birthday...it was fun, awkward and, as planned, surprising.

Have you ever had your birthday forgotten? Over the years, several times.  As I've grown older (like JUST last year I actually grew older), forgetting my birthday doesn't matter to me so much.

Have you gone the entire day only to realize too late, it was your best friends birthday...and you forgot? Yes, I should be fired as a best friend.

 

I would imagine all the reigning monarchs throughout history have NEVER had their birthdays forgotton (unless they decreed it to be forgotton).  I googled that query and couldn't find any data to support it...so I assume all Kings and Queens of the known world get a big shindig on their birthdays.

 

What sense would it make to you, if on your planned birthday party, everyone who came expected you to give them gifts and brought gifts for each other and nothing for you?  How left out might you feel?  Would you ever invite those people back?  Would you think it was a joke?

 

Well, if you think about it: that is EXACTLY what we do at Christmas.  After all, it is supposed to be a time to celebrate Jesus' birth, His birthday!

 

I'm not trying to make you feel bad or return all of your gifts.  I'd just like for you to stop and think about what this Christmas Season is all about:  Jesus Christ, born of a virgin.  God made flesh, to dwell among us.

 

The writer of Philippians puts it clearly:

 

Philippians 2:3-11

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (4) do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (5) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (8) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

You CAN give Jesus a present on His birthday...yourself. 

Romans tells us how to do this: 

Romans 12:1-3

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (3) For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

I like the way The Message (which is NOT a literal translation) puts it: Romans 12:1-3 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (2) Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (3) I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Read on to see what PW Devotions continues to write about Jesus' birth and Mary.

As you hustle about shopping for last minute gifts, think about what gift would be fit for King Jesus Christ?  Your King.  My King.  The King of kings and Lord of lords.  What DO you give the Creator of the universe?  What He wants: all of you and all of me!

PlanetWisdom.com Devotionals

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Faith Like Mary: Son of God and King Forever Posted: 17 Dec 2009 02:34 PM PST ". . . you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:31-33) It's one thing to find out you're going to have an unplanned pregnancy; it's another to hear that you baby will be the Son of God and the king -- forever. I've heard those words every Christmas since I was born, and I still don't completely get it. Mary's head must have been spinning. But this promise to her is for us both history and future. It is the beating heart of our faith in Jesus. We do call Him the Son of the Most High, and we do pledge allegiance to Him as the King and our own Lord forever. God had promised long before this moment to send the Savior, the Messiah, the King. This announcement to a small town teen girl that she would give Him birth proved again that God always keeps His promises. Christmas is a promise kept. Think: If Jesus is not the Son of God -- if He is not the king forever -- is there any point to celebrating Christmas? Does it have any real meaning if Jesus is not the Christ? Pray: Thank God for keeping His promise by sending His Son to be your savior and king. Do: Find a few minutes this week to think hard about these big ideas.