EVERY CHRISTMAS IS A TEST. HOW WILL YOU FARE THIS YEAR?

The test is a simple one, yet extremely difficult because of its simplicity.

The test is this — Do you love and worship the true God? Or do you love and worship your own idea of who/ what/ how He should be?

You see, people love to say that they are God-fearing. They are super keen to show that they are religious. And often they try to show their religiosity by phrases such as “God is one”, or “God loves all”, or “Or everyone is a child of God”.

These phrases might be true. At the same time, they might not.

How are we to determine the truthfulness of these phrases? More importantly, do we care?

If you don’t really care and you’re not fussed about whether something is true, so long as it makes you feel good, fine. We would recommend that you stop reading now because the likelihood of this post making you feel good are, at best, slim.

However, if you want to do the right thing, regardless of how that makes you feel, then you might want to consider the following possibility.

That despite your professions of faith and devotion, despite your passion and fervour, the fact of the matter could be that instead of loving the true God, you might actually be loving who you think He ought to be.

In other words, you might actually be worshipping the god of your own expectations instead of the God of reality. Instead of worshipping the God who made you, you’re worshipping a god whom you have made. Of course, since you are a finite and imperfect being with limited abilities, knowledge and understanding, it follows that any god devised by your intellect would be equally (if not more) indicative of your own imperfections, weaknesses and limitations.

Pause for a moment to consider the implications:

• You might have spent your entire life being devoted to a deity whose reality is limited to your imagination.
• You might have spent a lot of money to please this deity that does not exist outside of your mind.
• You might have experienced serious heartache owing to unfulfilled expectations.
• All your hopes and dreams, indeed your entire worldview and philosophy, might be completely detached from reality.

Whilst that may or may not be the story of your life, that is the backdrop of the Christmas story.

The Jews at that time were expecting Messiah – the Deliverer who would free them from Roman rule. The expectations were huge. Messiah would be Prophet, Priest and King who would judge all mankind. He would raise the dead and heal all sorts of physical infirmities. To use present day language, the Messiah would totally, like awesomely rock everyone’s world.

Don’t misunderstand us. We’re not saying it’s wrong to have expectations. But it is wrong to have wrong expectations. Especially when you have been told what to expect. And for thousands of years the Jews had been told what to expect about Messiah. Aside from the glorious attributes that would identify the true Messiah, they were also told that He would be a humble, suffering servant and a sacrificial lamb. In fact, Messiah would be hated, scorned and falsely judged. Not only that, He would actually be rejected by His own people.

But that’s not a pretty picture. It’s counter-intuitive. Reason why it didn’t align with the messianic expectations of the Jews. After all, kings are supposed to be grand, majestic, royal figures who have presence and stature, and who are accompanied everywhere by pomp and regalia.

So when Messiah showed up in humble circumstances (as promised) claiming to be the Chosen One, they mocked Him. Here was a cattle-class carpenter, a member of the lowest strata of society. He was not dignified. Blue blood did not course through His veins. How could He be the Chosen One?

Their expectations of who Messiah ought to be were not aligned to the complete reality of who God said He would be.

Thus, the Jews actively rejected Messiah because He did not live up to their expectations.

And that’s the test you face this Christmas – the test of accepting or rejecting your Messiah; the One who was sent to save you.

Will you accept Him for the reality of who He is? Or will you reject Him because He does not live up to your expectations?

Will you pass the Christmas test?

Yours truthfully,

Truthscan