"History in the Making"

Certainly no one with any reasonable familiarity of current events could say that we are not living in an historic period. In almost every area of our lives we seem to make history on a daily basis. Just the recent events surrounding the mid-term elections serve to remind us that these are historic times. However, it is important for us to realize that as December, 2010 looms on the horizon, the most important event of history has already occurred. That is the birth of the Christ. When Luke wrote his gospel account to Theophilus, he explained it as follows:

“In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!’ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ‘Don't be frightened, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!’" (Luke 1:26-33, NLV).

Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births.

For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England’s finest statesmen. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner.
On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby’s name? Abraham Lincoln.

If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I’m certain these words would have been heard: “The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today.” But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior.

And, it is still the biggest news! As you begin moving toward your celebration of Christmas this year, concentrate on the real meaning of the birth of Jesus in your life. Today, meditate on this one thought: What difference has the birth of Jesus made in my life? Then, praise Him for the blessings you have just remembered.