The Advent Calendar - Pt. 3

 

My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me! (Psalm 108:1-5 ESV).

 

“Santa’s making a list and checking it twice to see who’s been naughty or nice” goes the popular children’s Christmas song. The thought is that if you’ve been nice you will get a nice gift from Santa, but if not, then it is a piece of coal! Perhaps that once was a legitimate motivational tool for children to be nice, at least through the holiday season; however, there is another list that is much more important. We ought to be as concerned about "God's list" for our lives. We should carry His life plan for us in our heart and mind as we live each day, constantly making choices and decisions in light of that list. We should guard it like the treasure map of eternity that it truly is.

 

Just knowing the plan God has for me does not guarantee success. I must do the plan. That is where the choice to obey comes in. An obedient heart is a “fixed” heart and may very well be the gift God wants from us this holiday season. That what the psalmist makes reference to in our reading today. A “fixed” heart is a determined heart, a steadfast heart that is rightly focused on God and His will, His plan. When we choose to follow God’s plan, the desires of our heart will line up in obedience to that plan. We will find our greatest joy in pleasing God, in doing His will because that is what we were created to do.

 

At the outset of this Christmas season, isn’t it a good time to stop, go back over the list, review those life lessons we have learned, checking to see where we really are in our walk with God? God does not demand our obedience in order to grant us forgiveness through the grace of Christ; however, He has made it very clear that our obedience is a worshipful gift to offer Him (cf. Romans 12 :1-2). The great love God has shown us in becoming flesh in order to be the sacrifice necessary for our restoration ought to prompt us to that kind of worship.

 

Maybe today is the perfect time to revisit the manger to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by giving Him the gift of obedience. “Sing and make melody with all your being!” can be our theme this year!