Blue Ridge Baptist Church
The other night I took my dog, Bentley, for a late night walk. Since the season is changing and moving toward winter the constellations in the sky are changing too. On the eastern horizon the big man with the belt and sword named Orion is climbing higher in the sky. Orion is huge and it catches your attention. Even those who can’t recognize the Big Dipper can point out Orion.
Every time I see Orion my mind goes back to a star that caught the attention of those wise men from the east. Once they saw it they knew something big was going to happen in Palestine. That star signaled that a new King was to be born who would change everything and they wanted to be a part of it.
For centuries men and women had dreamed of the chance to know God face to face and at Bethlehem that dream came true. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Many folks think that Christianity is just a bunch of rules to obey. They couldn’t be more wrong. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.” God sent His Son, Jesus, not to bring rules but to bring life.
This life is available to everyone who believes and receives the Savior born in Bethlehem. We understand believing, accepting Jesus as the Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave but what does it mean to receive?
The perfect picture of receiving is the wise men from the east. Once they found the baby born in Bethlehem they, “bowed down and worshipped Him” (Matt. 2:11). To receive means to yield to, to follow and to let Jesus take over your life.
There is no better time than the Christmas season to kneel and receive Jesus as your Savior. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
Share with others: