It Doesn't Have To Be Big

 

  A friend of mine commented that as a young adult she dreamed of retirement as a time where she would be able to work as a missionary, doing great things for God.  As she neared retirement, she discovered she had cancer which negated the ability for far away travels.  Instead, she found herself volunteering in the church’s food panty, helping out in her local elementary school and even on occasion, giving aid in the local nursing home.  

While all her efforts were commendable, she was discontent.  This was not her dream.  This did not meet her expectations.  So she kept looking and doing as much as she physically could.  Still she felt disappointment.  

Finally someone commented that as long as she’s being a servant unto God where she is, with the right motives, God can use her all the more!  Our lives are often different than what we’d planned, but God has a greater plan! Love comes in all ‘sizes’ according to the needs of those we meet.

Imagine Jesus when He came to Earth as a tiny infant.  Mary and Joseph understood he was God’s Son given through the Holy Spirit.  Their love for him was profound.  As he grew, others also loved him, but others could not understand how profoundly he would come to love us.

Many of the society, even then, missed his birth and even as he grew into adulthood, missed that he was the Messiah, even though he fit every single criteria of the prophecies in the Old Testament.  But he didn’t fit their expectations!  They wanted a warrior king who would save them from the Romans.  They wanted a political figure who would rule with a harsh hand to their oppressors, not a humble man who wouldn’t fight with fist raised against their enemy.

As Christmas nears, we might be reminded of Jesus’ servant heart.  My friend wanted to do something ‘big’ for the Lord, but what she did seemed small and irrelevant in her eyes.  Jesus’ efforts in the eyes ‘of the powers who ruled’ at the time thought his work very ‘un-kingly'— !  Certainly there had to be more.  They were discontent, yet at the same time, felt threatened by those who chose to follow him.

What an example Jesus set.  He had a servant heart—-all the way to the cross.  Do we get so lost in all the holiday trappings that manipulate our thought process we forget to have a servant heart, even at Christmas? 

What we do, does not have to be ‘big’ and ‘earth shattering.’  What we need to focus on is sharing what Jesus came to do when he came as the Sacrificial Lamb, in that humble manger so long ago.  His love was profound, way beyond what our minds and hearts can fathom.  

Jesus may have looked like an un-likely king, and without any possible means to have an impact on the situation those around him were enduring.  Yet, He was mightier than any other king they could have imagined.  He loved with a servant’s heart. He loved us all the way to the cross.  And that’s the greatest gift of all.