What Now?

Christmas has finally arrived and by now all over America children have opened their gifts. Their excitement last night made sleep hard as they couldn’t wait for this morning to finally come. But today is the day and now all the anticipation has reached its zenith. For the parents it’s relief, though there are meals to be made and people to entertain, for the most part the chaos, if not over, will soon have passed.

What now? What happens tomorrow? For many of us, including me, depression will set in. The party will be over and real life will slip back in. Many of us spent too much money and tomorrow we will be scratching our heads wondering how we will pay off the credit card. Though most will wait for New Years, the decorations will need to come down. Here in the Midwest the weather will turn and winter will set in. This year was special because Christmas fell on a Friday but the weekend will whiz by and Monday, I know don’t say it, but it will be back to work. Where did Christmas go, will soon be the cry.

The last few years we Christians have bemoaned the world’s attitude toward the season. The world does not want Jesus in any of this. So we fought hard to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. We made sure we got the manger scenes into the world. We complained that our schools teach our kids about Islam and ignore our Christian beliefs.

So now what? Christmas is over and we’ve put away the manger scene.

The answer is simple and is found in the Book of Matthew.

Matthew 17:1-4
“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Peter so desperately wanted to do something here for Jesus. So do we. God Himself has spoken in His Word, not only to Peter, but also to us.

Matthew 17:5
“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

I love this. Did you catch it? Peter was still speaking and God Himself cuts him off. In other words, “Hey Peter, stop trying to do things for Jesus of your own accord and do one simple thing; listen to Him.”

In the coming week many of us will make these things called resolutions. We will come up with a list of things we are going to do this year. While most of us want to lose weight and get into shape, nothing wrong with that, as Christians we need to consider Jesus as we start a new year.

We need to listen to Him. Our pastor’s theme for his Christmas message was “How well do we keep Christmas?” In other words what impact does the birth of Christ have on our life? If we are going to call ourselves Christians then we need to address this question. We need to commit ourselves to obeying Jesus.

So I leave you this morning with that thought. As you wrap up Christmas, pun intended, what will you do with the leftovers? Will you go on in the new year with fear about the future? There is plenty to fear. We can worry about ISIS, our investments, our jobs, and everything else there is to worry about or we could stop and hear what God is saying. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” He gave us a book; it’s called the Bible. He gave us the Holy Spirit and He will teach us all things the Word of God has for us. He sent His Son and through His death and resurrection we now have access to the Father through the Son to talk with God anytime we want through prayer. Because of Christmas and the birth of Jesus, we have no excuse not to listen to Him.

Merry Christmas to all and may the blessings of God be upon each of you in the coming days, months, and years. Listen to Jesus and 2016 will be a great year.