Binocular View, Magnified by a King

Christmas is supposed to be the most “wonderful time" of year, but I’ve found the older I get, the more disillusioned I become. The magic, excitement, and anticipation I once had as a child has dissipated. It’s been replaced with a sense of dread and stress with every item added to my accumulating to-do list.

I sat in disappointment last week and thought, “this isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” The hustle, bustle, and consumerism that represents Christmas has drained my spirit.

Sometimes I find God just needs to bring us back to the basics. I think it’s one of the reasons he’s led me to teach a Pre-K Sunday School class. It’s through simplicity he brings me back to center.

As I prepared the first Christmas lesson, I was baffled. It was about the three wise men. I wondered why the curriculum would have us start there. The wise men didn’t even arrive until after Jesus’ birth, but he always has a reason.

As part of our lesson, we made paper binoculars. We used them to look for “baby Jesus” hidden around the room. I had written Jeremiah 29:13 on them. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I told my littles, “The wise men had to travel to find Jesus. They traveled for months following that star until they found him, but through the cross all we have to do is call out his name and invite him in.”

Those paper binoculars have kept coming back to me over the last week. They’ve reminded me of the three wise men who searched high and low for the babe in a manger, our King of Kings, Lord of Lords, our Alpha and Omega.

He’s the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas. His name is in the word. But have we forgotten? As more people say Happy Holidays to stay politically correct, and it becomes a holiday more about receiving than giving.

Jesus was, and always has been, the gift of Christmas. He’s the beginning of our redemption story. When word became flesh. He came off his throne to become man, in a rescue mission, to save you and me.

Maybe you’re like the wise men. You’ve been searching. Your journey’s taken you down one-way roads and dead-end streets, and yet you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for. There’s an emptiness you’ve been trying to fill, but nothing satiates. You’ve received everything on your “Wish List”. You were sure it would bring the happiness you were seeking, yet the void remains.

Jesus tells us in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” He’s the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

The gift we give him in return for his sacrifice is our hearts. He’s calling your name. He wants to fill your life with his love and truth. To fill the emptiness the world can’t satisfy. To bring you out of darkness into his marvelous light! To start something new.

But, it’s so much more than that.

This past weekend I was having a difficult day. As I sat in tears, having a pity party. I started to pray, and something happened. He reminded me again of the binoculars.

And this is what he whispered to my spirit, “Heather, it’s your life I desire. That’s your gift to me. After you find me and give me your heart, I need you to lift your binoculars and look around. I’m going to show you people and situations, and I need you to be my light. I need you to be my hands and my feet.”

I’ve found that every battle I’ve fought, every mountain I’ve climbed, and every tear I’ve wept God’s used. My heart has grown bigger, my compassion deeper, and my eyes wider.

Our lives are not accidents, random circumstances, or coincidences. Everything he brings us through has purpose. Our stories are unique, no two are alike, but that’s part of the plan. It’s how he intended for us to shine his light.

Because of our circumstances, he puts tender spots in our lives. For me, when I see a child who’s overwhelmed and carrying the weight of the world, who simply needs to know they are seen and loved he says, “Be who you needed Heather.” You see, I was once that little girl.

He shows me young girls, who don’t quite know who they are yet, but I see the light. I see his promise, and he whispers to my soul, “Speak life, truth, and purpose.”

When I see another mama who’s tired and weary from the fight, and she doesn’t know if she’s going to make it, he tells me, “Lift her up. Let her know she’s not alone. I’m with her, and I’ll see her through!”

I truly believe our stories are intertwined with how he wants to use us. It's where he’s built empathy over time, and he’s calling us to pick up our binoculars. To stop looking at our own circumstances, and to look out into a world so much in need of his truth, love, and grace.

He’s created us for more. We have a purpose and a destiny. There are people who need us, and what I’m finding is, we don’t realize how much we need them too!

In obedience to what sometimes seems outlandish, something happens. Unexpectedly our circumstances aren’t as grim as we thought, and peace begins to flow over our lives. You begin to see him in the little things all around you, and hear the whisper of his voice.  

So, let him be your reason this season. He's waiting for you to open your heart and let him move in your life. To use you in ways you never imagined.

Phil Wickham - Manger Throne 

 “You have realized that needing Me is the key to knowing Me intimately, which is the gift above all gifts.” ~ A friend’s devotional

“Obedience unlocks understanding.” ~ Ally Yost https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0mb5_JJsQW/?igshid=NjMyZDczNDVlMg==

1 Peter 4:10-11 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.”

Luke 1: 30-33 “Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Hebrews 2:14-18 “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.