Uncommon Advent

Date	Weight	Fat %	BMI
11/10/15	200.2 lbs	35.30%	30.6
11/17/15	201.6 lbs	33.30%	30.9
11/25/15	199.8 lbs	32.70%	30.5

Our Christmas tree is up and the house is decorated. This is a little late compared to our normal schedule, but it makes me happy nonetheless. All the holiday decor has me thinking about the coming advent season. I find it interesting that our secular society continues to find so much joy in preparing for Christmas. Sure, it's a commercial endeavor for most, but the excitement exists regardless of people's stated faith. And yet....

If Christ was just a wise man, a teacher, a prophet or a fable, we wouldn't have a month of preparation, federal days off, school on break for weeks and a frenzy of food, gifts, activities, performances and concerts. No one puts on the "George Washington Spectacular on Ice". I have never received a President's Day present. And even though this wouldn't be a bad idea, I don't gather the kids around the fireplace to read Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the anniversary of his birth or death. You can write your doctorate on Julius Caesar, Plato or Alexander the Great. You can spend your life studying artifacts of ancient times and putting them in museums. History is full of the legacies of great and awful men, yet no one else on the planet, regardless of time or place, is celebrated the way Christ is celebrated. 

It doesn't make sense. If he was just a famous guy, he could still have a day and a history lesson in school. But no one hands out tracks trying to convince you to spend more time reading the work of Aristotle. If he was just an influential figure of the past, he would be a subject of academic interest, not the one followed by millions around the globe, thousands of years after his death. Christmas is meaningless without the cross.

So lets add the cross into the picture. What changes?

If I truly believe I have access to the Creator of heaven and Earth - direct communication with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords - love from Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace - then shouldn't my life look different? This view of Christ is wildly different than most people who are walking the earth today. If I believe that the God of the Universe loves and cares for me and is directly involved with my life, shouldn't everything be impacted by that?

Most of us in Christian circles pray occasionally, go to church regularly, volunteer in activities and listen to christian radio. We read the bible or devotionals and consider if it's applicable to our lives. We hope God will bless our efforts and try be good. We unintentionally think of God as a jeannie or Santa Claus and hope He gives us what we want in return for our small acts of worship and goodness.

But Paul didn't see it that way. He writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus wasn't actually raised from the dead then we are still in our sin and we are to be pitied. If our faith is just something to get us through this life, then we are lost. We are fools. But, if our faith is real, then "to live is Christ and to die is gain". This is the Christ that Matthew and Peter and all the other disciples left their homes and jobs and lives to follow for 3 years, only to spend the rest of their lives spreading the word and most of them dying as martyrs. 

To live as if Christ is King is to make every breathe worship and every word a prayer. It is to live with Scripture as the highest authority over my life. It is to give each day completely to His will and purposes, believing they are His best for me. 

And it is to live into the promise of His mercy and love. 

It is experiencing His pleasure over me, no matter how I view myself. It is leaning on His wisdom in all things, and never having to feel overwhelmed. It is being so completely at peace with my identity in Him that I am free to do my best and fail, love others and be rejected and spend my entire existence serving with nothing to show for my work. 

The journey of advent is not about preparing our hearts to greet a baby in a manger. It's about living into the reality that the great I AM is here with us. Immanuel. And if that is true, then nothing should ever look the same again.