Okay—I know you are saying to yourself, “What in the world? What’s up with the title? What does battling have to do with Christmas?!!!” That was my exact thought when I read that the topic they wanted me to blog about in December was Spiritual Warfare! But then. . .
I have known since I was a child that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the. . . spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). But where does this battling with the forces of evil begin? As I thought about what I was going to write, I went back to Genesis 3. This is when the crafty serpent came to Eve (and Adam was right there with her!) and asked her the question, “Did God actually say. . .?” Can’t you just hear him hissing this to her? Do you see what he is doing? He is putting doubt in Eve’s mind. He is wanting her to question God. He later challenges what God said by saying, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3: 4,5). That was it. Eve started thinking that God was trying to keep something from her—that He was holding out on her, that He couldn’t be trusted. And then what happened? She ate of the fruit. The battle began in her own mind! His plan worked—it still works!!
What better season for Satan to get into the minds of humans than Christmas? Can’t you just hear him hissing, “Come on—a virgin conceives God’s Child (well, actually God Himself since Jesus IS God)? That’s ridiculous! That’s impossible! How can any one with any sense at all believe such a thing? And what about the angel who appears to shepherds—they just up and leave to go to see a Baby? And then there’s that star. It just appears and guides wisemen to the Child? None of this is scientifically possible.” And then—the battle in our mind begins.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The season where the Redemption Story begins. The shepherd’s; the wise men had to have faith. They had to believe in their minds that what God had said was true. And so they went, went to see the Savior, God’s only Son, born of a virgin with the sole purpose being that He would one day die for the sins of all mankind. Your sins. My sins. We have a choice. We can listen to the voice of our enemy who says that all of the Christmas story is impossible, and therefore, it did not happen, or , we can be like the wise men of old.
Matthew 2: 10, 11a says, When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. . . .” These were some of the wisest, smartest men around. They had to choose. Rationalize, or believe that the Christ had come. They chose to believe. During this very special time of year, I pray that you choose to believe and to remember that WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM! Have a Merry, Merry Christmas!!
WISE MEN STILL WORSHIP HIM!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
