Today's Scripture Reading (December 25, 2024): Luke 1
How often do you talk about someday? It is so easy and pervasive. Someday, when we get our life together, then we will make that needed change. I have a lot of things on my "someday list." Someday, I want to write a novel or maybe a book on worship. I have an excellent idea for a musical I want to work on. And there is the more mundane. Someday, I will give my garage a good cleaning or put away all the items that I recently moved out of my office. Someday.
I also add items to the list quickly. When I discuss projects with the people I minister with, often those projects get added to the someday pile. I mean, you don't expect that this is something that is going to happen now?
Maybe that is what makes this verse a little surprising. The angel comes to Mary with this great message. You are going to become pregnant and will give birth to the Messiah. It might have been natural for Mary to add that little message to the someday pile. I mean, she knew that someday she would become pregnant. She was engaged to Joseph, and they had every intention of raising a family. And now the angel was saying that one of her children would be the Messiah, someday.
But Mary didn't hear the angel that way. She didn't hear someday; she heard now. However, now it was impossible because she was a virgin. What Mary hears is precisely the message the angel had intended to convey to her. The angel's message is not about someday; it is about now.
Christmas is always about now. Christmas is never about adding something to your someday list. Jesus stepped down from heaven into our now. He didn't come for your someday; his sacrifice was to impact who you are right now. He came to change this world for the better, not in the sweet bye-and-bye, but right now. The intended change isn't a pie-in-the-sky, someday thing. It is now!
Welcome to Christmas, a day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But we must ensure that Christmas doesn't just impact your someday. Let it affect your now.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 1
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