2 Ways Christmas Mobilizes Missional Living ALL YEAR LONG
What’s one of your favorite Christmas memories? Please comment below. Every year as a child we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s house full of cousins, aunts and uncles and fun times. There were no white Christmases, only blue, just because Grandma always played the Elvis Christmas vinyl record on the stereo that was larger than the largest clothes chest you’ve ever seen. Every year Grandma inevitably runs out of film for the Polaroid camera (I’m ancient or my Grandma was a hipster). She stands next to Grandpa and yells “Will you go to the store and get some film?” Grandpa, hard of hearing, always responds with “What did you say?” Grandma repeats louder. Grandpa leaves and inevitably, would ALWAYS miss the excitement of bells thumping against the porch followed by a “HO HO HO” and Santa Claus, HIMSELF came to OUR Christmas Eve! I noticed always wore shoes JUST like my Grandpa! The excitement faded out and I always would find myself looking at the manger scene to the side of the excitement. This scene imparts two breakthroughs in my life and my daily missional living:
- God mobilized His missional living be becoming among us. In fact, on earth, as Jesus, He received a name that describes his missional living to you: “Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, And they will call him, Emmanuel.” (Matthew 1:23 CEB). Emmanuel means “God with us.” What love! God went through extreme measure to be with you. He expresses His love for people He calls out by proclaiming “I am with you”. God expressed this to Abraham and Isaiah when He called them into their personal ministry. Jesus expressed this to you as His disciples the day He commissioned you in your missional living: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB). This is why we are passionate in Mobilize Ministries to intentionally meet or “be with” people we know in in everyday life replicating the life of Jesus: “The twelve were with Him,” (Luke 8:1)
- God mobilized His missional living becoming a baby, the utmost form of vulnerability and weakness. He was enthroned in Heaven with all praise directed toward Him and incomprehensible power that made heaven, earth and YOU at His fingertips. Existence does not get any more comfortable than this. Yet, God mobilized His missional living by subjecting Himself to be what humans view as the weakest, a baby. Wrapped in the weakness of my Cerebral Palsy and old orthopedic metal legged braces, this scene gave me comfort. God became weak to start His journey to the cross, where yet He’d become weak and vulnerable again: “For He was indeed crucified in weakness”. (2 Corinthians 13:4).
[tweetable author=”@toddlollar”] God mobilized His missional living to you by becoming weak and vulnerable. Your weakness and vulnerability through your missional living touches people in your life with the love of Jesus. [/tweetable]
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