Are you bombarded like I am by so many advertising jingles?
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to the end of the week! And I'm not kidding about advertisements – they’re slick, they’re splashy, and they’ve got you singing their jingle by heart. Sometimes I don’t even know what the commercial is about and I know the jingle. Well, this being the first real week of the Christmas season, we’ve got to almost fight to stay single-minded about the reason for the celebration, right? We know that Jesus entered human history quietly on a cold dark night in a little stable, and there were no jingles or glitzy television commercials or advertisements or billboards to advertise His Advent.
But that’s not to say that His coming was unannounced. God was advertising the coming of His Son long before His birth, whether with a long line of prophetic statements beginning in Genesis, all the way to the books of the Minor Prophets. There were signs throughout those early books of the Bible and when you look back on these Old Testament billboards, you wonder how anyone could have missed the coming of the Messiah that First Advent… yet many did. Most were either indifferent or blind to the fact that God Himself stepped into human history. Even though there seemed to be an air of real expectation back then, most folks just failed to read the signs.
It reminds me of a story I once heard of a woman who lived alone in the south during the Civil War. In her mansion she had many pictures of her hero, Robert E. Lee. One night in a snowstorm, two men stopped by her house for temporary shelter. She fed them and provided a place for them to rest. Upon leaving, one of the men, who was very distinguished in appearance, gave her a little gift. The woman became curious and asked the other man the name of the guest who was such a gentleman. “That, ma’am,” he replied, “is General Robert E. Lee.” Before she could stop them, they were gone. She had missed her chance to meet the one who had meant so much to her. Even though she had his pictures all over the walls of her living room, she failed to recognize him when he came.
Maybe that’s what happened the night Jesus arrived, don’t you think? I mean everybody had their preconceived notions about what the Messiah would look like, and how and when he would come. Certainly they were up on their prophecy, but obviously it took more than just reading the signposts. And like that story about the woman in the south, it took more than hanging up a few pictures. People then and people today, we all need to be looking for the person. Not a title, not a label; not a piece of prophecy or a name, the Son of God as a person. And today, much like those days 2,000 years ago, please, we must not miss our chance this Christmas to truly encounter the marvelous person of Jesus.
So, friend, in all the noise and the jingles and the hype and the advertisements, let’s not fail to notice His nearness this Christmas season. The whole Bible is built around the story of Jesus and His promise of life everlasting to you and to all those who would but believe. And to help you reflect on the nearness of Jesus this season, the Joni and Friends team here have created a beautiful foldout card with six or seven of my Christmas paintings on it. It really is a lovely piece to show your friends who don’t know Christ and tell them that I painted these pictures holding the brushes in my mouth. Who knows, it may well spark a conversation that will give you a chance to introduce your friend to Jesus this season. Again, you can receive this colorful foldout card by just visiting joniandfriendsradio.org. I’d like every Joni and Friends radio listener to have one of these very special Christmas foldouts with my paintings on it. One more time, that’s joniandfriendsradio.org. It’s just a small sign so no one will miss who Jesus really is.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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