Will you be traveling over the holidays? Don’t forget to check in here each day while we continue with these Advent thoughts about preparing our hearts for Christmas.
Many years ago, before I was married, I worked in Mexico with Wycliffe Bible Translators. My father, a godly pastor, never really understood the work that I engaged in there until he traveled to visit me south of the border.
I wanted Dad to experience what indigenous life was like. I took Dad out to visit a friend in a small Aztec village. The people of the village, discovering that a pastor from the US was visiting, asked Dad to speak to their congregation. There, in a simple room with wood slats for walls, beneath the glow of gasoline lanterns and seated on a hard bench, my friend translated into Aztec my father’s words of truth. Dad talked of a river of life that flows from God to man. Sin is like a barrier that impedes those waters. Pride, anger, marital discord, and dishonesty, to mention only a few, all interrupt God’s Spirit from being able to flow through us.
John the Baptist knew about those barriers. In Matthew 3:3, he quoted Isaiah, saying “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, ‘Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Prepare a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!’”
Remove any obstacles on the road. As you approach Christmas this year, prepare your heart by asking God’s Spirit to identify any barriers within your soul.
