A whole week of Advent has already slipped by! Thanks for coming back to learn more about God’s “I WILL” promises.
Once, when I was in grade school, I played the role of Mary and held the baby Jesus in our church’s Christmas nativity. I don’t remember trying out for the part. And I don’t think I was type cast for the role. More likely, people assigned the role to me because I was the pastor’s daughter!
Have you ever tried out for a sports team or auditioned for a role in a play or a choir? What emotions went through you? Perhaps you felt nervous about whether you would pass muster and be accepted. Were you disappointed if you did not get the role you sought? Or maybe you were upset because others got the position you wanted, not because they were more qualified, but because they knew someone who was making the cuts and assigning roles.
God does not play favorites. In John 6:37, 39, Jesus said, “All that the Father has given me will come to me, and the man who comes to me I will never turn away. . . . And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.” All who come to Jesus will be welcomed. Not even one will be rejected!
Many years after my first time taking the part of Mary, I was assigned the role of Jesus’ mother a second time. I stood at the foot of the cross in our church’s annual Easter play. This time I held no plastic doll representing the Christ child. This time I was old enough to appreciate that my Savior faced rejection by his own people so that I could live with him forever.
This Christmas, don’t forget to look beyond the manger to the cross. He waits to welcome each of us into his embrace.
