Faith and Trust in the Christmas Story

 The Faith and Trust of the Christmas Story

I love the Christmas season. I love the busy shopping malls, the seasonal foods, the worship services, Christmas movies, and yes, I am one of the people that the Christmas music police come to attack because I play Christmas music super early in the season. (I also play it late into the new year but let’s not tell the Christmas music police.) When I was a child, I loved the anticipation of receiving gifts. When I became a teenager, I tried to find the best gifts for my family. As an adult, I have a come to understand the true joy and peace of Christmas Day which reveals faith and trust in God. 

Christmas reminds us of the obedience and complete trust and faith in God. Everyone that encountered Jesus as a baby, had complete trust and faith in God and revealed their faith and trust through their obedience. The moment Jesus entered the world, he changed the lives of those who encountered him. He still does that today. 

Starting with Mary we see her devout obedience to God and her complete faith. When the angel visited her and gave her the announcement that she was going to have a son, and his kingdom will reign forever, Mary asked how it would be since she never had any sexual relations. When the angel explained that the Spirit of God would come over her and she would conceive, Mary believed it. Before the angel left, she gave her statement of faith. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38; CSB) Mary revealed her faith as she trusted that God’s way was perfect and that she was his servant. She obeyed God because of her faith and trust in God. 

Along with Mary, Joseph had his own encounter with an angel. He was going to divorce her quietly before they were married, but the angel explained that she was able to conceive through the power of God. He then married Mary but did not have sexual relations with her until after Jesus was born so that no one could claim that he was the biological father. 

Mary and Joseph had complete trust and faith in God. Like all the other Israelites, they were waiting for the Messiah. They believed that it would be a grand entrance, but instead, Jesus came to earth as a baby. Jesus came to a humble couple who had no idea how they would fulfill all that the angel said, but they were obedient to God’s plan.  Being obedient is not just about not committing specific sins. Being obedient is putting our faith and trust in God, especially during the times of life when it is difficult to put our trust and faith in God. 

Mary and Joseph were not the only people at Jesus’s birth that revealed their faith and trust through obedience to God. There were shepherds out in the fields guarding their sheep at night when they were visited by an angel. The angel told them that the Savior was born. The angel then explained that they would find the baby in a manger wrapped in a swaddling cloth. Then, a multitude of angels came and shouted praise to God. The shepherds decided to go visit and see this baby. Most people know that part of the story, thanks in part to the Charlie Brown Christmas special. If we look closer at this account with the shepherds, we discover that their faith and trust in God superseded everything else in their lives. 

The shepherds left and went and found Jesus in a manger wrapped in a swaddling cloth. After they saw the baby, they went and reported all that they saw and experienced to everyone they met. I have a question. What happened to the sheep that they were guarding? Did they leave them? If they did, they just lost their jobs. It wasn’t their flock of sheep. It was a flock of sheep they were protecting. Did they take the flock with them? If they did, they didn’t have permission to take the flock out of the fields and traipse them through a town.

Whichever choice the shepherds chose, through their obedience they revealed their faith and trust in God was of more importance than their jobs. If we claim to have faith and trust in God, we will put him first, even over our careers, even if our careers are in full-time ministry. With God first in our lives, people will be amazed at the events that we tell them, just like the shepherds. 

The shepherds were not the only visitors that came to visit Jesus. There were Magi who came from the East following a star that they had seen. Herod asked them to come back and tell them where he could find Jesus. They followed that star for almost two years. When they found Jesus, they worshipped him and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They honored his life of royalty, his worthiness of worship, and a significant death.

The real significance of the Magi was not that they visited and worshipped Jesus, but that they were forever changed. They were not Jewish. They were Gentiles. They were warned in a dream that Herod wanted to harm Jesus, so they returned home a different way. They found Jesus and went home in a new direction. When we come and worship Jesus, we should return home in a different direction with our lives. We should recognize our sin and repent from it. The Magi obeyed and revealed their new faith and trust in God. 

This Christmas, discover how you can be obedient to what God is calling you to do. In your faith and trust in God begin to worship him with your obedience. We must come and understand we obey not because it is a rule or what we must do, but what we get to do because of what Jesus came to earth and did for us. Our obedience will reveal our trust and faith in God. So, have a Merry Christmas with faith and trust in God through your obedience to Him.