THE PACKAGE

 

I love my quiet time.  Cherish is more the word.  And Wednesday’s was to be cherished.  Lingering in prayer before even opening a devotional or scripture, I once again found myself asking to SEE Him in a tangible way that day.  Scripture tells us that He will never leave us.  I have faith that the promise He is always with me is true, but find myself craving Him in ways I can see… touch… smell.  So, I asked.  And in His grace, He answered my request… and requested that I share. 

Call it a curse or a quirk, but I like to pick a theme each year and coordinate the wrapping of the gifts under my Christmas tree.  While most people may thrill at the idea of a store wrapping gifts for them, I turn it down if it doesn’t fit into what I have going.  This year, I’m doing kraft paper brown, plain white, and silver.   Is it 100%?? No… that’d be obsessive J.   But what can I say… it’s just me. 

 

Anyway,  in true “chicken or egg” form, I’m not totally sure what came first.  Did seeing the package launch the vision?? Or did the vision remind me of the package.  Either way… God definitely had something to say about the one silver wrapped package under the tree.  At that point, it was just silver paper… no further embellishment yet.  But the vision I had looks like the picture below.  And God began to speak. 

 

 

What I saw and heard was two-fold.  The first was a beautiful and yet simple expression of Christmas.  The silver paper represents the very Son of God.  Still God… Lord of Lords and King of Kings… part of the very Trinity that created the heavens and the earth… He set aside His crown and humbled himself into a covering of human skin.  He became like us.  A humble covering represented by burlap and plain ole’ garden twine in my vision.

 But the vision had a Part II… a part that brought me to my favorite scripture:  Isaiah 61:1-4.  The verse prophecies what this very babe’s purpose would be.   What He would do for even me.

 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

for the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted

And to proclaim that captives will be released

And prisoners will be freed.

He has sent me to tell those who mourn

That the time of the Lord’s favor has come,

And with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.

To all who mourn in Israel.

He will give a crown of beauty for ashes,

A joyous blessing instead of mourning,

Festive praise instead of despair.

In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks

That the Lord has planted for his own glory.”

Back to the package. 

In both the Old and New Testament times, people would tear at their clothes when mourning, when in repentance or when in despair over events of their lives.  They would sit in burlap for long periods of time and even put ashes on their head.   But the message above is that Christ not ONLY came to give us eternal life (Hallelujah!!! And Praise God for that gift!!!)… but He also came to free us from those things.  He came to give us life.

 Life… NOW.   

 Life…. ABUNDANTLY. 

 
He came to trade our ashes for crowns of beauty.  The problem is that focusing only on the amazing gift of salvation can leave us “sitting in our burlap” in this life.

So what is our burlap??? Yours will  be different than mine.  Different than your neighbor’s.  Different than your best friend’s.  But we all have some.  Burlap that we continue to sit in.   Burlap in the form of regret, unforgiveness, wounds from our childhood, wounds we inflicted, wounds inflicted by others.  Idols we cling tightly to, generational curses and sin.  Anything , really, that keeps us from the freedom that this babe in Bethlehem came to give us.      

I invite you to unwrap the package with me.

Begin by asking God if there’s burlap you’re sitting in that’s keeping you in bondage.  Burlap that’s keeping you from fully receiving and living in the gift of Christ… here and now.

As you slowly unwrap the twine that is holding your burlap… listen for the Holy Spirit to show you what this may be in your own life.   If you ask Him to show you… He WILL.  Trust that.  Maybe not within the next 3 feet or so of twine, but He will.  Possibly, over a lifetime. 

Unwind…. Unwind… unwind.  Phew!!  Keep going… even if there seems to be an entire BALL of twine and those messy strands of burlap everywhere!!!  The gift is GOOD, friends.    

Vision in a nutshell???  This holiday season, I hope you will REJOICE from the bottom of your soul at what Christ PUT ON for us…. And that you will step into seeking what it is that He wants you to TAKE OFF…. For Him.     Because in the beginning AND in the end… it’s all about Him.  Our Christ.  Our King!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, friends… !!!