Well here we are on Christmas Eve! We have a Christmas Eve tradition in our home for dinner time and my family is excitedly waiting for dinner tonight as we celebrate Christmas Eve with a fondue dinner. Three courses of fondue, starting with a cheese fondue with bread and veggies to dip into the melted cheese, followed by a meat fondue for the main course with salad and finishing up with a chocolate fondue with plenty of fresh fruit!
With a Christmas Eve service at our church, we normally split our meal between the main course and the dessert course, saving the chocolate fondue for when we get home from church. (Of course that way we have more room for chocolate and fruit too!!) It’s a great way to get a sugar rush right before heading to bed! Lol!
One of my favourite things to do during the Christmas season is to go for a drive in the evening and look at Christmas lights. I love Christmas lights. As I wrap up the 12 Days of Christmas series, I thought I would write about the first Christmas light – the star that caught the wise men’s attention.
Throughout the Bible, God uses nature to convey messages to us. For example, a rainbow as a promise to never flood the whole world again as first seen by Noah, and dew on a wool fleece but not on the surrounding ground to show Gideon that God would save Israel.
The star in the sky at Christmas was used as a sign to let us know that the Son of God had come to Earth. The Messiah had been born.
All of nature is used to tell us about God. Psalms 19:1-3 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” No matter what language we speak or understand, in looking at the beauty and complexity of nature all around us, we can see God’s work and His glory. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Paul is saying here in Romans, that people have no excuse for rejecting God as all of nature testifies of his existence.
In looking at the complexities of a flower, or even a tree, nature is speaking to us. Each part of nature has a purpose in our world and how each part fits together and works together to make earth a place where we can live is amazing.
Thinking about the time when Jesus was in a boat with the disciples as told in Matthew 8:23-27, Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves and they listened to him. The wind and the waves calmed down. Only the God who created all of nature could do something like that.
From the rainbow in Genesis right through to the prophecies about what will happen in nature in Revelation, God uses nature to get our attention. The star that was the first Christmas light, was meant to get our attention as well. As you prepare to celebrate Christmas tomorrow, remember the real reason why we celebrate. Jesus came to earth to redeem us through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas!