Can you smell the aroma… Of Christmas cookies, of course?!

While reflecting on the birth of Jesus, especially the conditions of the location (a smelly stable), I could somewhat relate as the grandson’s potty training was part of our daily routine. That meant “potty-runs” were scheduled every 30 minutes throughout our fun-filled days of baking cookies. And yes, rewards for making the “big reveal” in the potty were yummy Christmas cookies. Today was a day of an even bigger reward as another Paw Patrol stuffed doggie was welcomed into the pack!

For a toddler, cookies and stuffed animals can light up a face like it’s the best thing ever. It is also understandable that they believe the whole world revolves around their wants and needs causing them to be the center of everything. But how important it is for each one to begin to grasp, that the world revolves around Jesus, a Savior, donning the skin of man and coming into a sinful world to bring the greatest gift!

To help us focus on Jesus for the month of December, we look for our little shepherd boy, David. Our grandson loves to find him each morning and see his progression on his journey to discover where the baby Jesus will be born. And that’s what we celebrate: the birth of a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord and how He brings change to a broken, sinful world. Five days after honoring Jesus’ birthday, we have the privilege of celebrating our grandson on his birthday which has brought about loads of change and “changing” as well, for Gram and Pop!

Jesus was born to change our lives! We were re-born to reflect that change as we search to know Him more and more throughout the entire year.

Ann Spangler wrote Immanuel: Praying the Names of God through the Christmas Season and of the need for change: “He was the atmosphere in which [the early Christians] lived, worked, prayed, suffered, and loved. They understood that their happiness depended not on having things their way, but on being completely aligned with Christ, uniting themselves to his character and purposes, regardless of the personal cost.”

Paul David Tripp’s devotional: New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional reflects that transforming change:

“It really is a very different way of looking at life. It’s a very different basis for making decisions. It’s a very different template for deciding how you should act, react, and respond. It’s a very different way of thinking about who you are and what you’re supposed to be doing. It is a radical way of living, quite different from the worldview that is preached all around us.

The common cultural worldview has you at the very center. It says that life is all about your pursuit of happiness. When someone or something makes you unhappy, it says that the world is not operating the way it is supposed to operate. It really does pull the walls of your motivation and concern to the tight confines of your wants, your needs, and your feelings. But the Bible presents a polar opposite worldview that is to form the identity and lifestyle of every believer. Scripture asserts that you were bought with a price (the life and death of Jesus), so you don’t belong to you anymore (actually, because of creation, you never did belong to you). Take time to look at 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, which applies this truth to something as personal as your sexual life.

God has a purpose for you. It is that you would live as one of his representatives; that is, that you would live representatively. And what are you representing? You are called to represent your Savior King. And what does that . . . look like? Representing the King means you represent his message, his methods, and his character. Representing the King’s message means that you look at every situation and relationship in life through the lens of the truth of Scripture—the center of which is the gospel of Jesus Christ—and determine to help others look at life that way too. Representing his methods means that you seek to be a tool of the kind of change he intends to make in people and in the world around you. And representing his character simply means asking yourself again and again, “What of the person, work, and character of the Lord Jesus Christ does this person need to see in the situation that he or she is now in?”

There is no better word for this bigger-purpose-than-my-happiness way of living that God has called each of us to than the word ambassador. It reminds us that there is a King and that we are not him. It moves us to remember once again that our lives do not belong to us. And it puts practical legs on what it means to represent the Savior King in practical ways every day. God’s grace has not only rescued you but has included you in much bigger and more beautiful purposes for your life than you would have ever chosen on your own” 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.

At Christmas time, I’m always drawn to Mary, the mother of Jesus! She didn’t view her life as her own to be lived for comfort or ease. And she totally understood this “bigger-purpose-than-my-happiness” equation!

How are you training for your ambassadorial duties? If change is hard for you, Christmas is the perfect time to align yourself with “a bigger-purpose-than-my-happiness” point of view!

Blessings to you this Christmas and always! Scarlett