Preparing for Christmas

Another Christmas season is just around the corner. K-Mart and Walmart are ready. The question is are you? How do we truly prepare for Christmas? For help we turn to John the Baptist’s message in Luke 3:3-6.  

We detect a tone of urgency in John the Baptist’s voice as he goes through the land of Judea asking people to change and repent for the kingdom of God was about to dawn upon humankind.  Back in the good old days when a king of the east prepared to make tour of his kingdom, he would send a courier, a personal attendant hired to make arrangements for the journey and to prepare the roads. Even in our day, when the U.S. president decides to visit a city, days are spent in preparation of the city for his arrival. Every porthole is filled and streets made secured and beautiful for the coming of the president. In the gospel of Luke, John is acting as a courier of the ultimate king to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is asking the people to prepare themselves, to come to repentance and be baptized, and be ready to receive their king. In this way John the Baptist fulfilled what was prophesied through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3-6). The voice of the prophet is calling us to focus on God, make straight path for Him to come into our lives. We cannot find God through Christmas gifts or through Santa, but by removing obstacles in order to make a straight path for Him to come into our lives.

One obstacle mentioned in verse 5 is valleys. Valleys are representative of people who are going through a very dark time in their lives (See Psalm 23:4). We know people who are going through some very dark valleys. Some have lost loved ones, some have lost jobs, some are in financial crisis, and some have medical bills piled up so high that they cannot see Christmas. Some of our neighbors are living in the valley under the shadow of a hard life. These people in the valley consumed by suffering fail to see God in this season when others go to shopping malls and spend big money. John the Baptist’s voiced cried out to people saying, “Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low.” People are being called to prepare for the coming of our Lord by filling up these valleys, by lifting people up with the good news of Jesus, their Savior who would one day wipe away every tear from their eyes. Whether it is spending time with those who do not have families, or comforting those who have lost loved ones, or sharing financial blessings with those in crisis, we are being called to fill up those valleys so people can see God coming into their lives

The other obstacle mentioned in verse 5 is every mountain and hill. In order make God’s path straight we also have to deal with the mountains and hills of our lives. Mountains and hills are symbolic of our pride, ego, and our affluence. Our Christmas to a certain extent is defined by these mountains. We also lose sight of God who is coming in the midst of these mountains. Our Christmas is defined by who has the most beautifully lit and decorated house and who has the most money to play Santa well. We must bring down these mountains and hills, and see ourselves as we truly are; as spiritually poor people needing God’s mercy and grace. Then only can we allow God to make a straight path into our lives.

            Another obstacle mentioned in the same verse is the sin in our lives. The voice of John cries out to make “The crooked roads straight, the rough ways smooth.” The crooked and rough ways of our world will have to be dealt with in order to make a straight path for the Lord. These are symbolic of sins in our lives. Are there sins in our lives that we need to repent for? Are there crooked ways of the world within us, hidden lust or greed, or self-centeredness? Do we need to address them before God? Are there rough ways of the world within us? Are there rough ways of bitterness, anger, jealousy, ill will within us that we need to address before God? John the Baptist went around preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.  The crooked ways have to be made straight, the sins of our lives have to be confronted and repented for, if we want to build a straight path for the Lord to come to us this Christmas. Are you ready? If not, now you know what to do, lift the lowly, humble the pride and repent of sin.