"When Herod realized that he
had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all
the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in
accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said
through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be
comforted, because they are no more." (Matt 2:16-18 NIV)
The tumultuous first Christmas culminated when Herod
decided to get rid of his potential competition of the nearly newborn Messiah.
To remove any doubt of his success, he eliminated all infants in the vicinity of
Bethlehem.
Imagine your own child being slaughtered to protect
the ambitions of an evil ruler! The pain of the inhabitants of Bethlehem was
vivid. They had lost what was most important to them. They would never, ever
forget that day and they would sadly commemorate it for the rest of their lives.
That first Christmas was a bloody one where self-interest was more important
than life itself.
How different from the self-sacrificing attitude of
the Messiah Himself. He left everything behind, His kingdom, His Father, the
multitudes who adored Him to come to this earth where people were more concerned
about themselves than others. No wonder most did not recognize Him! "He was in
the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not
recognize him." (John 1:10-11 NIV)
Although people are willing to sacrifice the lives of
others in order to promote themselves, there are some who follow the attitude of
the One born that first Christmas day.
An anxious man was seated next to one of my sons on
flight FI602.
His eyes darted around nervously until he spotted a stewardess. "Is the plane
full?" He asked hopefully. "My wife and I are separated on this flight, and I
was hoping there might be two empty seats together somewhere!"
But her answer was not what he wanted to hear. "Yes,
the plane is quite full. You'll have to wait until the doors have closed before
we'll know if there are any other available seats!"
Now the window seat next to my wife, across the aisle
from our boys, was empty, and she immediately asked our boys if one of them
would like to sit there so that the man and his wife could sit together. My
oldest son, immediately vacated his seat for the man's wife.
The anxious passenger stared in amazement. "Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you," was all he could say.
This reminded me of another flight back to the old
country. My dad had passed away, and leaving our child behind in the care of his
grandmother, we had managed to book last-minute tickets for my wife and myself.
Though we knew our baby be well cared for, our hearts were breaking for both
reasons. Naturally, due to the lateness of our booking, my wife and I had not
been assigned seats together. Our plight however, seemed to fall on dead ears,
and we had to make the transatlantic flight separated from each other.
May this Christmas bring us back to our senses. May we
realize that there is much more to life than just expecting gifts. Such
attitudes will always leave us feeling empty, wanting more. We will never feel
satisfied.
Will we be a destroyer, like Herod? Or will we be a
"builder up" kind of person, like Jesus? We must decide, once and for all! "Each
of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." (Rom 15:2 NIV)
When we decide to care more for others than for
ourselves, like the volunteers who helped out during 911, who were willing to
sacrifice their own lives to save just one, we are being "builder up" kinds of
people. But when we follow in the footsteps of Herod, we tear people down.
Will we be like Herod? Or will we be like the One we
are supposed to celebrate this Christmas? Why not love like He does this
Christmas? Why not accept His love from above and touch the lives of everyone
around us?
"May I please have your seat?"
"Who do you think you are?"
Hmmmm. Maybe we still have a lot of growing up to do!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.