Devotional

The Christmas Bauble  By Pastor Nathaniel Moore

St. Croix Valley Assembly of God

Many who are reading this devotional have already decorated their Christmas trees for the season. Perhaps you have garland or popcorn on string hanging from your tree this year. However, I am willing to bet that if you have a Christmas tree that you have at least one spherical object, a Christmas bauble. Probably you never thought that there was an object lesson in a Christmas bauble. Yet I believe I can use the Christmas bauble to tell the true and complete story of Christmas. 

A circle or sphere is a good representation of the Eastern mindset. Many who are reading this come from a home where you were conditioned to think like a typical Westerner that is in a very linear way. Most in the United States view time as a progression from point A to point B and do not view time as a cycle.  So just remember the Eastern worldview is cyclical and the Western worldview is linear. Because the Bible has been written by Eastern authors, its view of human history is composed primarily of one large cycle with four major divisions.

Imagine the Christmas bauble as a way of mapping those four divisions. This is easy to think about if you consider the quarterly divisions of a standard clock. First picture the place where the string attaches to the bauble as representing point A in human history. This would be the place where mankind was created in right standing with God. However, if you follow the Biblical narrative past the creation, you come to a point where mankind (represented by Adam and Eve) rebel against God's clear instructions. This could be represented by a point a quarter of the way down the side of the bauble and I will call it point B. Because mankind rebelled, God by His nature had to punish the rebellion. The consequences would be physical death and separation from God. God's punishment or judgment is at point C, or half way down the side of the bauble. At point C mankind has no means of restoring himself back to point A or right relationship with God. Good works will never be enough to restore mankind back to right fellowship with God. The cycle is now incomplete.

In the “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4) Jesus Christ came. He was God in human flesh, who was born of a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem. He was sinless and in right relationship with God the Father. He was at Point A. From point A He met man at Point C (the point of Judgment) because he took the rebellion of mankind on Himself by His death on the Cross. However, even through His sacrifice on the cross He on his own was unable to return mankind to right relationship with God.

How could I have said that the bauble is a representation of the message of Christmas, but yet the cycle still remains incomplete? The completion of the cycle requires both mankind and God at the last division of the bauble at Point D or the 3 quarter mark.  You see Christ not only died, but he rose from the grave to give us the opportunity to accept His victory over physical death (the full victory of which is still to come), and victory over the judgment of God's law (Galatians 4:4-7). The great news is that Jesus has made a way for mankind, but it is still up to each individual to accept the greatest gift of Christmas – right relationship with God through acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ. Perhaps now you can see how the bauble can be the greatest symbol of the message of Christmas! 

If you have not made that decision and would like to know Jesus Christ, you can contact me at (207) 454-8160 or by email at stcroixvalleyag@outlook.com and I would be more than willing to walk you through accepting the greatest gift of Christmas.