By a Different Road
““On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And
having been warned in a dream not to go back to
Herod, they returned to their country by another route.“
-Matthew 2:11-12
Have you ever had an experience that changed the way you look at the world? If you haven’t I guarantee that you will at some point. The truth is that this is the whole point of being on a journey. We learn things as we go. Our worldview is shaped and changed by our experience of God in our lives because God did not bring us this far just to leave us now. Last week we talked about how the journey is an important part of our lives. But many times on this journey, we have to turn and continue in a different direction. These moments that change us little by little are like course corrections in our lives. They take us into the world by a different road than we came in on. This is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination because with every confrontation God changes us little by little. This last month we have all been on a journey together. We started with a call, a call to transformation. Then we were confronted with the importance that Christ came because we needed him. We were then reminded that we should be encouraged by the real reason for the season. Hopefully this journey has not all been for naught. We are not left asking ourselves, “Okay we made it down this trail so what’s next?” Christmas changes us. The birth of the Christ child changed everything and that should transform us.
