It’s that magical time of year! Christmas is the season of LOVE, PEACE, and JOY right? We don’t know about you; but sometimes we experience what seems to be an overwhelming mess in the midst of striving to enter into the rest of Christmas.
We hear the Christmas songs, run into the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, embrace the family dynamics, encounter the scheduling and holiday festivities AND somewhere in the midst of the “mess” we want to think that the magic of Christmas will somehow bring with it increased love, unity and intimacy into our marriage?!? Wait…this doesn’t just magically happen?
NOPE! At least for us, we have found that this “Christmas Magic” takes being intentional and it starts by seeing what lies in our hearts. We’ve all heard the saying, “The magic of Christmas lies in our hearts”? The question is “what is in our hearts?”.
In the midst of the world we live in, where what is considered “love”, what brings “peace” and where “joy” can be found are like waves tossed to and fro, Jesus, the King of Kings, flipped the world upside down and humbly came down from Heaven. Jesus didn’t run from our MESS…He RAN TO OUR MESS! Arriving in a stable, in a manager,doesn’t get much messier.
Think about it. God so LOVED us that He GAVE His son Jesus to us. Jesus GAVE Himself for us because of His Father’s LOVE in His own heart so that according to John 3:15-17: “… everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
How do we get that kind of love in our hearts so we can enter into God’s rest and be blessed in spite of the mess? Is it possible? Absolutely. Romans 10:9 says, “ If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Just as God, who is LOVE, chose to give His son, Jesus;… and Jesus, because of God’s LOVE in His own heart, chose to come down to our mess, we likewise must CHOOSE.
Choose what? To SAY with our mouth and BELIEVE in our heart that Jesus died and rose from the dead for our mess. We have to choose to RECEIVE the salvation, healing and Kingdom prosperity that Jesus died for…His SHALOM…His peace that surpasses all understanding in this world. We can have the ‘magic of Christmas”… the PEACE of Jesus, right smack dab in the middle of any and every “mess”.
So what does this have to do with Christmas and marriage? EVERYTHING. Marriage is a picture of Jesus and His Bride (Christians…those in relationship with Jesus). God’s LOVE came down at Christmas so LOVE could come into our hearts when we choose to receive Jesus as Savior. This is the true magic of Christmas…the true heart of Christmas is Jesus…the root of Christmas is LOVE Himself: God.
God’s LOVE is INTENTIONAL. God Intentionally GAVE. Jesus intentionally humbled Himself and GAVE Himself for us. Love GIVES; Love SACRIFICES and Love SERVES. Love is INTENTIONAL.
Want the “magic of Christmas” to continue long past the holiday season? It’s time for a Heart Check. What’s in your heart? Don’t let this Christmas go by without receiving Jesus as your Savior and Lord so that God’s LOVE resides in your heart.
C.S. Lewis wrote: “When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” When we receive God’s love, we are then equipped, like Jesus, to GIVE, SACRIFICE and SERVE one another in our marriage, not because of what our spouse has or hasn’t done for us; but because of what Jesus has already done to restore us, in the midst of the mess, back to God. God’s LOVE is INTENTIONAL…it is a CHOICE. BE INTENTIONAL.
Marriage Maintenance Application:
Humbly come together with your spouse this Christmas season. BE INTENTIONAL. In prayer, commit or recommit yourselves and your marriage to God. Invite Jesus into your hearts. Invite Him into the “mess”. Remember the love that brought you together, repent for neglecting the priority of your marriage and then INTENTIONALLY do the things you did to GIVE, SACRIFICE and SERVE one another in your marriage relationship. Pray together for your marriage and each other EVERY DAY through the holiday season and watch the magic of Christmas carry over into the new year as the LOVE of God grows in your hearts.
Check it out: 15 Ways to Refresh Your Marriage