My Proper Position Before The Manger Of Christ

December 23, 2014

My Proper Position Before The Manger Of Christ

Every knee will bend to me,

    and every tongue will declare allegiance to me

Isaiah 45:23b

The prophesy about Jesus from Isaiah is fulfilled by the words of the Apostle Paul: “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Christmas is most known for glitter and bows, pageants and cantatas, and decorations that range from the sublime to the gaudy. For most of our marriage, Cheryl and I shied away from decorating our house. Before I retired we were always on the go through the season, and after working on Christmas Eve we were traveling on Christmas Day to visit family. Things changed when we retired. For our first Christmas in our own home we went all out with decorations, even though it was just the two of us, and our faithful Springers. Our second Christmas was even more special. We both had experienced significant medical issues, and we very happy just to be alive. This year our six-year-old granddaughter is making her first visit to our mountain home and we are taking ‘special’ up a notch.

While I am very much looking forward to having family join us in our home this Christmas, I am also guarding against getting too caught up in all the commercialization and secularization that try desperately to rob Christmas of the shocking truth of what God has done for us. Next to our Christmas tree we have a beautiful crèche carved from olive tree wood that we purchased in Bethlehem.

I love it as a reminder of our visit to Israel, but I often find myself smiling as I gaze upon it and remember the archeological site we visited near Megiddo. The artifacts there included a manger hewn out of solid rock and the remnants of what a stable would have been like when Jesus was born. It was not the pretty, quaint, and warm snuggly environment depicted on Christmas cards.

I’m OK with some of the sentimental stuff, and nostalgia about Christmas celebrations has its place, as long as they point me to my proper position before the manger of Christ as announced by Isaiah: “Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.