Blue Ridge Community Church (Audio)

It’s Christmas! All the anticipation and preparation that has led up to this moment is palpable. Come and see our Savior through the eyes of the shepherds. Celebrate His birth, the moment that changed the world.

Having a relationship with Jesus would be so much easier if He could just come down in the flesh like He did when He was born as a baby. In a generation of seeing is believing and immediate gratification, how does a faith-based relationship thrive? Since we are created in His image, how do we honor Jesus with a life that reflects Him?

As Christmas approaches, we prepare for the holiday. For many that includes setting up the Christmas tree, stringing lights along the inside and outside of our homes or purchasing gifts for those we love and wrapping them for Christmas morning. We prepare ourselves for the family and friends that we only see around this holiday. What if we prepared ourselves regularly with the same effort for Jesus, our Savior? What could our time with Him look like if we were ready for Him.

Advent can bring warm holiday feelings for a lot of us. We think of family, friends, and maybe even the Advent Christmas calendars that have a little piece of chocolate for each day in December leading up to Christmas. But Advent is so much more. It is the anticipation of the arrival of Jesus. How can this reshape how we view and practice Advent this season?

No one assumes that they are building their life on something that will come crashing downaround them. And yet we see it again and again. We don’t knowingly sow destruction, and yet weare actively doing it with the seemingly unimportant choices, justifications, and momentsthroughout our lives that over time make up the integrity of our life’s foundation. How can welive in a way that our life will stand firm?