For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6-7, NIV)
Have you ever wondered if your golf game has arrived? I was playing with a fellow Links Player who is a PGA professional. During this particular round I felt my game was pretty comfortable, but knew I had not arrived to my golfing potential. Then my friend started to give me some swing thoughts and posture changes. Once it was in my mind, I started working on the new advice.
Can I tell you, it was challenging. I was hitting the ball all over the place! Trying to focus on the new swing tips quickly started to get frustrating. But as I took time to practice and implement the new tips in my swing over the following weeks, it started to work.
Today’s Scripture also begged a similar question and established a great challenge. In Jesus’ time, the Jewish people found themselves asking: has the Messiah arrived? This was a common question, because Roman rule had the people hungering for a Savior.
So here came this little child, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Hardly their picture of what the Messiah would look like. How could this possibly be the one Isaiah’s prophecy had called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Price of Peace”? Would the government rest on the shoulders of a baby?
Yet on the night Jesus was born, the shepherds heeded the angels’ herald and found themselves looking in on that child and asking, “Could this be the one?” After all, the angels had told them directly: “He is the Messiah.” They were convinced enough to go to the many they knew in the neighboring area and testify to the wonder of Jesus.
Advent, the liturgical season leading up to Christmas, gains its name from a word mean “arrival.” We remember this season by aligning our hearts with those shepherds, joining their amazement with our hindsight’s understanding of who Jesus was in his fullness. Either way, Jesus is a marvel!
Often, the beauty of the miracle gets lost in the hurry and distractions of the season, but I don’t want us to miss it. I would hope you will wait with anticipation for what God promises: comfort, joy, wonder, unfailing love. He gave it to us in Jesus then, and it is fully available to us now. Our challenge is to believe it is true and lay claim to the salvation he brings.
—
Dereck Wong
December 10, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.