Wednesday, December 19, 2012
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There's nothing quite so precious as a little child screaming on an airplane. You're a captive group; what are you going to do? A couple of people might have a suggestion for what to do with the child, but you're stuck. It happened to me on a plane not long ago. Actually we hadn't taken off yet; I guess we could have left. But here's this little five-year-old and his mother's trying to get him to sit down.
He is screaming, and hollering, and having a tantrum in the aisle, stamping his feet, and they're trying to get him seated so we could take off. And she said, "Harvey! Will you please sit down!" And he just screamed at the top of his lungs, "No! I want to drive!"
No way, baby. No way he's going to drive. There's a man up front who knows what to do with that plane. I'll let him scream all the way, but I have no interest in letting him drive. Of course, you and I probably sound like that obnoxious little kid, and Christmas brings it all to a head.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wanting to Be King."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 2, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 1. "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, magi came from the East to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him.' When King Herod heard this he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him."
Now, we know later that he was more than disturbed; he turned his anger on all those newborn babies to destroy a threat to his rule. He said, "No one else is going to be king, I'll tell you that!" You know what he was saying? "I want to drive! I'm going to stay in charge here."
Before you file King Herod away under "N" for "Not Me," consider this: most of us are willing to give Jesus everything but the one thing that matters. Oh, you'll give Him time; you'll give Him money, "Jesus, I'll give You my allegiance." "I pledge my allegiance to You! I'll go by most of Your rules." We'll give Him everything except control. In fact, we learn about King Herod in Matthew 2:8, that he said, "Tell me when you find Him that I may go and worship Him." Look, he's talking religious talk! He's got a religious exterior, but underneath he's saying, "As long as I can still be king. I want to drive."
As we count down to our annual visit to the manger, let me ask you, "Who's king in your life?" "Who's driving?" We don't mind the baby in a manger; that's kind of sweet. We don't even mind the Savior on the cross, but king on the throne; king of my life? Him driving? That's another story.
It may be that because you've run your life, you're missing the greatest word in the Christmas Story in your own heart, "Peace on earth." I had a teenager tell one of our staff, as he pointed to his heart, "It's empty in here; there's nothing there." Can you feel that this Christmas? Peace has always supposedly been over that next hill for you, but it's never come has it? Well, peace actually does begin at the top of a hill; a cross on that hill. Christ is dying there for you.
That little baby; that Jewish baby in the manger, those little hands; they made the tree He died on. It was all for you. This Christmas could be the one where you go beyond religion - Herod was religious. This can be the time when you finally walk to the cross and say, "I'm Yours, Lord." Oh, you've felt His tug on your heart recently; He's calling you to come home to Him now. It all begins when you say, "Jesus, I'm giving You what You came here for. I'm giving You me." Would you tell Him just before Christmas, "I'm Yours."
Our website is all about how to begin that relationship with Him. I urge you to go check it out today and get this settled. Get it done! YoursForLife.net is where you can go.
Like that song says, you will finally be "Home for Christmas."