Tuesday, December 17, 2013
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I've been short and I've been tall. When I interviewed some professional football players, I had to fully extend my arm in order just to get the microphone up to their mouths. I was short. And then I went to Singapore and the Philippines, and I was tall! When I was in Manila I thought I could be in the NBA; I could play professional basketball there. Yeah, I was tall there. Of course, it's all a matter of what standards you compare yourself to. With that in mind, I have some great news for you this Christmas. Man, you are rich!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Realizing You're Rich."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 8:9, and it, by the way, is really what Christmas looks like from God's perspective. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich."
When this talks about God's Son being rich, I mean we're talking about rich beyond our comprehension; owning (the Bible says) the cattle on a thousand hills; owning the hills that the cattle are on. Having made 100 billion galaxies with His hand, there's not a thumb-breadth of the universe that doesn't belong to Him. And yet He came to the bottom rung of earth, wrapped in cloths, lying in hay in a stable. Boy, that says it all: from so rich to so poor.
Now, I said you're rich, and it all depends on what you measure by, just like being short or tall. If you measure by Jesus' life on earth, you and I are millionaires. He had no place to sleep, no place to lay His head. I'm guessing you do. He had to travel on a borrowed donkey, remember? You probably have a more reliable way than that to get around. Mine's got 150,000 miles on it, but it gets around and I don't have to borrow it. He had to borrow a lunch; I'll bet you have one. He had to borrow a coin to tell a story; you probably have a little money in your wallet right now. He wore a poor man's robe; you probably had some choices of clothes this morning.
See, the Bible says, "A servant is not better than his master", but we sure are better off than He was, and He's the Son of God. When I compare my lifestyle to my Master's, I'm suddenly very thankful for things I've never counted as wealth before. If you want to compare with some people who have some more money, or a bigger house, or a nicer car, well good. You get to live in a state of constant discontentment, complaining and striving.
But if you compare yourself with your Lord Jesus, you will fall down on your knees in gratitude this Christmas. By His grace, He allows most of us to live far better than He did. Our expectations should be based on being a Jesus-follower, and that means I expect very little materially on earth. But you and I have very much compared to Him.
So, Christmas touches us on a very personal level; it changes my material expectations, and it changes grumbling to gratitude. It changes my hanging onto things for myself to letting them go for others as my Master did.
Christmas is a time for realizing you're rich and for surrendering for His use all the wealth He's entrusted to you.