Ever heard that line before? I know I have and it was usually around this time of year when I was growing up and had high hopes for a certain gift to show up under or near the tree on Christmas morning. And upon first inspection when we came down on Christmas morning, if I did not see any package that could possibly hold what I was longing for, my hopes were quickly dashed. Don’t judge me, I bet it happened to you as well.
I think at times, my parents even detected the increasing disappointment that was building and would mutter something to that point reminding me big things coming in small packages. They were usually alluding to a ‘note’ that was craftily wrapped and when opened, it directed me to some other part of the house where once again, all was right in my world when I discovered my wish had been granted.
How fitting...that a similar scenario which most likely has taken place in countless homes around this time for years, is similar to what probably happened over two thousand years ago when something really, really ‘Big’ arrived on the scene wrapped up as a baby infant. And folks were looking for and expecting a ‘bigger package’.
The funny thing about God is He doesn’t always give us what we ‘want’, but He is faithful about providing us with what we ‘need’. It just takes some of us longer to discover that. And often times being able to distinguish the difference between the two can be challenging for us.
The Jewish people were looking for a promised deliverer, the Messiah. The one whom God said was on the way and would deliver them from their darkness and oppression. They just failed to see that the true source of their darkness and oppression was; like most of us do.
How many times have we thought or said to ourselves...”If only I had ______...I would he happy and content”. Maybe you filled in that blank with any number of things like a new job, or the right spouse, or body size, or salary or home or truck, etc.
When God did finally arrive on the scene, robed in human flesh in the form of the Christ child, He was not what people were looking for nor hoping for. Even as He grew older and began His earthly ministry...He still...did not ‘fit the bill’ of their expectations. And His message He came preaching certainly did nothing to convince them otherwise.
The Jewish people were indeed oppressed...and in darkness, along with the rest of the entire world. Remember, God’s ‘gift’ was not just for the Jewish race but the ‘whole world’. (John 3:16)
What most failed to see though was the source of all that darkness and oppression; and it was not the Roman Empire like most were convinced of back then.
There was, and still is much darkness and oppression throughout the world as we celebrate and recall the coming of the Christ child. And once again, we should be joyfully reminded that ‘big things do indeed, come in small packages’.
He truly did come, and continues to do to this day....”exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could think or ask...according to the power that works...IN us...” (Eph. 3:20)
That is not just some metaphor or figurative language to be tossed around....in a church service and then we all get in our cars and go home ...unchanged.
Go back and read that verse again in Eph. 3:20. Then read John 10:10 and ask yourself if you have truly ‘opened that gift’ yet and are experiencing it today. I’m here to tell you that most have not; and I only base that on what most people openly profess about their lives today. If the best you are experiencing is a hope for a better eternal future when you pass from this life, then you’ve not opened up that gift.
Jesus came to not only ‘save us from our sins’ (Matt. 1:21), He came to set us free in ways you never dreamed possible and that was from the bondage of sin where you could live a transformed life and ‘sin no more’....according to the power that works In you; and it was not your power but HIS that was supposed to be doing the work.
Imagine being that young child on Christmas morning who receives that long awaited prized toy they so desperately wanted (and thought they ‘needed’), only to discover that batteries are required. But no batteries came with; and no batteries can be found anywhere in the house.
So at best...they can just play with that new item and just make it go through the motions on their own adding their own sounds and movement.
That, my friends, is what so many have done with the gift God sent to us in the form of Jesus. They have been devoid of the power that did indeed ....’come with’. But sadly, most were told ‘He doesn’t do that anymore’, or ‘it’s not possible for it to work that way’.
When I said at the start that ‘big things come in small packages’, I’m telling you we have no idea just how ‘big’ God was thinking.
“Exceedingly....abundantly...above all we could think or ask...”
Emmanuel...God with us....He who was in the beginning...became flesh and dwelt among us.
Go back and read the instructions again....for the first time. ;- )
Merry Christmas
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