Tis The Season

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.-Ecclesiastes 3:1, 1 Cor. 15:8 (NKJV)

I am thinking about seasons.  The author of Ecclesiastes lists fifteen pairs of seasons that are opposites, starting with, "a time to be born and a time to die".  One translator writes, "opportune time", for season.  It's like a season is a window of opportunity.

But what if you miss an opportunity or that opportunity is closed off by others?  What if the plan or the positive, logical, sequence of events, is aborted?  Paul's ministry came in a different or peculiar way.  It was born out of due time; not in season, to the natural eyes.

This is Christmas week.  It is the season to celebrate Jesus birth.  But, there are people who are suffering loss right now.  They are in a sad place.  So, there are two season's going on in their lives, out of harmony.

I believe that God supplies the grace for people who seem to be out of season.

The person who is out of season carries a sort of stigma, that is like what Joseph, Mary and Jesus experienced, their whole lives.

Mary's miraculous conception was something that even Joseph had a hard time with.  It is interesting that Elisabeth was the one person that had no trouble getting it, because she was already pregnant herself with a special child.  It is a gift from God, when we find people who understand, because God has already been working in their lives, in an extraordinary way.

This a message from the Christmas story.  

Tis the season when God intervened.  Remember the words later of Simeon, who met Mary & Joseph, with Jesus, when he was 8 days old:
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,According to Your word;For my eyes have seen Your salvationWhich You have prepared before the face of all peoples,A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,And the glory of Your people Israel.”
And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” -Luke 2:25-35
I am not going to do a study here on what Simeon's words might mean, but in today's language, perhaps, it could be said, that he (Jesus) is going to shake things up and sort things out.  Jesus came to save us, to bring us into salvation.  He himself causes people to make a choice.

This week, I have been thinking about the verse that says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God" (Rom. 1:16).  Jesus is the answer.  Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life; because he wanted us to know that it is all about him - living in him and letting him live through us.

The hope of the world is Jesus.  The gospel is the news about his coming to save us and bring us into God's kingdom, here and now.


Blessings to you,

Steve 

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