What are you doing to prepare for Jesus?

Last Thursday I was sitting in the dentist chair getting my teeth cleaned and my hygienist asked, “Are you ready for Christmas yet?”

Well, I hadn’t done any shopping. Our cards are not written, addressed or sent. We have done no decorating yet. I know of no special baking that has happened in our home. But rather than saying we are not ready for Christmas, I told my hygienist, “I think the best way to get ready for Christmas is to prepare our hearts.”

We talked about that idea for a moment.

Are you ready for Christmas? How are you doing in your preparations? Do you have your gifts purchased, your cards addressed and sent, your home decorated? Do you have a tree yet? Those are just some of the preparations that can make the holiday season seem overwhelming in lives that are already overly busy. And don’t forget the parties, trips and baking. The bustle of traditional Christmas preparations can bring weariness rather than peace and joy to this time of year.

But Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Christmas is the celebration that the God of love and the God of life has broken into a world of sin and death. For Christians, preparing for Christmas is not so much preparing for an event or for a celebration. For Christians, preparing for Christmas is preparing for a person, preparing for Christ.

The people of Jesus’ day were directed to prepare for his coming. John the Baptist was God’s messenger to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. Do you remember how John called people to prepare? In Mark 1:3-4 we are told of John as “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

John called people of his day to prepare for Jesus’ coming in their lives through baptism and repentance that led to forgiveness in Jesus. What does this mean as we prepare for Christmas? Since Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ coming, here are some suggestions to prepare for Jesus in your life.

• Worship: If you haven’t been worshiping, do so. If you have been worshiping, use this as a special opportunity to let God come to you with his Christmas love.

• Meditation and devotion: Before decorating your home, why not decorate your heart with the word of God?

• Prayer time: Christmas is about God coming to us. Amazingly, God lets us go to him in prayer. What is on your heart? Let God know, and listen to his response.

• Christmas music: There is much holiday music, but some of my favorite music of all time are the songs and carols that sing of Jesus’ birth.

Perhaps focusing on preparing for Jesus rather than a holiday might bring peace and joy to your holiday.

Jonathan Rockey is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer.

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