Vicki shares her thought for the week; choices.

So with it being December and my Christmas decorations are already up, I have been rereading the account of Jesus’ birth. Something struck me this time of reading that this is an account full of choices.

If we look at Joseph, for example, the angel spoke to Joseph about how Mary was going to have a baby and that they should call it Jesus. Joseph had a choice as to whether he could abandon Mary, which perhaps may have been an easier choice for Joseph, or whether he would listen to what he had been told by God and stick with Mary and raise this child as he had been asked. And then if we think about the wise men, the wise men had a choice. They had been studying stars, plural, and they had a choice as to whether they were going to give this one star significance, priority. And ultimately whether they were going to follow that star.

And then if we think about the shepherds, they had a choice when the angel spoke to them and told them to go to Bethlehem. They had a choice. They could go, but perhaps that would mean leaving their flock. Perhaps they were able to find somebody to look after them. I’m not sure they would have abandoned them altogether, but still they would have had to make arrangements. It would have been something different to perhaps what they had planned, but they made a choice to leave their flock and to follow the star as they had been directed.

And this Christmas we have that same choice. We have the choice to perhaps carry on as normal. Maybe carry on as normal means that you get swept up in the Santa and the lights and the tinsel and they’re all really great. But maybe this year for you doing something different means prioritizing Jesus above that. Perhaps for you this Christmas, you want to make that choice to follow that star, to follow that star to find Jesus. And maybe if you already are a Christian, you might make the choice to make sure that you are helping, just as that star did, lead others to find Jesus this Christmas.

Have a good week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.