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(K) a return to normality
When I removed the Christmas decorations, packed them and put them back in their old place, I told myself that I could finally return to normal. Whatever that normality may be. Once somebody told me that normalcy is just a function on the tumble dryer and I suspect that most people think this is true.
Should we go back to normal after Christmas? Can we go back to what we were after we experienced Jesus? His birth touches us with the majesty that God became one of us, having given up his glory and place with the Father to live as a man like us. He ate, drank and slept (Philippians 2). He made himself a vulnerable, helpless baby who relied on his parents to guide him safely through childhood.
During his ministry, he gave us an insight into the power he possessed by healing people, calming the stormy seas, feeding the multitudes, and even raising the dead. He also showed us his soulful, loving side, by showing charity to the people who had been rejected by society.
We are touched by it when we walked on his path of suffering, which he courageously and trusting in his father up to his fate, death on the cross. I get tears in my eyes as I think of the loving care for his mother and the prayer for forgiveness for those responsible for his death. He sent the Holy Spirit to encourage, help and inspire us forever. He did not leave us alone and we are comforted and strengthened daily by his presence. Jesus calls us to him as we are, but he doesn't want us to stay that way. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to make us a new creation. Unlike who we were before we were renewed by him. In 2. Corinthians 5,17 it says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed, see, the new has come. "
We can - and many people do the same - continue to think and live after hearing the story of Jesus with His Hope-giving Life. As we do so, we may deny him access to the most intimate part of our heart, just as we are likely to keep a casual acquaintance, friend or even spouse away from our innermost thoughts and feelings. It is possible to block the Holy Spirit and keep him at a distance. He will allow it sooner than to force our way.
Yet Paul's advice in Romans 12,2 is that we let it change us through the renewal of our minds. This can only happen if we give our whole life to God: our sleeping, eating, going to work, our everyday life. Receiving what God does for us is the best we can do for him. If we turn our attention to him, we are transformed from the inside out. Not like the society around us that tries again and again to pull us down to the level of immaturity, but God brings out the best in us and develops maturity in us.
If we let Christ change our lives, we will behave like Peter and John who amazed the rulers, elders, scholars of Jerusalem and the people. These simple men became courageous and confident defenders of the faith because they were one with Jesus in spirit (Acts 4). For them and for us, once we come into contact with His grace, we cannot go back to normal.
by Tammy Tkach
