Hosanna Restoration Church

Oh yes the season of continual thanksgiving has begun. The celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one true God, is upon us. It is a good time to reflect on our own lives and check up on our road to the manger! What do I mean by our own road to the manger? Well, just like Jesus, we all must have been to the manger. If not, then we have not yet been reborn into the kingdom of God.

Before Jesus came to the manger, He had a life with God in glory. He did much in that life. The bible tells us that He made everything. He was in the beginning with God and He was God and is God and well, you get the picture. In Philippians we are told that we should have the same attitude as Jesus did. Even though He was God, He did not cling to His rights as God. He humbled Himself and came to the manger. So let’s look at the road to the manger.

In the Bible we have examples of different roads that people took to the manger. The disciples each had a different road. Paul is one whose road stands out. That is perhaps why he ended up writing a good portion of the New Testament. There he was, the top of the hill in the religious circles. He was chasing down Christians and having them put in prison and killed. Little did he know when he was doing this that he was on the way to the manger. He hated the manger and all it represented. There are many people in that very place even today. There are people sitting in churches singing about the babe in the manger who really hate the whole idea of being reborn. They fight against the idea of being born again and baptized into Christ. They want to do the things the way they have always done them, but it just is not working. If you are in that place, don’t worry; get on the road to the manger.

The first step onto the road to the manger is realizing that we need to go there. Having that attitude that Jesus did and humbling ourselves in the sight of God and opening our hearts to His guidance starts us on the fast lane to the manger. Those of you who have more understanding are already seeing that even after a long time with the Lord, we come to places where we need to return to that manger. These are places and pieces of us that have somehow missed the new life. These are attitudes and fruits that are not becoming of a child of God. But let’s get back on the track here.

In Paul’s case, there was a bright light that came and blinded him to everything else around him. It helped him focus on what was important. Has there been a time in your life when it seemed that everything was out of control and you were looking for a way out? Did that way out turn out to be Jesus? Or did some other temporary fix come along. Did you go to the manger? Think about it!