by Kay-Chong Yeo
Christmas is coming.
With ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, we won’t be able to have parties and big celebrations this year. Instead of lamenting the inability to celebrate like how the world tells us we need to or should, it can be a very meaningful Christmas celebration when we re-focus on Jesus, His heart and purposes for us in 2020.
Many feel that it’s been a “washout year” and unfortunately, this includes believers. Why? Because we could not travel, socialize, have a good time, etc. While these are not necessarily unimportant, as people of God, we must be able to see the bigger picture of what God is doing this season and embrace this year of pause, disruption and reset.
2020 will truly be a washout year only IF we still don’t grasp what God is saying and doing.
2020 will truly be a washout year only IF we have not responded according to what God desires of us through this unprecedented shaking.
Worst of all, 2020 will be a total washout IF we come out of it no different in our hearts towards Jesus, even when He is knocking SO hard at the door.
That beckons us to ask the following questions:
- Is my heart more alive and more in love with Jesus and His Word?
- Have I prayed and have I laid hold of God?
- Have I moved into God’s new normal even as the world has shifted into a new normal?
- Or am I still caught up with chasing the dreams that the world tells us to chase?
What will our answer be?
Yes? Maybe? I am not sure?
Christmas 2020 has to be a time of looking back, reflecting, and giving thanks, and a time of of resetting our hearts and re-prioritizing our focus and goals in life to be aligned with God. It has to be a time where we seriously and intentionally SET our hearts for 2021 and beyond. ‘Cos times will become more challenging yet it will be glorious IF we prepare ourselves.
I have said it over and over again for the last few years:
THINGS WILL NOT GET BETTER!
BUT… WE CAN GROW STRONGER…
WE CAN BURN HOTTER…
WE CAN SHINE BRIGHTER!
I read an interesting verse recently and thought it’s kinda funny yet it is so true for many believers. Proverbs 17:10 says, “Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool.”
Hasn’t the LORD seriously shaken us this year? I can literally hear the whisper of the LORD in my spirit: “What else do you want Me to do in order to get your attention?”
Incremental changes, minor adjustments and patronising token responses will no longer be sufficient. May we not require 100 blows to awaken us.
