Digging Deeper into the Christmas Story

So it is finally December, and it is around Christmas time. In my Bible study at school, we are going through the book of Luke, and we are talking about the birth of Jesus. But we are talking about the passage in more than just a story that we hear once a year. You won’t believe how much knowledge you can gain in just 7 verses. The passage I’m sharing with you today is Luke 2:1-7 which goes:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Now I’m going to break down the passage some, but I’m not going to do all the work for you. The passage starts off by talking about some historical facts about the times. During our Bible study, someone asked why was that important. Well these historical facts could be compared to public records, to prove that what was happening in the Bible, actually happened. It gives us a reference point, to what was going on during Jesus’s life.

But there is more to that. Caesar made the decree. At that time Caesar was the ruler of the known world. He was the most powerful human at the time, and his decisions affected the child of God. If the decree wasn’t made than Jesus could have been born in any place else but a manger.

But if you look out farther, it really shows that God is in control. It had been prophesied that Jesus will be born in the town of David, and if it wasn’t for the decree that was made by Caesar, then Jesus wouldn’t be born in the town of David. It goes to show you that God is in charge of everyone, no matter how powerful you are.

Now for the second part of these verses. I’m not going to break it all down for you, but give you some questions for you to ponder. There are no right or wrong answers though, and if you want to share what you think in the comments then go ahead.

Was it important that Mary was only pledged to Joseph and not married to him?

Why is it significant that Jesus was born into complete poverty, when he could be born into wealth and money because he is God?

Does the distant that Mary and Joseph traveled add anything to the birth of Jesus?

These are just three questions from a multitude of questions you could ask. Christmas is more than just a baby born in a manger. When you dig in deep in the actually passage, than you can discover so much more. I pray that you take time to dig deeper into the story of Jesus’s birth.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for you son that came to this Earth to save us from our sins. Thank you for your Word, so that we may grow closer to you, and we can truly find out how great and powerful you are. Be with us this Christmas season, as we share this time with our family and friends. Amen.

How to go Deeper- Part 2

So on Saturday I talked on how to read the Bible so that you can understand what you are reading. Today, I am going to talk about taking what you learned and apply it to your life. God gave us the Bible, as a way to shape our lives after him, and to do that, we need to implement what we learned into our lives. To refresh your minds, this is where we left off last time.

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Comments

Red:The disciples trusted Jesus enough to follow Him into a boat in the middle of an lake.

Orange: Everything happened so fast that they couldn't prepare for it, like getting off the lake. But Jesus then calmed the storm as fast as it came up. Time wasn't an issue for Jesus. 

Yellow: He was there and he could be called upon when needed. Nothing disturbs him. 

Green: Desperation of the disciples whose trust was now gone. 

Blue: Showing how little trust the disciples had in Jesus, that he had everything under control. 

Purple: New to them, never seen before in any one else.

Pink: Shows how Jesus is the ruler over everything. 

So we have the annotations. Because I'm going to write from my perspective, you might think something different and that is totally fine. The storm in my life right now is my math class, again. My grades plummeted so fast, like the storm in the story, and there was no way I could stop it.  While I was desperately trying to figure out what to do about my grade, God had everything under control. Through this, I was never left to drown, or left on my own. But like the disciples, I had little faith in the storm. I saw how last year God used my math grade to help me become a better person, and I have seen the amazing things that he has done in my life over and over again, but the storm made me near sighted. Jesus is the ruler over everything, and I need to trust that he has everything under control.  Even when he feels far away he is still there.  

From the comparison I made to the story, I found out that I struggle with trusting God.  This is an area that I need to work on, and to read more about. I may also want to pray for trust in God, before I go into a difficult situation. Now we each have our own weakness and strengths, and God gave us the Bible to helps us find those, and to grow in them and in Him. You may not have time to read this deep everyday, but doing it once a week can make a difference. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for giving us your word. Help us to read and understand what it is saying. And as we read and discover more of who you are and who we are in you, help us to implement it into our lives,so that we can be a light to the world.  Amen.

 

How to go Deeper

Many of us know that we are suppose to read our Bibles. We have either heard it from our pastors, family, friends, or just from reading my blog. Reading the Bible is very important. But there is a difference between reading the Bible, and understanding what it says. Anyone can pick up the Bible and read it, but it takes time and effort to understand it. I know I have talked about reading the Bible, but today I want to provide an example of what it means to actually understand what the Bible is saying. So I'm going to go through one of my readings. Below is the verses and it is the story of when Jesus calmed the storm. This will be broken into two days, because if I put it in one day, it would get to long.

Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus Calms the Storm

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

The first step is to read the passage. You can't understand something that you didn't read.

The second step that I do is to ask any questions that might help clarify the passage, like traditions back then, or the history around an event. One question I had was how sturdy was this boat? Back then they didn't have the ships like we do today. The boats they had weren't sturdy, and they could be easily overturned. 

The third step I do is to reread the passage and mark it up. That could be highlighting it, making comments or connections, just whatever you do to understand the passage better. So below is my highlighting and comments. 

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Comments

Red:The disciples trusted Jesus enough to follow Him into a boat in the middle of an lake.

Orange: Everything happened so fast that they couldn't prepare for it, like getting off the lake. But Jesus then calmed the storm as fast as it came up. Time wasn't an issue for Jesus. 

Yellow: He was there and he could be called upon when needed. Nothing disturbs him. 

Green: Desperation of the disciples whose trust was now gone. 

Blue: Showing how little trust the disciples had in Jesus, that he had everything under control. 

Purple: New to them, never seen before in any one else.

Pink: Shows how Jesus is the ruler over everything. 

Now this is where I am going to stop for today. Next time, i'm going to talk about how you take your comments and annotations and relate them to you. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving us your word to read, so that we may get to know you better, and we are able to follow your will for our lives. I know that it takes time to truly sit down to figure out the meaning of a passage, but I pray that you will help us find time, once a week at least, to go deeper into your word. Thank you for saving us from what ever storm we are in Lord. Amen.