As I type this I am sitting in the Portico at VBC. There are wreaths on the walls, garland across long tables, and a small forest of Christmas trees scattered about. Out in the field to the north, final preparations are underway for our annual Lighting the Path event. The manger scene is being set up, the last lights are being fixed in place, and checklists are being consulted to make sure everything is ready to go. One of the most important details, and one of the most complex, is getting power to everything. Electricity comes thrumming into the main church building from the city grid, but it has to be intentionally and skillfully distributed to the many final destinations where it can do its work and give off its glorious light. The difference between Lighting the Path, and standing in the dark surrounded by Lights and a Path is significant.

Like powering all the lights for Christmas, connecting our faith to every aspect of our lives is sometimes a challenge. It is easy to overlook. We can gather around a nativity set, sing Christmas carols, and enjoy reading the Christmas story, but fail to connect our faith in the coming of Jesus to the circumstances of our lives. Faith is not a fuzzy feeling, it is a settled conviction. It is a belief in concrete realities – the kind of concrete that foundations are made of. Foundations are of little use, however, if they are not built on. Light bulbs are unimpressive if they are not powered.

So far, so obvious, right? Indeed. But it is still the obvious things that so often need the most attention. My father was an electronics technician for a time, and he often commented that 80% of all problems were not with the advanced circuitry of the electronic device, but a simple lack of power. Many tech representatives can attest to the number of bewildering problems that have been solved by the question, “Can you look behind the desk and see if it is plugged into the wall?”

So here is a simple Christmas exercise to close the chasm that may exist in our faith between the reality of Jesus’ birth and the reality of our daily lives.

Take a minute and answer these questions:

Today, what am I most:

Afraid of? Anxious about? Confused by? Angry with? Discouraged in?

Excited about? Consumed by? Happy in? Looking forward to? Encouraged through?

Having listed those ten things (by yourself, or as an exercise with your family), take them one at a time and plug them into the reality of Jesus’ coming.

Because Jesus came, I know that ____________ is true about my situation, and that God thinks ___________ about it. Therefore, I can encourage my heart to feel ___________ about the situation. The reality of Christ’s work means that I have been given ____________ in this situation so that I can worship and obey by doing __________.

In a world of moral, ethical, and social confusion, enjoy the clarity that Christmas brings. Because He came, I can build a series of logical, truthful statements that begins with I know God sent His Son into this world to save sinners, and ends with I know God is pleased with me in Christ and how I must follow Him today. In this way, the Power that lay in the manger can glow through us, and not only before us.

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.
Proverbs 4:18