Into The Chaos

I really love Christmas time. It’s such a festive time of the year. We get to see Christmas decorations on people’s houses, hear Christmas carols, bake cookies, and we get to experience things we normally wouldn't experience any other time of the year. For example, putting things outside that should be inside (lights), and putting things inside that should be outside (trees). But it is such an amazing time. I wouldn’t trade this time of the year in for the world.

And around this time of year we hear a lot of really good words floating around…love, joy, peace, goodwill to men. These words are great, but sometimes the reality of these words seems to get stuffed down amidst the chaos and busyness of the Christmas season. I find it funny that Christmas time is the time where we hear words of love, joy, peace and hope, yet it’s one of the most chaotic times of the year. When ya think about it, they’re actually two extremes. They seem opposed to one another…

I was in my devotions this week, and I stumbled onto a verse from the Psalms that just gives so much clarity to these two extremes:

“God make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life” – Psalm 51:10 MSG

We all know by now that chaos and busyness isn’t just a symptom of Christmas time; it’s a symptom of life; it’s actually a symptom of a world that’s broken and in need of fixing. And that is what the Christmas season, the season of ADVENT is centered around. It is about the hope, joy and all around anticipation of a savior coming in to the chaos and brokenness of the world to redeem and restore it…to ultimately fix it. The reason we hear about hope, joy, peace and love this time of year more than any other time, is because it marks the start of a new beginning. That’s what the word Genesis in this verse means: beginning…so, in Christmas time, we actually have a new beginning. It’s a new Genesis, so to speak. Do you think it’s any coincidence that we make New Year’s resolutions right after Christmas time? It’s a time for a fresh start, a new beginning.

So in this time of year especially, but at any time we can freely come before God and rely on him to make something new out of the chaos and brokenness of our lives. We have a fresh start, a new beginning because Jesus, our savior, has broken into the chaos of human history, and because he loves us, he desperately wants to break into the chaos of our lives as well if we allow him to. That’s the good news of Jesus, and that is the reason we gather and celebrate this time of year.

As we go about our Christmas to do lists and our cookie baking, let’s remember that ADVENT is about God entering into this chaotic life with us, so that he can create a new beginning in us.