GodSprings - 01 December, 2016

Am I Ready for God to Break into my Life?

  

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-19

The students of the Christian Medical College help us in making our church service more meaningful by their singing. As examinations are going on, last Sunday the students asked me to lead the Praise and Worship Session. I too was busy with travel and work, and started searching for a song late night on Saturday. I asked my wife, Saumya, to help me out in the Praise and Worship. We learned a new Hindi song and we were confident. On Sunday, we both started off the Praise and Worship with a known song and then moved on to teach the new song. We started off well but something happened as we came to the chorus. We both were singing in different tune. We realized we had messed it up. The congregation was staring at us. I was embarrassed by what happened and tried my best not to put a face of embarrassment. I was praying that I may be able to handle the situation. By God’s grace I got an idea. I told them this can be used as an illustration to understand family and church life. When tunes and notes don’t match there is disharmony.  

Interruptions! It’s hard when they happen. They are one of life’s great frustrations. Everything is moving along well, and then the unexpected happens. But interruptions are inevitable. They are part of life.

And we shouldn’t be surprised by this, because God is a God of interruptions. The word “interrupt” actually comes from two Latin words: the word “intero,” which means “into,” and the word “rupere” which means “to break.” To interrupt means “to break into.” And this is what God likes to do. He likes to break into our lives.

We look to the Christmas season to be a time of perfect peace, harmony, and joy. But the first Christmas was not that way. It was an interruption.  It is all about God breaking into neatly planned tightly wrapped, well-ordered lives and doing something new.

Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. Like Christmas, an engagement is supposed to be a wondrous time. But it was during this time that an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would miraculously, as a virgin, conceive and give birth to the Son of God. What joyful news! Yet, what an interruption! How would she explain her pregnancy to Joseph? Would he believe her? Would he be willing to take on that responsibility? This was not in their plans. And yet, she accepted it.

We know how Joseph responded. He didn't believe her. How could he? His plans for a happy home with the woman he loved were dashed before his eyes. His life, as well as hers, had been powerfully interrupted.

A betrothal, an ancient engagement, was much more binding than today's engagements. The only way out of one was divorce. In fact, Joseph had the right to have her stoned to death for infidelity. Yet because he was a good man, he did not want to harm her or even embarrass her. He would divorce her privately. This was Joseph's human response to a powerful interruption. But what a mistake it would have been.

If we are not careful, our response to an interruption can send us down the wrong path. Joseph nearly went down the wrong path. When he discovered Mary's pregnancy, he was devastated. He couldn't buy her story about a virgin conception. As much as he loved her and wanted to be with her, there was nothing to do but divorce her.

We are people with full schedules. We often think that our security is in our plans, our routines, our calendars and in the control, that we imagine we have over situations and circumstances around us. So, we develop neatly planned, tightly wrapped, well-ordered lives and think that our sufficiency will be in these things. Then come the interruptions, because God is a God of interruptions.

The key to handling an interruption is to get God's take on it. Thankfully, God rescued Joseph from his error.

As we begin this Christmas season, we need to look at the whole of Jesus’ life and purpose and for that we need to look at the manger, the cross, the empty tomb, and living Savior who says to us: “Acknowledge your need for God to break into your life. Invite Me to do it.”