It's "FILL OUR SOUL SUNDAY" and I pray you take time to fellowship via zoom or at church, receive great teaching and spend time resting in the Lord. It's also the official kick off to Christmas... our most amazing celebration of Christ's birth and what it means to us.
My favorite song is Oh Holy Night... I absolutely love it.. and this verse stops me in my tracks. Take a moment and listen to this awesome version by Lauren Daigle:
https://youtu.be/ydNpZYtf0Lc
How often do we listen to this song and miss this amazing reminder of what His coming means to us
Listen to the words of this beautiful Christmas hymn:
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining {Just trapped. That’s what he wants to communicate.} Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn {This is the dawning of a new day. Not just a baby being born, but a redefinition, a re-invitation of what it means to be human.} Fall on your knees, O hear the angels’ voices…..Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother. And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
What does it mean to have OUR SOUL FEEL ITS WORTH? Think about those words...
There’s a difference between having worth and being worthy. So the Scriptures are really clear: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Right? In Romans 3:10 it says: None is righteous, no, not one.
After researching this song and the background to this song I want to share a message I listened to from South Fellowship Church. Please take a moment to read this...
So we are all unworthy. Worthy simply means that we're deserving.
But worthy is not the same as worth, because as clear as the Scriptures tell us that we are unworthy, that we’ve fallen short of the glory of God, that we are not undeserving, the other side of the coin is that God declares clearly and unequivocally that humanity has worth. Deep and abiding worth. What happens theologically is we tie those two things together. We equate being worthy with having worth. We say we’re not worthy so we don’t have worth and I just want to tell you…..it’s a lie from the pit of hell!!
The Enemy would love, love, love to keep us confined to this way of thinking and being and to the tape that plays in our mind I have no worth because I am not worthy. The message of the gospel is the message that although we are unworthy, He (God) deems us as having unending value and worth and He proves it in the season of Christmas that we celebrate and His life given to us, entering into our story.
Living and dying and taking our sin upon Himself and conquering death through the resurrection. WE cannot read the Christmas story and not come to the conclusion that in the eyes of God humanity has deep, deep worth and value.
My hope is that you’re able to receive it! Let’s just admit it, WE ARE UNWORTHY BUT IN SPITE OF THIS JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH HE CAME, HE DIED FOR YOU AND I AND ROSE AGAIN TO FULFILL ALL THE PROPHESY IN THE BIBLE AND WHEN WE RECEIVE THIS TRUTH WE ARE CHANGED FOREVER…IT'S ALL OVER THE BIBLE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION!
Christ loves us so much he came, He died for you and I... WOW! We have to feel loved to give love!!! We can only give out what we have in us.
When the writer of Oh Holy Night Placide Cappeau writes: …and the soul felt its worth, he’s inviting us into a whole new world of being, where we say, so that’s what it feels like to know that the one who sits on the throne says we have value in His eyes.
Listen to the way the Apostle John invites us into his version of the Christmas story. His version is from heaven’s perspective. Listen to the way that he talks about the coming of the King, of the Christ, of the Messiah. He says: The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. {He said not everybody received Him. Not everybody welcomed Him with opened arms. That’s an understatement. But he goes on to write….} But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. {That’s who you are. So when we sing a song I’m no longer a slave to fear, I’m a child of God, we’re singing Scripture to each other. We’re reminding ourselves of the story that we live in that He deems us as being valuable enough to give His life for and make us not orphans anymore but children. That’s huge!} …who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:9, 12-14)
The Christmas story reflects the heart and the desire of God to welcome you home. This is not just a story about a baby being born. This is a story about God making a declaration. That He loves you. That you have value and worth. John goes on to say: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us {Literally, in the Greek, it’s this idea that Jesus came and He’s present in our lives.} …and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
My Dear Friends... lets remember these words to this amazing song that was inspired by the Lord and the first song heard over the radio when radios were invented...
Let's remember what it means that "our soul felt it's worth" and what that truly means and go out and share this truth with all we come in contact with.
Let’s pray.
So Father, we come. We come, in many ways, wrestling with the truth that You find us to be of great worth. Because we know we’re not worthy. Yet your blood speaks a better word. Your life given for us reminds us of the fact that you love us, that you’re for us, that you provide and that you’re always enough. As we welcome this new day, Jesus, would you remind us of the fact that you’re for us, that you love us and that you gave everything for us. Help us to give this love out to all we come in contact with and share this love with a very dark world.
In your name that we pray. Amen.
