ADVENT - DAY 10 - MAKING THINGS STRAIGHT

ANTICIPATING GOD IN THE CHRISTMAS SEASON (A Daily Advent Devotional)

Over the next few days till Christmas I would like you to take a journey with me in anticipation.  Let's daily look at the events leading up to the birth of Christ with a sense of anticipation of His arrival into this world and into our lives.  (Inspired by the Book "The Miraculous Journey" by Marty A. Bullis).

Advent - Day 10 - Making Things Straight

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” (Mark 1:2, 3 ESV)

We're often crooked - we even enjoy being crooked.  I'm talking about our sins here.  It's not easy living a straight life.  Ask anyone who is suffering from some sort of addiction (which all of us suffer with in some measure in our life).  Crookedness is part of the human condition.  It wasn't meant to be like this, and fortunately for us - it is not part of God's condition.  God loves to walk straight roads; He loves to straighten our paths.  This "way" that John the Baptizer is called to straighten out is us - you and me.  Christ didn't come to earth just to take a vacation.  He came to help and straighten us out.  He came to this earth to walk into you - to walk through you.  He is our path. He is our way.  
Together our paths should be as one. His path.  The straight path.

John's message is important to us.  It comprises of two commands: 1- Prepare the way and 2- Make straight the paths.  The way is through humanity - the paths are you and me.  But the amazing gift in this Advent, this announcement to get this road prepared, is that we're supposed to be doing this preparation.  God enlists us for the work of His kingdom.  His walking ground is in our actions, in our lives, in our being.  He wants to get rid of our boulder and rock slides, to clear dead branches from before His feet, to build bridges over our stagnant swamps, to blast away any impending piles.

The straightening is for His benefit as well as for our. Crooked feels good when we do it, but it doesn't feel good afterward.  Plumb and square is the only thing that stands the test over the long haul.  Ask any junkie if he likes being addicted and he will tell you yes when he is high.  Crooked highs don't last.  And yet, there is a natural high in spending your time and energy for The Lord.  It is what we were made for.  It is God's condition for our lives.