Take Jesus Out of the Manger

At the Christmas Tea, I issued a challenge, and I want to challenge you as well. Too often we get caught up with the shopping and the “to do” things that we totally miss opportunities to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We miss opportunities to serve Jesus. We miss opportunities to love others from the overflow of our love for Christ. So here is the challenge – take Jesus out of the manger and put Him in your purse!


Do you go anywhere without your purse? Not often, if at all. So I challenge you to put that baby Jesus in your purse and take Him wherever you go.

When you go to Hobby Lobby to buy just one more thing (like that’s possible) and you reach for your wallet, your hand will graze the baby Jesus in your purse. I hope it reminds you that before God created the world, He knew He was going to create you (Eph 1). He knew how much you, like me, were going to screw up, and yet He still wanted to create you. LISTEN TO THIS – He knew that by creating you He would have to send His only Son to die for your sins to redeem you, and HE STILL CHOSE TO CREATE YOU ANYWAY!!!! How awesome is that? What an amazing love! It’s the kind of love that people are looking for today. Are you sharing it with those who are in the checkout line with you?

When you are searching for the tube of lipstick to reapply before going into a Christmas party, your hand grabs the baby Jesus, I want you to remember that God made Himself so vulnerable as to come as a newborn baby and made Himself available to the lowliest of people because He wants a personal relationship with you and every person in that party. HE BECAME DEFENSELESS SO WE MIGHT NOT BE THREATENED OR INTIMIDATED BY HIS PRESENCE, BUT RATHER HE MADE HIMSELF APPROACHABLE AND LOVABLE TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS AND PRECONCEIVED IDEAS. Are you that approachable and lovable so that ANYONE in the party will see Jesus in you?

And when you take the contents of your purse out and put them into another purse, and you hold baby Jesus in your hand, I want you to remember God wants a personal relationship with you. It makes no sense, but He does. He was willing to die for a relationship with you. That’s how precious you are to Him. He wants to spend some time with His daughter. IT’S PERSONAL. YOU MATTER. THEY MATTER.

There are people who are dying and going to hell because they think Christmas is a holiday like the others. Does that bother you? If you haven’t asked Jesus into your heart, He waits patiently. Nothing that has happened to you, no choices you have made surprise Him. He still loves you. He even knows what is going to happen in your future, and He wants to help provide and protect you.

You’ve probably ignored that tug on your heart before, but don’t. He wants to adopt you as his daughter. He’s paid for the adoption – He sacrificed His Son – you’ve just got to claim Him as your Father.

Ladies, the baby that is the reason for this season was no ordinary baby. He was born to be sacrificed for you, for me. Are you living like it? Are you living like someone died to set you free? Let’s serve Him this season out of the overflow of our love for Him.