General Superintendent
Max Edwards
December 24, 2024
Are We Willing?
In these last few briefs, I’ve been writing about willingness. Jesus was willing to come. Mary and Joseph were willing to obey and serve. The shepherds were willing to herald the news.
So as we step across Christmas Eve today, I’m simply asking the question of all of us – are we willing? Are we willing to humble ourselves as Christ did, eager to stoop down and help someone less fortunate? Are we willing to endure hardship, and probable ridicule as Mary and Joseph did in order to do what God may be asking of us? Are we willing to be a small part of Christ’s grand story like the shepherds were, by simply telling others what we have experienced in our own relationship with Christ?
In April of 1999, several teenagers and one adult were killed at Columbine High School in Colorado by two wildly misguided students. Much has been written about the victims, one of them was Cassie Bernall. There is uncertainty about whether or not Cassie was asked about her faith before she was shot. Some students reported that they heard Cassie reply, “Yes” when asked by her murderer if she believed in God.
While we will never know for certain about that, one thing is certain – she had been completely transformed by the redeeming power of God, and she was not ashamed of it. Many months before that tragic day in her high school, Cassie committed her life to Christ at a Christian Youth Retreat. By her own account, she had been wrapped up in the occult, and was extremely unhappy, even struggling with thoughts of taking her own life. But when she met Jesus, she found peace and true contentment. She discovered the secret of life. We, of course, know Cassie for her death, but her high school peers knew her as a young woman of faith and complete trust in God.
Many of us who have been given the call to, and privilege of preaching have approached the Bethlehem narrative, wondering about the innkeeper that turned Mary and Joseph away. Years ago, I heard my own brother Richard preach a message entitled, “Don’t be too hard on the innkeeper.” Among the points of the sermon, Rich noted that he didn’t know who he was turning away … who he was saying “no” to. The reason we should exercise care in our thoughts about the innkeeper is that we DO KNOW who is who! We DO KNOW that Jesus came to the earth as a baby to save the world. We DO KNOW that everyone who surrenders their life to Him will live forever, and those who do not will endure eternal pain and suffering apart from God’s comforting presence. We DO KNOW that we have a part to play in this grand story.
Back to the Innkeeper … I do wonder if he heard the account from the shepherds, and spent time regretting the fact that Messiah was born in a stable instead of in his best room. Let’s not live in that kind of regret. Let’s be willing wherever and whenever the Lord calls on us to go, serve, and share.