For some reason this Christmas season, the Nativity has been on my mind more than usual. I’ve always enjoyed looking at Nativity sets and displays, but this year has been a little different. It’s almost as if the Nativity means more to me this year.
I read a daily devotional from Dr. David Jeremiah on his Turning Point website. On Sundays, I also watch his weekly sermon. Over the last three years, he has been working on a movie about the Nativity and this year he finally released it. It’s called “Nativity”. It’s available for viewing now on his Turning Point website at this address: https://www.davidjeremiah.org/whythenativity?video=movie. It’s also available on AppleTV and AmazonTV.
In full disclosure, I have only seen Part 1 of this movie at this point. I watched it through the Turning Point app and the movie has been split into three parts. So, what I’m about to explain is based only upon what I’ve seen in Part 1. I will view the entire movie later today, but what I saw in Part 1 was enough to motivate me to write about it.
The movie obviously tells the Nativity story but it also personalizes it. The movie allows you to really get to know Mary and Joseph and see all the blessings and challenges with which they were faced. It’s extremely well done and the actors and actresses play the parts perfectly. I would highly recommend watching it.
Can you imagine being a young girl and having an angel appear to you informing you that you were going to have a child, even though you had never been with a man? Not only would this be hard to believe, but you’d probably have a tendency to think you were hallucinating. Instead, Mary believed and relished the opportunity to be the mother of our Savior. The Bible doesn’t really talk about the ridicule she must have faced from her family or village, being pregnant out of wedlock, but the movie does a pretty good job of showing it. No one would have believed her if she told them the truth. While her pregnancy must have been considered unacceptable to many because she wasn’t yet married, Mary knew what was really happening.
Or imagine being Joseph. His fiancee comes to him and tells him she is pregnant. He knows for certain she has never been with him, but now she’s telling him she has never been with any man. “Yeah, right,” he must have thought to himself. It took a dream to convince Joseph that Mary’s story was true. I’m afraid I would have been tempted to ignore the dream as just another dream and not trust the message. I probably would have placed my ego ahead of doing what God was asking me to do.
Think of the faith that took for both Mary and Joseph. The movie points out that when people in their village found out Mary was pregnant, many blamed Joseph for having relations with Mary before they were married. I probably would have thought the same thing about Joseph. After all, who would believe such a crazy story?
Part 1 of the movie ends with Mary and Joseph headed to Bethlehem to meet the requirements of Caesar Augustus’s declaration that everyone return to their family birthplace for a census and to be taxed.
Would I have that kind of faith? I’m not sure, but I began to think about it in terms of my current life. I’m faced with a situation. I have Myasthenia Gravis and it’s a progressive disease. Shouldn’t I be turning to God and placing all my faith in him like Mary and Joseph did? Most certainly.
Don’t get me wrong, having MG is in no way comparable to Mary giving birth to our Lord and Savior. That’s not my point. My point is faith. Do I really trust God to be with me and guide me regardless of what’s going on in my life? Do I trust him enough to say, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” as Mary did?
God has our hand as we’re going through Myasthenia Gravis. He is there for anyone who is going through difficulties and needs His help. All we have to do is turn to Him and trust that He is in control.
Sometimes that’s easier said than done. We are conditioned to think we have to handle problems on our own. We don’t have to. He is there to provide us with comfort and support. Sometimes when a crisis hits, we get tempted to turn away from God, mad at Him for allowing it to happen. We need to do just the opposite. During a crisis is when we need Him the most. When we turn to Him, He doesn’t turn away. He reaches out His hand.
It just hit me. I mentioned that for some reason I’ve been drawn to the Nativity this Christmas season more than usual. I watched Part 1 of the movie. I saw what Mary and Joseph were going through and I saw how strong their faith actually was. Their life was upended, but their faith was strong and they turned their worries and concerns over to Him. While writing this blog, I realized that although my faith in God has always been strong, I haven’t yet turned my worries and concerns over to Him. I’m still trying to carry them myself and I’m getting tired trying. I’m doing it today. I’m turning my worries and concerns over to Him.
God has my hand in this fight with Myasthenia Gravis. I can place my trust in Him knowing He will be with me no matter what happens. Maybe my unexpected interest in the Nativity was the signal I needed to strengthen my faith and make changes in my life. Maybe that was God’s plan all along.
I highly encourage you to watch this movie. Perhaps you’ll have an epiphany as well.
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