Christmas Car Park
The worst place to be is the car park.
Reference: “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. (Luke 16:16 NIV)
Explore: In the lead up to Christmas the shops are crazy. The checkouts have long queues and at every aisle you need to manoeuvre around several families just to find that what you’re looking for is already sold out!
However, the worst place to be is the car park. There are so many frazzled drivers who just want to get into the shopping centre.
They spend what feels like hours driving around and around, behind ten other cars, all looking for the one car park. And just when they think they’ve found it they realise it’s just a small car tucked all the way in!
Some people remain calm but most get frustrated, even to the point of anger and aggression. All they want to do is get into the shops!
Application: The shops are good but there’s many other places I’d rather be. Instead of fighting to get into a frantic place I’d much rather be heading towards the beach, my favourite restaurant or even home with the family.
In Luke 16 it speaks of people forcing their way into the kingdom of God. By looking at the attendance rates in our churches these days, it doesn’t seem that people are as eager to enter the kingdom of God as they are to get into Kmart.
But that’s because they don’t understand how life changing the kingdom would be for them. Maybe we need to be advertising it more openly.
Let’s be honest, the kingdom of God is better than any shop, it gives more joy than the biggest discount and it will last for eternity. I’m not sure there’s anything quite like that on my Christmas list.
Prayer: Lord, Your kingdom brings love, grace and peace. May these be the things we strive for this Christmas. Amen.
What are you fighting for at this time?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.