As we are getting ready for Christmas, let us prepare ourselves {Spirit, Soul (mind) and body} to welcome Jesus in our life.
“In the wilderness prepare
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40: 3-5
In those days, when a great leader was coming to visit your village, the people would prepare the road for his coming. Now as you can imagine, the roads were extremely rough and crude. So there was a lot of work to be done. They would do their best to remove the rocks, fill in the holes and uneven parts and make it as straight as possible and a fitting highway is made ready for the Monarch. This would express their appreciation and demonstrate respect to the Monarch or King.
Of course the Scripture is not referring to a physical highway, but rather calling for all mankind to make ready and prepare the highway of our heart for the coming King, the Messiah Who is Jesus Christ. And the way to prepare for the Lord is to prepare the highway of your heart through repentance... Even in the desert of our life, in our trials and tribulations, in our sufferings, in our problems, and even when we go through the "parched life", when it seems all dry and lifeless, we have to still make straight a highway for our God...
What does it mean to “make His paths straight”? Simply this; get your life straightened out. Prepare the highway of your heart, clear the way, and deal with every sin, on every level and every kind. That’s repentance! This involves some things... so how do we do that? First, preparing the highway of our heart requires that we deal with the things below the surface; every low thing, every ravine, the deep things in our life that no one knows about. They have to be dealt with, confessed and forsaken. That’s repentance.
We must deal with every low thing! Our hearts need continuous preparation and we must constantly deal with our sins, especially our personal and secret sins... Every valley should be lifted up, valley of our burdens, of our confusions, of our defilement, of our profanation, of our fantasies, of self-pity, of condemnation, of bad memories and feelings, of dry bones and brokenness, etc. We need to rise above all such situations that drown us and rejoice in the Lord and praise Him and thank Him, even as we prepare to receive Him.
Every mountain of arrogance, rebellion, pride, boasting, self-righteousness, selfishness, sinful pleasures, impatience, anger, bitterness, hatred, un-forgiveness, laziness.., should be broken down. Let us level the grounds and smoothen the rough edges with the help of the Holy Spirit. Every devious, perverse, twisted, deceitful, perverted thing whether in thought, word or deed, has to be dealt with, in order to prepare the highway of our heart for the coming of the King.
The crooked heart becomes “straight” when we confess and repent of these sinful thoughts or actions. May be you and God are the only ones who know the condition of your heart. Get your heart ready and get your life straightened out. All the debris must be picked up and removed, every hindrance that might become a stumbling block must be dealt with. Preparation for the King comes only by complete repentance. Salvation comes only to a prepared heart... so “make ready the way of the Lord.” Every obstacle must be dealt with and removed...make your heart ready for the Lord. Deal with your sin on every level, every kind...But all too often our great commission has an omission…and that is repentance. Repentance would mean to sin no more... (John 5:14; 8:11).
And now may the Lord help us to prepare our hearts by the teaching of His Word and the convictions of His Spirit, that all high and proud thoughts may be brought down, good desires planted, crooked and rugged tempers made straight and softened, and every hindrance removed, that we may be ready to receive Him and do His will on earth, and live as His Kingdom people, with undying zeal and enthusiasm.
And then the glory of the Lord will be seen in a transformed life. The purpose of repentance is to make ready the highway of our heart for salvation and forgiveness. Repent and you will be saved. Salvation never happens without repentance. Yes, indeed, when all this is done, the glory of the Lord will be revealed in our life and that would be a worthy Christmas preparation!
All the Best and Merry Christmas!!!
