One of the best known passages of the Christmas story is the one where the angel announced to the shepherds that they would find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger (Luke 2:12). Swaddling clothes were long narrow strips of cloth used to wrap babies to limit movement. The practice was fairly common up to the seventeenth century.
It’s one thing to wrap a little baby in swaddling clothes. It would be something entirely different to wrap a grown man. It’s a biblical fact that Mary and Joseph followed the custom of the day by wrapping the baby Jesus to prevent movement. I wonder if we have done the same.
Think about it. Have we placed restrictions on Christ’s working in our lives? Have we tried to limit the moving of His Spirit? Have we hesitated to give Him free reign in our hearts? Have we capped the level of our commitment? Have we shut the door on future blessings? If so, we are only hurting ourselves.
Passages like Ephesians 3:20 teach that the degree we allow His power to work in us determines the degree of what His power can do for us and through us. When we limit His work in our lives we miss out on God’s best.
The greatest gift we can unwrap this Christmas is God’s gift of Jesus. Remove the swaddling clothes that bind and hinder Jesus in your life. Don’t limit Him. Instead, let Him have free reign to move and work as He will.
Pastor Todd Weston
It’s one thing to wrap a little baby in swaddling clothes. It would be something entirely different to wrap a grown man. It’s a biblical fact that Mary and Joseph followed the custom of the day by wrapping the baby Jesus to prevent movement. I wonder if we have done the same.
Think about it. Have we placed restrictions on Christ’s working in our lives? Have we tried to limit the moving of His Spirit? Have we hesitated to give Him free reign in our hearts? Have we capped the level of our commitment? Have we shut the door on future blessings? If so, we are only hurting ourselves.
Passages like Ephesians 3:20 teach that the degree we allow His power to work in us determines the degree of what His power can do for us and through us. When we limit His work in our lives we miss out on God’s best.
The greatest gift we can unwrap this Christmas is God’s gift of Jesus. Remove the swaddling clothes that bind and hinder Jesus in your life. Don’t limit Him. Instead, let Him have free reign to move and work as He will.
Pastor Todd Weston
