Across the Pastor’s Desk by James Kassera

Many people are familiar with the account of how Jesus was born in the manger and angels announced his birth to the shepherds out in the field. Many know there were wise men that came from the east because they wanted to see the Christ child with their own eyes.

It is an amazing scene to go along with the amazing birth of our Lord, but then the Christmas season is over, and we move on to other seasons and other parts of the Bible.

However, think a little longer about the commitment of the wise men. It is hard to say exactly how long the journey was or how soon the wise men arrived to see the new born king, but some estimates of their journey range from a few months to a couple of years! That is an incredible commitment those wise men made; they set everything in their life off to the side because they were committed to finding Jesus.

The new year is a time when we make commitments to ourselves and others. We commit to losing weight, working harder, saving more money, etc. Many of our commitments don’t even make it through the month before we give up. Imagine if the wise men gave up so quickly on their journey. They would have missed out on seeing the Lord!

Truthfully, we have a weak, sinful nature that is just bad with commitments. We struggle with commitments to family, to our jobs and we even fail at commitments to ourselves. Most importantly, we fail in our commitments to God. We are called to be God’s children and commit our lives to God. Yet, we ignore opportunities to learn more about God in the Bible, we fail to care for the family, friends and coworkers God puts in our care, we fail to live as God expects. We are bad at commitments and, therefore, we should not expect God to stay committed to us.

Yet, in spite of our faults, God remains committed to us and sent Jesus to be our savior. Jesus faced all the difficulties of life and encountered the hatred of many people, and he still remained committed to being our savior. Jesus lived perfectly to overcome our faults, and has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe in him alone.

As a result of Jesus’ commitment to us, let us make a stronger commitment in our own lives. Let’s make a stronger commitment to grow closer to our God. Let’s make a stronger commitment to being faithful in our jobs. Let’s make a stronger commitment to our families, our friends, our communities.

The joy of Christ does not end in December, nor does the commitment of our Lord. We get to rejoice for another new year as God’s children, knowing that God will remain committed to blessing and protecting us this year.

James Kassera is the pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.