Here’s how Paul puts it to the Philippians in chapter 4 verse 7 (From The Message Translation):

“It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.”

Christmas is about wonder, and there’s a lot of wonder around, like…

• I wonder what gift I’m going to get…
• Or, I wonder what I’m going to give…
• Wonder if it’ll snow in London … or rain…

Then there are deeper wonderings…

• I wonder who I’ll spend Christmas with
• I wonder if dad will get drunk again…
• I wonder if mom will spend our money at the betting shop…
• I wonder if I’ll get beaten or abused again…
• I wonder if I’ll have enough money to pay my rent…
• I wonder if I’ll get a job soon…
• I wonder if I’ll be the next to lose my job…
• I wonder if next year will be any better for me than this year was…
• I wonder when God is going to answer my prayer…

Then there millions of people with even deeper “wonderings” this Christmas…

• I wonder if we’ll starve again tomorrow…
• I wonder if we’ll find water tomorrow…
• I wonder if mom will die of AIDS just like dad did last year…
• I wonder if the police will come back to take my dad away again for preaching the Gospel…
• I wonder if…
• I wonder if…

So yes, there are a lot of “wondering” going on at this wonderful time called Christmas…  what are yours?

Now here’s something that’s really wonderful in all of this and above all of this: the real wonder of life and of Christmas is what you experience when you let Jesus move to the centre of your life.  When you give up the throne to Him.  When He “displaces” stuff you are wondering about.

It’s not as much about moving stuff out, but about moving Christ in.  That’s when you experience the “power of displacement”, which happens when you move something of greater substance in, resulting in that of lesser substance being forced out.  Don’t focus so much on what you want to get rid of, that you forget about the One you need to invite in.  Don’t be like the Innkeeper who made no room for in his inn, placing Jesus with all his other stuff in the barn on the side. Here’s my advice: Make room! Make the BEST ROOM available for Jesus – because …. The greatest wonder of Christmas and life is what happens in you when you move Jesus to the centre of your life.

It’s great to celebrate Christ in the crib, or even to believe with your head that Christ died on the Cross, but the real wonder of life for you personally happens when you let Jesus into the centre of your life, and He displaces all the stuff that steals/kills/destroys…

Have a wonder-full CHRIST-mas, because….

It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces ????????? at the centre of your life.

These are thoughts from my Sunday 13 Dec message called “How to have a wonder-full CHRIST-mas” – see www.everynation.co.uk/downloads