Sitting here tonight on Christmas eve, the story of Jonah comes to mind. 

Not really the story I would pick to think of at Christmas. However, I find myself wondering if we as Christians truly grasp the heart of God. 
Jonah didn't. 
In the 1st 3 verses of the book of Jonah we see that Jonah straight up didn't get it or just didn't want to. 

Nineveh was lost. 

God wanted Jonah to go to them, but Jonah looked at Nineveh through his heart, not God's. 

God doesn't want anyone to be lost, no one. His heart is for all men not just the "good ones" but all. 

This time of year when we reflect on why Jesus came to earth I feel like we sometimes forget the lost and broken. We are just so glad to worship and celebrate the birth of Christ and we forget that He came for everyone. 

The forgotten people. The ones we look over because they messed up real bad and are sitting in jail. The ones who sleep on the street as we walk past with arms full of gifts. The people who are to drunk to talk to. Or maybe the family member that hurt us to much to forgive. 
Yet we make our way to church to worship the one who came to save them too. And we walked right past them. 

Jesus came for them too. 

Just like God sent Jonah to Nineveh and he tried to run from the presence of God, every time we as Christians are disobedient to God we try to flee from His presence as well. 

Our action to Gods call for us, either moving towards His will or away from His will like Jonah tried, exposes our heart towards God's word, toward His mission of reaching the lost and broken, and it exposes our heart toward how we truly worship the King. 

The reason Jesus came, was for the broken and the lost of this world. We could never be good enough left to our own doing. So the only, ONLY way we can be enough is because Jesus covers us with His blood. He gave everything for the lost, for the broken of this world. 

So when I reflect on why we have this season, I think of the story of Jonah and ask myself.... 

..... Do I try to flee from God? 
..... Do I look at the lost and broken like Jonah did? Or do I see them through the eyes of Christ? 
..... Do I look at them the way Christ looked upon His people, with compassion and love for the lost? Do I hurt for them? Is my heart broken for the broken? 

All of this wouldn't even be happening if it wasn't for the love that God has for the broken and the lost. For people like me. 

I pray that we start seeing the world through God's eye and with the heart of Jesus. We look at the lost and broken and our hearts break for them. For those who don't know love, I pray tears roll down your face for them, and we ache for them to know love like we do. 

We are the salt and the light, and we know love like no other, yet we keep it to ourselves. My prayer is that your heart aches so much that you can't help but move closer to the heart of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and your heart opens for those who are lost and broken. 

This Christmas I pray you feel God's love but more then that, I pray your heart begins to love like Jesus. That you have compassion for those who don't know Christ. For those who think they are just to broken to love. I pray you open your heart to the hurting, the broken, the ones who messed up, the addicted, the sick, the orphans, the widows, and you pour Jesus's love all over them, because you have so much in you. I pray your heart even like that of a child's Christmas story say, "his heart grew 3 sizes that day" I pray your heart grows 3 sizes this day, and you can't contain it. 


Why would Jesus step out of heaven for us????
It's very simple..... LOVE! 

I pray you feel it, I pray you know it, and I pray you show it to everyone you meet.