Why Christmas Isn't a Hallmark Movie: The Untold Truths
Episode Summary:
We have sanitized the Christmas story. We’ve turned it into a cozy postcard with silent nights, clean stables, and a glowing baby that never cries. But the real Christmas story wasn't cozy—it was chaotic, confusing, and messy.
In this special Christmas episode, Jim Burgoon offers a fresh perspective on the nativity. We dive into five principles hidden in the chaos of Christmas—from why God chose the night shift workers first, to why obedience often requires confusion.
If you are frantically trying to finish your year-end goals or just surviving the holiday travel, this episode is your permission slip to stop striving. God isn't allergic to your chaos; He was born right in the middle of it.
Key Takeaways:
- God Delights in the Overlooked: The casting call for the incarnation included a teenage girl from a nowhere town and shepherds working the graveyard shift. God does His loudest work in the quietest places.
- Obedience in Confusion: Mary and Joseph didn't get a 10-step business plan; they got a disruption. Faith is saying "yes" to God when the path is unclear and the cost is real.
- God Steps Into Chaos: The first Christmas happened during a political crisis, a travel crisis, and a housing crisis. God moves toward your mess, not away from it.
- Glory Looks Ordinary: To the naked eye, the manger looked like poverty. To the spiritual eye, it was filled with angels. Don't confuse "visible success" with God's favor.
- For All People: The guest list included local blue-collar shepherds and foreign Gentile scholars. Jesus tears down every boundary we try to build.
Favorite Quotes:
- "We have sanitized the Christmas story... but the real Christmas story wasn't cozy. It was chaotic, it was confusing, it was messy."
- "God does his loudest work in the quietest places."
- "Faith is saying yes to God when the path is unclear and the cost is real."
- "God is not allergic to your chaos. He always moves towards it."
- "Jesus wasn't meant for Christians. He was meant for a dying world."
Resources:
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- Full Episode Show Notes & Transcript: www.leadwithjim.com/podcast
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Transcript
We have sanitized the Christmas story.
Speaker A:We have turned it into a cozy, little picturesque postcard with silent nights, clean stables, and a glowing baby that seemingly never cries.
Speaker A:But that's not the real Christmas story, because the time wasn't cozy.
Speaker A:It was chaotic, it was confusing, it was messy.
Speaker A:But I think this is honestly some good news for us if we look at it from the right perspective.
Speaker A:Because if God could enter that mess, it means he can enter yours.
Speaker A:So today, I want to give you five quick principles or thoughts from the center of the Christmas story that might just change how you see this week and every week from here on out.
Speaker A:So with that being said, cue the music.
Speaker B:This is the Unshakable Life mindset.
Speaker B:Resilience.
Speaker A:Action.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Strive.
Speaker B:Break free from the burnout.
Speaker B:Find your true north with your God.
Speaker B:Jim Burgoon stepping forward.
Speaker B:This is the Unshakable Life.
Speaker A:Hey, friends.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the special Christmas edition of the Unshakable Life podcast.
Speaker A:It is December 23rd.
Speaker A:You are probably busy.
Speaker A:You're traveling, you're.
Speaker A:You're rapping, you're getting ready to survive the holidays because we know how much we love all the people and all the family that we don't see or talk to, but they all come together during this time of year, and it just makes life chaotic.
Speaker A:But with all that, Merry Christmas, wherever you are.
Speaker A:And I do pray God's blessing over the holidays for you and that you receive the joy of the Lord and the gratitude and the comfort that you need for it.
Speaker A:So today on the episode, I want to keep it a little short because I know you're in the middle of all these things.
Speaker A:And this is going to be something where I want to give you some principles that you can apply to your life.
Speaker A:You can apply to your business, you can use it as a devotional.
Speaker A:But it's around the Christmas story.
Speaker A:And so there are five things that I've seen, five things that I'm digging into that I want to give to you.
Speaker A:The first thing I want to give you is God delights in using the overlooked.
Speaker A:Now let's look at the casting call.
Speaker A:In the incarnation, we have a teenage girl from nowhere town.
Speaker A:We have no idea who she is from here.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, in first century, somebody of her age and stature would not have had much clout, would not be an influencer, would not even be taken serious in first century.
Speaker A:Then we also have the shepherds.
Speaker A:Here are your blue collar workers in a graveyard shift because they're working overnight and they're on the middle of Field.
Speaker A:Nobody looks to them as the pinnacles of culture.
Speaker A:We have a baby laying in a manger, a feeding trough, and nothing in this story truly looks impressive from the outside looking in.
Speaker A:Yet this is exactly the place God chose to step into history.
Speaker A:And I think Mary said it best, because here's a person who, not a few verses or chapter before, is having a meeting with Gabriel and being like, hey, blessed are you among women, because you're about to have Jesus, the savior of all humanity, as your son, and God is going to be the father in this.
Speaker A:And we get into this whole backstory of, you may have been nobody, but God has made you somebody and given you purpose.
Speaker A:And Mary says it best in 1:48 of Luke, he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
Speaker A:Think about that like he looked on the humble estate of a servant.
Speaker A:And I know you and I feel this.
Speaker A:We feel oftentimes like we are in the middle of being nobody.
Speaker A:We're too small, we're too out there.
Speaker A:Who would really take us serious?
Speaker A:And it was this exact type of person that God took really serious and elevated it with one of the most earth shaking, if not the most earth shaking purposes.
Speaker A:Birth Jesus.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So, but here's how we think about this.
Speaker A:This is how something that you and I have to think about this.
Speaker A:God does his loudest work in the quietest places.
Speaker A:Now, I know you're going to sit there and say, jim, a stable is not quiet.
Speaker A:You're right, it's very chaotic.
Speaker A:But this is a place where nobody else in the world had eyes on.
Speaker A:There was nobody who knew like that.
Speaker A:This wasn't a publicized event.
Speaker A:God didn't pick powerful, polished or platformed people.
Speaker A:He didn't go to the high priest in his family and said, you, you who are among all men, and you who stand at the pinnacle of priesthood, shall see Jesus born through your family.
Speaker A:No, he didn't do that.
Speaker A:He didn't go to the kings of the time and say, hey, you're already royalty.
Speaker A:Let me give you the King of Kings.
Speaker A:No, he didn't do that either.
Speaker A:He picked humble people who were available but forgotten, and they were living quiet lives.
Speaker A:And this is where God chose to do his loudest work.
Speaker A:So for you, the heart check comes in super simple but not easy.
Speaker A:Have you ever really said to yourself, I'm too small to matter to God?
Speaker A:Like, you're too small to have a purpose.
Speaker A:You're too small to make a difference.
Speaker A:The entire Christmas story stands in the face of that and says, this is proof that you are not too small because if you're in the quietest of places with God, God will do his loudest work.
Speaker A:And then he takes the unseen, he takes the, you know, the unassumed, the, the overlooked, and he makes something major out of it.
Speaker A:Which brings us into thought or principle number two.
Speaker A:Obedience.
Speaker A:And confusion is still obedience.
Speaker A:Now we think faith means having clarity.
Speaker A:But Mary and Joseph didn't have much clarity other than you're going to birth the, the, the son of God.
Speaker A:God.
Speaker A:And you got to realize this.
Speaker A:Let's, let's take a step back for a second.
Speaker A:God disrupt their entire lives.
Speaker A:They were engaged, they were ready to be married, they're going to have a family.
Speaker A:He's a carpenter, very good, solid life for first century.
Speaker A:And God goes in and says, I got something for you that's going to change everything you think you're going to do.
Speaker A:And here's what it does.
Speaker A:It puts Mary's reputation on the line.
Speaker A:Joseph had to choose between social suicide or obeying a dream.
Speaker A:Then they had to get up and go to Egypt and leave everyone for a few years.
Speaker A:And like there was no ten step business plan for either one of them.
Speaker A:There wasn't a roadmap, there wasn't a do not be afraid sign.
Speaker A:There wasn't a next step sign when they said yes.
Speaker A:There wasn't any of that.
Speaker A:It was like, hey, God said.
Speaker A:Their response, yes.
Speaker A:Everything came after.
Speaker A:Because here's the thought.
Speaker A:Faith is not having all the answers.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, if you have all the answers, you don't have faith.
Speaker A:Faith is saying yes to God when the path is unclear and the cost is real.
Speaker A:Because if there's no cost, then it's not going to be walking faith or trusting in God.
Speaker A:It's going to be walking by sight, which you can see because you can figure it out, you can already understand.
Speaker A:But the reality of it comes back into when we move in faith, when we move in obedience, there's a high cost.
Speaker A:And a lot of it is going to come in the place of uncertainty when you have yes to God in the places of uncertainty.
Speaker A:That is where real faith is born.
Speaker A:So the question then comes, where is God asking for your simple yes right now?
Speaker A:Like, where is he saying, hey, I want you to do this.
Speaker A:Your answer should be yes.
Speaker A:The rest will come as you take the next step.
Speaker A:We get so bogged up and give me all the details before I say yes.
Speaker A:And God's like, no, say yes and then I give you the details.
Speaker A:So even if you're in A place of uncertainty, a place of, you know, there may be some like, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go.
Speaker A:But I have God saying this.
Speaker A:Just say yes.
Speaker A:Because simple obedience is still obedience.
Speaker A:And when we obey God and we take that next step after the yes, everything starts to come clear because.
Speaker A:And it's not going to come clear all at once.
Speaker A:Because when we, every step we take is one step in the right direction with God who reveals everything that we need in the next step.
Speaker A:So do that heart check and where are you saying no, where are you?
Speaker A:Like, I need more details to trust you.
Speaker A:And God's like, trust me and I'll give you more details.
Speaker A:Like, where is that at for you?
Speaker A:And let's shift to sit there and say yes to God.
Speaker A:And we'll be like, I trust you to give me the rest of the information I need at the time I need it.
Speaker A:Which kind of brings us into number three, God steps into our chaos, not away from it.
Speaker A:And I think there's many of us that need to hear that because we think that when we're going through something that God is going to not be with us.
Speaker A:And that's not the case.
Speaker A:Case.
Speaker A:Because quite frankly, the first Christmas didn't feel like a Hallmark movie.
Speaker A:Like, I know we get into the Hallmark channels during this time of year.
Speaker A:It didn't feel like that at all.
Speaker A:It happened in the middle of political pressure, a 4 census.
Speaker A:It happened during a travel crisis, a long hard trip to Bethlehem.
Speaker A:It happened in a housing crisis.
Speaker A:There's no room at the inn.
Speaker A:And it happened under the threat of violence of the king named Herod.
Speaker A:This is not the Hallmark picture.
Speaker A:This is not little Betty Ruth who comes home from town to only realize she's got a fall in love with the coffee guy who she had loved as a kid but left.
Speaker A:And we thought we were never going to be like, this isn't that.
Speaker A:This is a whole hot mess that God is entering into and something powerful, impactful is about to happen.
Speaker A:So let me give you a principle for this.
Speaker A:God is not allergic to your chaos.
Speaker A:He's not allergic to any chaos.
Speaker A:He always moves towards it and through it because it doesn't affect him.
Speaker A:He is above it because Emmanuel, the word Emmanuel itself means God with us.
Speaker A:So right in the middle of the mess, not after you get everything cleaned up.
Speaker A:God is with us all the time.
Speaker A:And so there's a lot of places where God's trying to change our mess into our message, but he can't change our mess into our message until we acknowledge that there is a mess.
Speaker A:And then we actually take the.
Speaker A:The Met.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The place and say, God is with us through the whole mess.
Speaker A:He's got a plan.
Speaker A:There's some obedience, and we're going to get through it.
Speaker A:So here's your heart check for this part.
Speaker A:What part of life feels too messy for God right now?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:And I say that because we think or we hold back things, that we're like, God, this is just way too much for.
Speaker A:For you.
Speaker A:I'm not going to burden you with this.
Speaker A:Like, come on, get over yourself.
Speaker A:I had to get over myself because he used to say this stuff all the time.
Speaker A:But the reality of it is, is, is there's parts of us that we think we're too messy.
Speaker A:And God's like, that's the part I want.
Speaker A:Because Christmas proves, or the Christmas story proves, that the mess is exactly where he wants to be born, exactly where he wants to move, exactly where he wants to operate.
Speaker A:And let's not hold that back.
Speaker A:Let's lean into that for Christmas because.
Speaker A:And every day of the rest of your lives and just tell yourself and acknowledge that in your message, God is perfected and his power is present, and you will move forward with him because he never leaves nor to forsakes you.
Speaker A:Which brings us into thought.
Speaker A:Principle number four.
Speaker A:Heaven's glory often looks unimpressive on the outside.
Speaker A:Now, we all want the big bells and whistles, and we all want the shooting stars and the fireworks display, but the king of kings arrived not with a whole lot of signs and wonders and pomp and circumstance, but he was born in a manger.
Speaker A:Not a throne, a stable, not a palace.
Speaker A:Swaddling cloths, not robes.
Speaker A:I mean, like, the picture couldn't be any different.
Speaker A:I mean, and to the naked eye, we would look at it and be like, yo, they're poor.
Speaker A:There's a lot of poverty.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And if we looked at it with the natural eye, we'd be like, yeah, they're just trying to do their thing, but there's nothing special.
Speaker A:There's nothing really out there for this.
Speaker A:But to the spiritual eye, the sky was full of angels and glory, and it made the shepherds tremble because they saw the choirs and they were singing holy and all these things.
Speaker A:And they were like, whoa, that's not normal, right?
Speaker A:But that's to the spiritual eye, not to the natural.
Speaker A:So there are things that we see in the natural, but there's things we have to see in the.
Speaker A:In the supernatural and what we See, is unimpressive in the natural is super impressive in the spiritual.
Speaker A:What culture looks at as small, weak or unimpressive can be carrying the very presence of God and the purposes of God in this world.
Speaker A:So we've got to be careful that we don't call things unimpressive or we don't automatically assume or judge it, but that we get into a place and say, what is God trying to do with this situation?
Speaker A:And see it from his perspective.
Speaker A:Because what we see as small and insignificant and unimpressive, God is actually hidden, the very thing that will impact the entirety of his purpose in the world at that time, in your season, in that place.
Speaker A:So then that, then we just come back to that heart check moment and we say, you know, where have we confused visible success with God's favor?
Speaker A:Because God says, don't despise small beginnings because the glory is on the inside and God works on the inside out.
Speaker A:So what we're calling in culture as a visible, successful, you know, and this is usually the things of like all the money, all the houses, all the thing, all the fame.
Speaker A:That doesn't mean that God has favor on their lives.
Speaker A:Any place that I see where God's favor is on their life, people are drawn closer to Jesus.
Speaker A:Yeah, you may get blessed in certain areas.
Speaker A:Your job, your entrepreneurial journey, your leadership, you may have blessings, but the favor of God opens doors to bring people closer to Jesus.
Speaker A:And this is where the glory on the inside is so much more important than the things you see on the outside.
Speaker A:Last lesson, lesson number five.
Speaker A:Jesus is a gift for all people, not just for our people.
Speaker A:And finally, let's look at the guest list, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The shepherds, the local Jews, the blue collar people, the covenant people, right?
Speaker A:These are the people that, that God came for first.
Speaker A:And then you have the magi show up, enter in foreigner Gentiles, right?
Speaker A:And they're bringing gifts.
Speaker A:And so from the first moment, from the first place, God was already telling us that the child was not for one nation.
Speaker A:The child wasn't for one culture, the child wasn't for one social group.
Speaker A:And I mean, the angels even said it, good news of great joy, that will be for all people.
Speaker A:And I think that we forget this from time to time.
Speaker A:I think that we forget that Jesus wasn't meant for Christians.
Speaker A:He was meant for a dying world to be redeemed to him.
Speaker A:And the birth of Jesus tears down boundaries, both cultural and racial and all these things.
Speaker A:He tears down boundaries.
Speaker A:He comes for the poor and the wealthy alike.
Speaker A:He comes from the, for the religious insider and the spiritual seeker alike.
Speaker A:He comes for all of us now, whether we decide to go with him or not.
Speaker A:We have choice.
Speaker A:But he was born, he came to this earth for all of us.
Speaker A:And you know, we, we think about heart checks and we go, we ask the question, who have you quietly decided is going too far for God?
Speaker A:Who have you decided in your life?
Speaker A:God can't touch.
Speaker A:They're never going to be saved because the manger came and opened for everyone, not for someone, everyone.
Speaker A:And I think there's a, there's a travesty in, in our lives to really go well, they're just too far, they're just too gone.
Speaker A:They're just this.
Speaker A:And we make a judgment statement, not realizing that there was a point where people thought we were too gone.
Speaker A:And this operates in our business and our life and everything that we do, simply because there is not one person that you will ever encounter that is too far from the grace of God.
Speaker A:Never.
Speaker A:And I think it's going to be one of the most important things to see people with love and compassion, to remember that because Christ came for all of us, not for some of us and friends.
Speaker A:I mean that's, that's.
Speaker A:This is the story of God, the story that God has been writing from the beginning.
Speaker A:It's about a God who uses the overlooked, who honors the unclear or confused.
Speaker A:I mean, he honors their obedience, who enters the chaos, who hides his glory in the ordinary, and who welcomes everyone.
Speaker A:I hope you and your family have a very wonderful and powerful encounter with Christ at Christmas.
Speaker A:Please rest well.
Speaker A:Love the people that God put around you.
Speaker A:But remember, the King has come.
Speaker A:So let's stop striving and start focusing on him.
Speaker A:Merry Christmas to my unshakable life family.
Speaker A: year in a reflective way for: Speaker A:Thank you for spending this time with me on the Unshakable Life podcast.
Speaker A:My prayer is that today's conversation helps you to build resilience, reclaim peace, and step with courage into your God given calling.
Speaker A:If this episode has encouraged you, challenged you, or impacted you in any way, could you do me a favor?
Speaker A:Share it with a friend, leave a review and hit the follow so you don't miss what's next.
Speaker A:And if you want more tools and encouragement for your journey, head over to leadwithjim.com you'll find resources to help you grow as a healthy, authentic Christian leader, entrepreneur and creator.
Speaker A:And until next time, remember, your foundation is Christ, your calling is unshakable, and your life can make eternal impact.
Speaker B:This is the unshakable life.
Speaker B:Mindset, Resilience, Action.
Speaker B:No strife.
Speaker B:Break free from the burnout.
Speaker B:Find your true north with your guy Jim Burgoon stepping forward.
Speaker B:This is the unshakable life.
