Babel or Bethlehem

Babel or Bethlehem

Babel or Bethlehem
I speak not of location
I refer not to ethnicity, race, class
Unless you think it was those who geographically surrounded the virgin-born
Do not neglect the thought of wicked Herod who earthly reigned nearby
Jewish Pharisees awaited their future disputes
Skeptics in nearby cities were maturing to soon accuse the God-man of an origin of Beelzebul
What is it for you dear reader? Babel or Bethlehem?
Did not Simon the magician believe in a creator? Did his heart not still reside in Babel? Was he not immersed in the ordinance of baptism?
Yet, in Babel, he was in the gall of bitterness
And the bond of iniquity
Are you of the countless remnant lying to yourselves that you have left Babel?
Do you suspect you have chosen Bethlehem from a ritual of baptism? An occasional attendance? The rare checkmark of glancing at chapters and verses?
Have you deceived yourself into thinking your citizenship has transferred at the occasional financial sacrifice? Consider this day the possibility, like so many mere professors, - you have never escaped Babel
Your trust is in your technology
Your unified self-righteousness with others
For none have said of you -”My, what radical change! What recognizable fruit! A distinguishable transformation! An identifiable presence of the Holy Spirit!”

Have you remained, dear friend, in Babel?
Is it true you have never fully packed your bags to leave like dissatisfied celebrities after an election?
Consider with me the piercing thoughts:
Those who remain in Babel will tear the paper of gifts this Christmas with a smile - while the earth-shattering cry of condemnation awaits their eternal souls
The formality of the clothing in the coming days - does it not temporarily disguise the rags of unrighteousness that will never be forgiven?
Photo ops with family take precedence over the picture of the eternal condemnation that awaits
The once cheerful carols will soon be drowned out by the screeching agony of eternal torment
Babel or Bethlehem?

You will look into your children’s eyes seeing the glee of a national holiday
You will recount lost loved ones and in blind hope wish to one day be reunited
Would you finally see and admit that your citizenship resides in Babel? 
Those of the Babel empire will not join hands and walk peacefully on the streets of gold
For the God whom they forgot and despised reigns and dwells there
Those who did not long for Him and walk with Him on earth will most certainly not dwell with the God-man in Heaven
Will you cease falsehood and spit truth?
You still remain in Babel—even in seats where worship has been made.
Could it be that you have never left Babel?
Would God now be gracious to you to see the status of your current citizenship card? 
An unholy life is not one who looked longingly and trustingly  to the child at Bethlehem
An unchanged soul has not eyes fixed on the manger, cross, ascension, or second coming
Secretly they loathe all; especially the second coming, for the truth is you remain in Babel
Block upon block of hard-hearted rejection accumulates in the sky
Brick upon brick of undedicated excuses swiftly generates into the clouds
Mortar upon mortar of rebellion, “Doing what's right in my own eyes,” mounts into the galaxies above
The next plan of self-reliance pushes aside adoration of God
The tactic of self-sufficient pride stacked into the high heavens eliminates procrastinated praise
A life of non-surrender says “This here family of mine, look how great in number and tradition - see how great, mighty, unified we have become in our commitment to unholiness and forgetting the God most high - look at all we have done and built - for this here family, are they not so precious and attractive, they are my gods!”
Babel or Bethlehem?
No, for certain you would never articulate it as such
Not in such holy pews
But your private lives reflect such citizenship in Babel
Does not a life of unholiness reveal a lack of longing and affection for the now risen virgin-born king?
A condemning, eternal unrest awaits those still in Babel

Oh, hear dear reader
Think of the times you have heard of Bethlehem
Would you consider even now
With festive decor
Bright colored apparel
Blinding and blinking neighborhoods
That you have chosen Babel
You cannot enter eternity unchanged
Void of holiness
suppressing the truth
What will it be?
You can peak at the ghosts of past, present, and future - 
While fascinating and thought-provoking literature
The truth remains - It’s  only Christ who changes and saves
Babel or Bethlehem?

Choose Bethlehem for it was God who looked down on them from His throne
As high as they thought they were
It was God who condescended
It was God who sent His Son
It was God incarnate who would willingly hang upon that cross
It was God who would ascend and promise His return
Choose Bethlehem
For it was the wise men who worshipped in saving faith
Choose Bethlehem
For they saw He who was worthy of praise with frankincense, gold, and myrrh
Choose Bethlehem
For Mary directed the praise not to herself, vanity, or Babel but to the virgin-born King
Choose Bethlehem
For not even Herod could thwart God’s plan
Look at what took place in Bethlehem
Choose Bethlehem
For there is only forgiveness by the shed blood of the virgin-born King

What say you, dear reader? Have you claimed to be on your way to the Celestial City only to, in reality, remain in vanity or Babel?
Choose this day whom you serve
Choose Bethlehem

For any alternative is:
Man-Focused
Man-Entitled 
Man-Dependent and void of God
For this is the way of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) 

Choose this day whom you serve
Choose Bethlehem
Choose the God-man - The virgin born King - God incarnate 
Choose the perfect Savior - Jesus Christ