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As Bing used to sing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”  The Bowie Towne Center is decorated in green and red.  As my wife and I window-shopped, we heard the sweet and traditional music that we only hear during this part of the year.  Anticipation is in the air and it encourages our response: buy and give.  If that is the response of those with the spirit of consumerism, shouldn’t the response of those given the Holy Spirit be so much higher?

When we think of the term “first responders,” our minds might picture smoke rising from the twin towers after terrorists used two commercial planes as missiles.  They attacked America’s commercial and economic hub.  Calls went out and police, firemen, and medical rescuers responded dutifully and with great urgency. But, let’s think about the spiritual first responders.

After the first sin occurred, God responded and his message of the hope of redemption was interleaved with his curse on the tempter. He said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:15, NASB). From that time onward, many women responded with anticipation, agreeing to partner with God by giving birth to a Savior. Remember the story of Moses’ mother who concealed her infant son for 3 months because she “saw he was no ordinary child” (Heb 11:23, NIV). When Moses grew up, he became a foreshadowing of Christ.

Look at Jesus’ genealogy in the first chapter of the book of Matthew. It is odd that the names of mothers were included in the midst of a very man-oriented patriarchal society; women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. They were first responders deciding that being included in God’s plan regardless of any potential hardship was the highest priority of their lives. They all seemed to agree with Ruth when she declared, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Now think about a teenage girl named Mary of Nazareth. When she was told by the angel that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Son of God, she responded, “I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (Lk 1:38). When the LORD calls on you to partner with him, are you as ready to respond as a teenage girl did?

Several weeks before the MAN ON FIRE conference, we had a table in the church narthex to enable men to sign up. I stood behind the table so I could explain to those who have been asleep the last five years what the conference was about. I was surprised that the first responders to the conference were not the men, but their wives. Women asked me for flyers so they could encourage their husbands to come. How precious were the hearts of these women that they would desire to bring the gospel to their husbands and families in this way! I am thankful to my wife and the wives of the other Turn ON the Light-Bowie team of men, who give us permission to minister. In fact they echo the words of Rachael & Leah who said to Jacob, “Do whatever God has said to you” (Gen 31:16, NASB).

You will hear Christmas messages about how others responded to God; but what about you? When God speaks to you this season, will you be a first responder?