As I said last week, two themes hit me as I was reading and studying the verses about Jesus and His birth.  One was worship, which I wrote about last week.  The other idea is obedience.  As I read about the different individuals (Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, the shepherds, the wise men–who came a couple of years later–, and Simeon and Anna in the temple) worship just explodes off the pages.  But the other element which exudes from their lives is obedience.  Worship, true worship, results in obedience. 

                Look at Joseph: the angel tells him to take Mary as his wife, and he does.  The angel tells him Herod is looking to kill Jesus and to flee to Egypt, and he does.  After Herod dies, an angel tells him to move back to Israel, and he does.  When he’s warned in a dream about Archelaus ruling in Judea, he journey’s to Nazareth as an act of obedience.  What about Mary and her response to the angel’s statement about the supernatural conception of Jesus—“May it be to me as you have said.”  Read her song in Luke 1:46ff.  Wow!  Obedience is God’s love language and is the godly response to true worship.  We all say for the Christ-follower, “Christmas can be a 24/7/365 thing.”  And it is—worship and an obedient response to the call of God.  One word again—WOW!  May our 24/7/365 lives be characterized by both.