Blog

‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all thru the place
Everyone began going back to their old, normal pace.
The tree and the decorations were all neatly put away,
‘Til this time next year, tucked in the closet they’d stay.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

We will often fail to live out our faith in Jesus and stumble in our walk with Him. We won’t always love Him most, love others best, and love rightly all the rest. Instead, we will make ourselves the center of our lives, make self-serving decisions as we plan our lives, and ultimately make a mess out of our lives. That. Is. Why. There. Is. Christmas. Christmas is about a gift of God’s Son, a gift of forgiveness, a gift of transformation, a gift of eternal life, a gift of happiness in God. Christmas is about grace… Forgiveness for when we have said “yes” to sins committed, freedom to say “no” to sins not yet committed, and favor to experience eternal pleasure where no sin will ever be committed again. There is grace for us. God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. – Luke 2:20

The point of creation and Christmas and the coming new creation is that God is glorious, and He desires to be seen as such by a joy-filled, peace-filled, hope-filled people that He has made and redeemed for Himself. The Scripture stories of Christmas are ripe with this: Good news of… Great joy. Peace on earth. Light shining in darkness. Salvation from sin. A forever kingdom. Everlasting life. A Savior. A Reigning King. A Son of the Most High. Christ the Lord. Immanuel. Glory to God in the highest. Christmas shines brightly with God’s ultimate purpose: that He be honored in us and we be happy in Him. Until Jesus returns again, let us return to live our everyday lives knowing… God is with us. God is for us. God is to be glorified through us.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29

Jewelry breaks. Toys break. Electronics break. You and I break. God made us in His image, but our sin fractured our likeness to Him and our relationship with Him. But Christmas is for the broken. God loves the broken. He sent Jesus for the broken. The Son of God came to do what we could not do, and die for what we could not do, perfectly bear the image of God. When we put our faith in Him, He puts His Spirit in us changing us forever. Rejoice today! For the Christ Child left the manger and made His way to the cross where the Christmas Gift of God’s Son was broken for the broken so that we could be made right with God, made to look more like God, and made to live forever with God.

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. – Colossians 1:15

People have all kinds of ideas in their heads about God, and these ideas, right or wrong, shape how we view the world and influence how we live in it. When Jesus came to live in this world with us, He made it possible for us to know what God is really like. He displayed God’s character, heart, authority, holiness, righteous anger and love for all to see. In looking at Jesus, what we see is… Forgiveness for the repentant. Compassion for the broken. Rebuke for the self-righteous. Freedom for the enslaved. Peace for the fearful. Humiliation for the proud. Exaltation for the lowly. Hope for the hurting. Guidance for the confused. Strength for the weak. Authority for the rebellious. Supply for the needy. Joy for the downtrodden. Grace for the unable. Love. For. Everyone.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21

We try to ignore it. We try to downplay it. We try to run from it. We try to overcome it. But no matter what we do, cannot change reality: This world is undeniably broken. Our world is the inevitable ruin that comes when every person does what is right in his or her own eyes and chooses to do what feels good over what God says is good. We need a Hero to save the day. We need a Liberator to set us free. We need a Healer to make us whole. We need a Satisfier to make us content. We need a Ruler to reign over us for good. We need a Savior to save us from our sins. We. Need. Jesus. He came to make us right with God, He is with us so we can make it through this world, and He is returning to make all things as they should be.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

How freeing it is to embrace with confidence that God has allowed some things into our lives and others things to be missing from them for a reason that is good. Even if we have no idea what that reason is. Or how it can possibly be for good. For those who are trusting in Jesus, God is always doing much more in us, for us, around us, and through us than we are aware of. All we see is the show, but He is working behind the scenes. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows. And when we can’t see it with our eyes, let us believe it in our hearts. That’s what faith is for.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:39-40

From heaven to earth. From a manger to a cross. From suffering to victory. Christmas begins an epic story of just how far Jesus would travel, and just how hard His journey would be, to bring us back into a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father. Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for sinners like you and me to go from earth to heaven. His story births our stories where every step is assured because of His willingness and faithfulness to do the Father’s will: namely, to keep us until the end of this life and raise us up at the beginning of the next. Christmas reminds us Who Jesus is, why He came, and where He is taking those who trust Him. Destination: Heaven. He will not lose us on the way. He will not let us lose our way.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. – Genesis 3:15

Christmas is a declaration of war on everything that separates us from God and the life with Him that we were meant to enjoy now and forever. God sent Jesus to disarm and defeat sin, Satan and death so we can be forgiven and freed. Then, He equips us with the armor of God, the Word of God and the Spirit of God to empower us as we fight our battles against temptation, secure in the truth that Jesus has already secured our victory. For those of us who trust Him… Sin no longer separates us from God! Sin no longer has power over us! And until Jesus comes again to give us final deliverance from it, we expect, endure, hate, expose, resist and overcome evil, but we do not give in, give up or give out in our fight against it.