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God demands we be perfect in order to go to heaven, declares none of us are perfect and therefore are condemned to hell, and then delivers us by sending Jesus to take our imperfections and be our perfection so we can have everlasting life. Here’s what won’t get you into heaven: your effort at trying to be good enough. Here’s what will get you into heaven: Jesus. Trust Him, and everything changes! We were… Lost, but now found. Bankrupt, but now rich. Condemned, but now pardoned. Enslaved, but now free. Dead, but now alive. Rejoice! God didn’t lower His standards for us; He lowered His Son for us.

Jesus willingly exchanged all the wealth of His deity for the poverty of His humanity when He came to dwell on earth. Why? For. Our. Sake. We couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for us. We couldn’t break free from sin, so He set us free. We couldn’t atone for our transgressions, so He died in our place. We couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so we too will rise. We couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for our inheritance. We have become rich through the finished work of Jesus. And long before it was finished at Calvary, it was started in Bethlehem. For our sake.

When was the last time you thought about eternity and what it would be like to perish forever? When was the last time you rejoiced that you have a completely different eternity awaiting because God gave His Son? When was the last time you considered the implications of receiving this gift? Everything bad is turned around and traded in for good when we trust in Jesus! Because in Jesus we are given a countless list of blessings with each entry having sub-lists of countless more benefits that we enjoy now in part and will enjoy fully throughout eternity. Rejoice today in God’s Son. He’s the Gift that keeps on giving.

The bad news that is plastered all over the social media and news media stories will leave us disturbed and discouraged if we don’t remind ourselves of the good news of the Greatest Story Ever Told. Every day we must remember who Jesus is to us and what He does for us. The more we trust in the message of joy that a Savior and Lord has arrived to rescue us from bad and rule over us for good, the more we will experience real joy in our hearts. Today, don’t fill your mind with the garbage of this world but rather fix your mind on the glorious good news of Jesus. This will lead to great rejoicing for those who believe.

Advent is a time of hopeful waiting. The question is: what are we waiting for? Life will frequently leave us disappointed and dissatisfied if we are waiting for the right time when the right things have come and made us feel the right way. So… We wait. And we wait. And we wait our lives away. We will never find lasting satisfaction in the people, pleasures and possessions of earth. We weren’t mean to. As we wait for the second coming of Jesus, let us look to Him to be for us and give to us what this world never can: the gift of real contentedness. It’s not about what we have in our lives; it’s about Who we have in our hearts.

The sights, sounds and smells of Christmastime should cause us to pause and celebrate Christ. As we see the glow of lights, let our own hearts be merry and bright because the Light of the world has come. As we hear holiday music, let us smile because Jesus has put a new song in our hearts. As we walk past the Salvation Army worker, let us remember Jesus came to work for our salvation. It’s all there: the CHORUS of praise, the WRAPPING of swaddling clothes, the TREE made into a cross, the GIFT of eternal life. May every fleck of tinsel, note of a carol and morsel of a cookie remind us: Jesus is the reason for the season.

Our sin prevents nearness to God because it separates us from Him with no possible way from our side to get to Him. This is why Jesus came to live, die and rise… So you and I can draw near to God. We who are trusting in Jesus for forgiveness and freedom from sin are no longer distant from real peace, real hope, real joy, real comfort, real security, real wisdom, and real love because we are no longer distant from God where these things are found. Our Immanuel made a way for us to get forgiven, get real life, get to heaven and get to God. Rejoice today over this truth: When we could not get to Him, Jesus came to us.

Our thoughts have the power to shape us, for better or for worse, so we must let our minds land most often on Jesus. His Good News message is full of life-changing truths and promises that will guide us into a right perspective on every life issue. It changes how we see our past so we can know real freedom from guilt and shame. It changes how we see our present so we can know real purpose and peace in the midst of busyness. It changes how we see our future so we can know real hope as we joyfully anticipate what lies ahead. The more we think about Jesus, the more it will rewire how we think about everything else.

Even as Christians, one of the human weaknesses that we must continue to seek divine strength to overcome is our bent to be selfish. We need the mind and heart of Christ: a mind that regularly thinks of others rather than just ourselves, and a heart that is compassionate enough to serve and support others even at our own expense. It should be the golden rule, not the exception, to give up what we want so others can get what they need. That is when we are like Jesus. Today, go out of your way to do for others, joyfully remembering this: Jesus went out of His way from heaven to earth to the cross to do for you.

There is a three-word description that summarizes what happens from the moment we put our faith in Jesus until the moment we come face-to-face with Him: grow in grace. We are not meant to stay the same or stand still, but to progress in our experience of grace for the rest of our lives. There are countless observations, implications and applications that flow from God’s grace to us, and we have the delightful duty of discovery. Day by day, we are to prize, prioritize and pursue intimacy with Jesus. Progress does not come from fixing ourselves, but fixing our eyes on Him. This is how we grow: we set out to know.