God wants us to be happy.  When He tells us in the Bible to do, say, correct, believe, feel, think or share something, it is not to take away our happiness; it is to take away the things that are in the way of our full and lasting happiness.  We must trust that God is after our happiness, that He knows best how to bring about our happiness, and that what He tells us in the Bible is designed to lead us into happiness.  Doing what God tells us is not always easy, popular or instantly gratifying.  But it is always for good, always better in the end than sin, and always the best option for making us truly, ultimately, and eternally happy.

God is our glimmer of hope during seasons of suffering.  Though we may feel discouraged in our ongoing troubles, we should know that God is near to strengthen us when we are weak, lift us when we have fallen, and rescue us when we are drowning. That’s why we cry out to Him as the God of our salvation.  Praise God, He saves us! He keeps His promises to us, even when we don’t think He has.  He hears us when we pray, even when we don’t think He does.  He works for our good, even when we don’t think He is.   In Jesus, God Himself has entered our suffering to give us hope when it seems like we have none.

There are many things that are true about prayer.  One of them is this:  prayer involves seeking what we need to do what God wants.  We don’t talk to God in order to secure what we need to build our own kingdoms; we talk to God to request what we need to live for His kingdom.  Prayer is not a hotline to heaven we use to override His will so He will give us what we think will make us happy; it is a lifeline to heaven we use to ask Him to show us His will and make us happy with what He gives us.  If we want to pray for what is best for us, this is the prayer that never fails:  Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven.

Followers of Jesus take steps of faith in our day-by-day “walk” with Him.  Wherever He leads, we follow in the same direction, one step at a time.   In loving obedience.  With humble dependance. For a blessed experience.  While there are many places we will go and things we will do, there are four basic steps that every Christian never stops taking until they follow Jesus all the way home:  Pray.  Read the Bible.  Respond to what tells you.  Help others do the same.  This is how God is honored in us and we are happy in Him. Certainly we will take mis-steps along the way; but Jesus will never let us permanently lose our way.

Time. Is. Precious.  It’s precious because it’s short, we don’t know how much more of it remains, it is gone forever once we use it, and there are staggering implications for how we use it.    There is only One Who knows how to best use the time that remains for you and me, so let’s not leave Jesus out of our plans today or any day.  Remember this:  we can spend our time any way we choose, but we can only spend it once. As we live by grace, in dependence upon the presence and power and purposes of Jesus, He will help us give less priority to the things that really don’t matter and more priority to the things that do.

God made everything in the universe, known and unknown to us.  He imagined it.  He created it.  He rules it. He shares it. And there is not a millimeter of it that does not declare His glory and majesty!  Let it be shouted from every distant star to every nearby tree, from every creature to you and me.  His hands that shaped the cosmos also shapes our hearts, for He not only cares for the world but also for us.  He made us. He knows us.  He blesses us.  He loves us.  From the inner parts of us to the outer reaches of the universe, it is all covered in the fingerprints of God.  Indeed, O Lord, how majestic is Your Name!

God is near us when we have broken hearts and broken spirits.  Whether we are struggling with our own sin, the sin of others, or the result of sin’s fracturing of our world, He is never distant even if seems that way.  He hears our cries.  He comforts our hearts.  He meets our needs.  Though the result will not always be when we want it and how we want it, we have His promise that we will lack no good thing. This is true because God did not spare even His own Son from suffering. Jesus is our ever-near Immanuel, who lived, died and rose so we can taste and see God’s goodness.  Mingled with tears now.  Free from tears later.

Defeat doubt by preparing for battle in advance by filling your heart with the truth of God’s Word.   In advance, because doubt appears without warning.  With the truth of God’s Word, because doubt arrives with lies.  The enemy will attack you in times of darkness because it’s hard to see him coming, and it’s hard to see the situation for what it really is.   So, start your day in the light by saturating your heart with a good and accurate picture of God’s graciousness and faithfulness so you can remember those truths and promises when darkness falls.  Never forget in the dark what God has shown you in the light.

It’s never right to be angry with God.  It’s a sin.  When we are angry at Him, it’s an assault on His character.  It’s, in essence, saying to God regarding the circumstances that have caused such strong resentment in us:  You are not right.  You are not good.  You are not wise. You are not loving.  And none of those things are true, no matter how hard life gets.  What is true is that God is unbelievably good and loving to us, and is actively working out a wise and right plan, no matter how hard life gets.  He will make it all right when He makes it all new. So, be mad at sin, brokenness and Satan. But never be mad at our good, good Father.

God is greater.  A chef prepares delicious and nutritious foods, but God made flavors and taste buds and ingredients and nutrients.  An engineer builds strong and magnificent structures, but God created angles and dimensions and textures and materials.  An artist paints beautiful canvases, but God invented shapes and colors and strokes and imaginations. We do whatever we do only because God does what He does. The talents to use the things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch in this world all come from God.  He invents and inspires every good thing that we use, arrange, perform, create or do. God is greater.

At His first coming, Jesus took our place so we can be with God.  At His second coming, Jesus will take us to a place where we can be with God.  We live in the present between His two appearances:  when He came to live, die and rise for us, and when He will return for us.  It’s hard now.  It’s sad now. It’s messy now.  Yet it’s not without peace, hope and joy … because it’s not without Jesus.   Jesus 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.  Take heart! For though things aren’t yet perfect, the day is coming when they will be.

The point of everything is to point to our glorious God in Whose presence there is fullness of joy and pleasure forever. The Scripture stories of Christmas are ripe with this…  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 now and forever.  Let us return to our everyday lives knowing… God is with us.  God is for us.  God is to be glorified through us.

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.  God gave to us and gives to us and will continue to give to us. Christmas is about grace.  God’s grace.  Grace that is greater than all our sin.

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, and makes us like Him. 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 whole.

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, grace and love for all to see.   In looking at Jesus, a few things we see are… Rebuke, authority and truth for the rebellious and self-righteous.  Forgiveness, compassion and peace for the broken and repentant.  Joy, hope and strength for the followers and the faithful.  Love.  For.  Everyone.

Many people celebrate Christmas without celebrating Christ.  They love the gifts and the decorations and the food and the music and the sentiment and the gatherings and the movies, but they don’t love Jesus.  Instead of spending the season adoring Him, they spend the season ignoring Him.  That’s why we are sent on a mission to tell the world about Jesus, in hope that they will also see His beauty and majesty and generosity.  We are to invite others into our joy and into our worship.  So, let us use every gift-exchange and gathering to tell of His excellencies. O come let us adore Him.  O come let us proclaim Him.

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, we cannot change reality:  this world is undeniably broken.   What we see is the inevitable ruin that comes when we do what is right in our own eyes and do what feels good over what God says is good.   We need… A Hero to save the day.  A Liberator to set us free.  A Healer to make us whole.  A Satisfier to make us content.  A Ruler to reign over us for good.  A Savior to save us from our sins.  Rejoice! Christmas announces that new life can be ours through faith.  Jesus was born so we can be born again!