Time for my yearly post about what Christmas is all about. To new readers: I have done this for something like five years. I usually deal with the fact that Jesus being born was a sign that God is with Us. Not only Us as in all of humanity but Us as in individually. God the Creator of the universe is with us. That idea can create Hope in every situation. God can deal with and heal your situations, issues, hurts and actions. He is also there to hold you through it all too. Or to help you become an even better person.
Christmas is also a sign and is evidence of God’s love. That is Jesus’ birth was and still is a definite sign of the fact that God is love. Again not only humanity as a whole but you individually. No matter what hurts, hangups, habits you have. No matter what you have done or not done God the Creator loves you. All peoples groups, all races, all nationalities, all of us-yes, that last was redundant but there was a purpose to the redundancy. A solid point I wanted to make.
So Christmas-Jesus being born in a stable to a simple girl, placed in a manger, the shepherds, the angel announcement, the whole thing. There have been plenty of pictures, real displays, movie scenes that show this moment. It doesn’t matter if there was snow outside the stable or if, as some think, it was a cave or a very simple structure, the important thing is that He was born. And that not only is that moment being a show of God’s love and that it is God with us, as I stated already, but it was also the first step in God’s plan of Grace. He had to be born, had to grow up, had to teach and show miracles, had to have temptations and had to die and had to be resurrected so that we-as in you and me-can be forgiven and thereby can know God. Sin was a big problem and it had to be dealt with as in completely done away with in our lives. He showed we could not live up to a series of rituals and commandments, that our own efforts got us no closer to God. Yet He still loved us and to prove that love He sent His only Begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish-should not die separated from God. He also showed His great love toward us in that while we were yet sinners God sent Jesus to die for us. That is the part of the Christmas story that is Love. God Sent us His Son, born of a woman. That is Love! That is why we rejoice over Christmas; not only is God with us in a way He hadn’t been before, not only does it show His Love for all of us but it is His gift to us. Grace is unmerited favor-we don’t earn it or deserve it. We are saved by grace so that no one can boost. That is why Joy and Peace are a part of Christmas as well as love-hope should be too for Jesus is the hope creator. Noel is another word for Christmas and could come from a word that meant birth. It has become a short way to say celebrate Jesus was born.
As with any gift we have to receive it. God still allows the free will He made us with, so it is your choice to receive it or not. Good things come with receiving it: most important total forgiveness of your sins-they are done away with-but also healing of hurts, hangups and habits, plus Joy so good it is unspeakable and peace that passes understanding and a love that is terrific. Yes, there are changes which can be rough but over all it is definitely worth it.
If you choose it, tell God, tell someone else, read the Bible. Just talk to God as you would anyone you know. He knows you need it and He knows your pains and hurts and your sins so agree with Him-say it. He understands pain, plain talk and if you are not totally sure about this.
To explain more about Christmas here is a link to what was Billy Graham’s Advent Devotional week one. This was back from Nov 29, there are now two more weeks of devotionals.
And these steps to salvation, Here with two buttons at the bottom for more information.
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