I don’t often stop and think about the fact that, it is Christmas! We know, because of the festivities and decor that surrounds us, that the Christmas season is upon us. It is a very special time of year. During no other season do you hear the music of the season everywhere you go. Even though is is the middle of darkest time of the calendar year, lights are in abundance and in brilliant colors. Unmistakably the season of Christmas is evident. Glad tiding and good cheer are a wonderful message to share with the ones we love, and the world around us!
But when I finally stop and begin to think about Christmas, I have to recognize that there is a “reason for the season”. I don’t know offhand where that phrase originated, but it really hits the “nail on the head” to use another coined expression. These expressions we hear and use, can draw us into thought or even to something deeper, to meditation. The “nail on the head” expression strikes home with me as I started out in the construction industry over 40 years ago nailing drywall. It brings back a flood of memories that range from the struggles of learning, to the contests of how fast it could be done. I am sure that each of us have expressions that you relate to because of experiences you have had. I would venture to say that most are related to life experiences.
When we begin to think on Christmas, we can not think about, the “reason for the season” and not think about Jesus, the Christ. Christmas isn’t about our life experiences, but about how God is able to change our life experiences. It is not about a physical journey, it’s about a spiritual journey. It has been over 2,000 years since that first Christmas, in fact it wasn’t called Christmas then. The individuals that lived back then have long since passed on.
That is one of the amazing gifts that Christmas brings to each of us. The fact that our spiritual needs are the same as those that have traveled this road of life before us. They may have had different life expressions that caught their attention, but the Word of God is able to reach every one of us because it speaks to our spiritual journey, which isn’t bound to time. Jesus was born in Bethlehem on a specific date in time, but He existed before the world began, He is the Word of God incarnate. He alone is able to speak to our spiritual needs. We know very little of His early life, but volumes have been written about His last years on earth. He ministered to the people of Israel in a time of spiritual darkness. They hadn’t heard from a prophet in 400 years. When Jesus came, He didn’t just talk about the issues and needs of the day, but He ministered to them both physically and spiritually. He brought a message that provided, and continues to provide, healing for our souls. We have been created with a soul that will live forever. Jesus brought the healing power of the Gospel to a world lost and dying because of sin. Jesus brought the message of God’s forgiveness and Love for all of mankind.
The Christmas message continues because it is a spiritual experience. It is an experience every human being can know. One of coming to know the complete reason Jesus came to us. His life’s work didn’t conclude as we would have written it with our finite minds. We are drawn to the beautiful picture of the babe in the manger, as we should be, but it doesn’t end with Jesus retiring in old age and simply passing on to eternity. His earthly ministry concluded with him dying on a Cross and being buried in a borrowed tomb. But isn’t that where there message of Christmas really gets its light and life?!
He arose, victorious over death and all of our enemies. He brought the Light of life into full view. He calls to those that have been in darkness to come to this Light and receive the most beautiful message ever heard. You can believe the Gospel of God’s forgiveness, because Jesus came to bring it for you! The Name that is above every name, and the One that has been declared from the beginning of time, the Name of Jesus, is able to bring you the Salvation of God. Jesus Died and shed His lifeblood on Calvary to pay the debt of sin that all of us have owed, since the fall in the Garden of Eden, so you can receive this forgiveness. Faith provides a right standing before an Eternal God through His Son Jesus Christ! Everyone that has believed this, is a witness who can share this wonderful message. A message of the power of the God that came to visit this earth so long ago. God’s grace in action, in tandem with His love to us.
It is my prayer that each of us will find ourselves thinking and meditating on the “reason for the season”. May you unswaddle those blankets that encompass the greatest gift mankind has ever known. It’s Jesus and He Loves you with an everlasting love. He rose victorious, and ascended to His Father and our Father, where He continues to make intercession for you. He is present in the witness of the Holy Spirit and in those that believe, and it is faith that is the vehicle that brings to us the greatest love story ever told! Is there any wonder that Christmas is the season of Joy!
It is Christmas!
Pastor Stan
Opmerkingen