Jesus Came!!
Good morning one and all, and Merry Christmas!
Unlike any other holiday, Christmas brings with it a Spirit of Hope, and Joy right in the middle of our chaotic world. But I’ve noticed that, increasingly, many people are not connecting with this Spirit, and they are missing the Hope and Joy of this season. That “Christmas Magic” seems to elude them. But I’ve good news; the Joy is still here.
First of all, it’s not magic. It is the fact that God came into the world, as one of His own beloved creation, to save us from ourselves and our sin, just as He promised He would do.
Because of His desire for a Love Relationship with us, as a Good Father with His children, God had to give us our own free will. The right to choose both What and Who we would love. Risky right? I mean what would happen if we made bad choices? Well to see the answer to that question, all we must do is look around in our world today, or maybe even, just in our own lives.
When bad things happen in our world many of us like to blame God. God is NOT the reason for all the pain and suffering in the world, we are. The world He created was perfect, free from any form of defect, until the first humans used their free will and chose to disregard His advice, opening the door that let evil in. Yes, He knew that it would happen, but this God, who is Love, longed for a special creation to love, and provide for, and protect, because He IS Love.
In the moment of their bad decision God made a promise, In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, the third chapter, in the fifteenth verse, God promised that He would send someone born of a woman who would ultimately destroy evil, and the evil one, Satan.
This is what Christmas is all about. Our help and victory over evil has come. Jesus Christ did come, though it took a long time, about four thousand years, He came, just as our loving Heavenly Father promised.
He came bringing salvation and healing with Him. All a person must do is use that same power of choice that opened the door to evil, with Adam and Eve, to open the door of their hearts to this Jesus who came. This is where the Spirit of the season is found; in the Hope that despite all our bad decisions, God has come to help us out of them all.
We may not know how He will do it, but because we’ve opened our hearts to receive Him and His love, we have this unexplainable Hope and Joy that in this Christ who came, everything will ultimately be alright.
Just as God the Father made a promise that Jesus would come, Jesus made a promise that He would come again, and when He did, He would take, all who have opened their hearts to Him through faith, with Him to a place He is preparing for them. We will live with Him there for all of eternity.
The first promise came true, though it took a long time, and though many people lost hope, Jesus came. Delay does not negate any of God’s promises.
But don’t forget that Jesus made a promise too. Though it’s been nearly two thousand years, be encouraged, and keep watching, because Jesus WILL come again, just as He promised, and that very soon.
He’s coming and will remove those of us who walk with Him in this life, by faith, from this broken world (John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Don’t be like those who lost hope of His first coming, because so many years had passed since the promise was first made and did not realize that in this little baby boy, named Jesus, God fulfilled His promise.
The Good News of Christmas is not only that Jesus came, but that He is coming again; and that very soon. Don’t miss it! He’s coming, and it’s not as far off as you might think.
Let me leave you with this verse from the Bible;
“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."
1 Corinthians 2:9
Merry Christmas!