Something is going on all around us. It is affecting every part of our lives. Whether you live here or somewhere else in the world. We are all being affected by constant concern regarding what is happening around us. I use the word concern to describe the overall mood. To put it in perspective, it seems to be a concern that we just don't know what is happening and where we are going.
Now let's be clear on this point because there is never a time when we know all of what is going on or where that might be taking us. That is true for us individually and also corporately as mankind. So the idea is that there seems to be a concern on the part of people today about the uncertainties around us.
As a Christian it can certainly be easier for us to deal with the concerns we have because we can as the Scriptures say in Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
The three part work of God through Jesus Christ brings us as His creation back to Him. You see the first part of the work was to send a Saviour as a baby in a manger. The second part was for that same baby to grow into a man and then die a cruel death on a cross. It didn't just turn out that way. God had planned it that way. This baby was the lamb of God and He was slain from the foundation of the world. God knew that man would sin and that He would send His Son as a baby in a manger to later die on the cross for our sins.
The third part is an exclamation point of the first two. Why? Because it is the resurrection that proves that we can live forever with Him for eternity. If we only live this life and then die and there is no resurrection then what is all this for? In John 10 Jesus makes this statement about dying and defeating death.
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
So there you are with what God began in a manger in Bethlehem and He completed through a grave in Jerusalem. So as we step into this Christmas weekend don't miss the wonder and the truth that surround this very special time of year. It is the celebration of the birth of Christ and is uniquely ours as Christians.
That is what we celebrate this weekend as we on Sunday go to church for those wonderful Christmas Eve services. Then we get up on Christmas morning with our family and celebrate His birth. God sent His Son that first Christmas morning so that mankind would have a way He provided to be reconciled with Himself. What a gift and it was the most precious gift ever given to man.
Listen, I love Christmas and have such wonderful and powerful memories as a child of the season of Christmas. When I was a child we went to a church in Tampa and the Pastor was extremely evangelistic and wanted to impact the city for Christ. The church services were on the radio each week. My father was the announcer and each week we would deliver the tape to the radio station for broadcast.
Well, Christmas and New Year's were opportunities to also do presentations at the church. There were some years I remember that the church had a live broadcast on a local TV station at midnight on Christmas Eve. It was called "A Night of Miracles". The choir sang, my father was the announcer and the Pastor preached about the story of Christ's birth and what it meant. So my sister and I spent Christmas Eve at the TV station then went home to get up that Christmas morning for presents and time as a family.
Over the history of time, we came to this season of the year to replace what were pagan traditions, not Christian ones. For much of the last few hundred years that has been the case. Unfortunately, that seems to be changing back. The worship of a Savior's birth is being turned away from the real reason for the season to one that celebrates self and not Saviour.
As you spend the time this Christmas be sure to focus on what God has done for you through Jesus Christ His Son. Not on all of the distractions that most certainly will be out there.
Elaine and I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.
In God's Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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