December 7th

Only a week into Christmas season and time is already flying by! Before you know it we will be taking down the decorations and packing them up again. As we zoom through this busy season let us take time to refresh our spirit with the gifts that God gives us. No matter our situation, we have so much to be grateful for this season!

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

As the Youth reminded us in their message this week, God SO LOVED! Those are not just words on a page. Jesus came into an ugly world at an ugly time to an ugly place…He was born into a stinky manger, he grew up in a place where the Romans controlled everything and taxes were beyond reasonable. The religious leaders were arrogant, petty and selfish. The people were poor, broken and barely making it. Disease was widespread and so was sin. Despite all odds against Him, Jesus was successful. But success for Him was suffering and death. Not to mention the frustration He had throughout His ministry before that as He discipled mere humans whose minds were limited in their ability to grasp the Truth of His plan.

The Truth of His plan was that He knew what He would suffer before He ever came and He chose to submit to the Father’s plan anyway. The Truth of His plan is that God the Father knew exactly what suffering He was giving His son over to before it ever happened and He chose to do that anyway.

Do we take time to consider that or are they just words on a page? When we consider Christmas do we consider the profound Love that God has for us that He would suffer the deepest grief there is as He watched His son suffer and die, carrying the full weight of our sin and His wrath? When we consider Christmas do we consider the tears our Heavenly Father shed as Jesus was mutilated and hung on the cross? Do we consider the gut-wrenching grief that He had as His Son descended to Hell?...by choice!

Read Isaiah Chapter 53, the prophecy regarding the suffering and death that Jesus would face. He was not cheered as a hero during that experience here, he was mocked and beaten. He was so disfigured that people averted their eyes. He did not receive glory from humans, even His disciples abandoned Him for a time.

1 Peter 2:23-24 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

At Christmas it is easy to take His arrival here on earth as simply the wonderful story, a joyful, happy time, the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding the arrival of a Messiah, a Savior. But do we really savor the full meaning of it? Do we remember what it really was like? Amidst the hustle and bustle of the season, take a few minutes each day to remember the profound love poured out to us by our Heavenly Father. Rejoice in that Love! Thank Him for that Amazing Love! Soak in that unfathomable Love! Then when you are overflowing with that Love, SHARE that love with others! Pour that same love out to others wherever you go! This is the best news ever, it is not just words on a page, it is God our Father in Heaven and Jesus in flesh and blood loving us enough to suffer the greatest grief and pain imaginable, Just for YOU!

GOD SO LOVED YOU!

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesian 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

My Father in Heaven thank you for your love that is beyond what I can grasp, Jesus thank you for your love that allowed you by choice to submit to the Father’s plan. Help me to understand, remember and reflect that love. I want to overflow with your love so that I am changed by it and bring healing to others. May you be glorified in my life this Christmas season!