What will you do with the best gift ever?
Isn't Christmas all about love and peace on earth and hope for the world to be a better place? Can't we have all of those nice things without Jesus? Can't I just enjoy the spirit of the season without being religious?
Yes, there is plenty of fun to share this time of year, and maybe people will be a little bit nicer for a little while, maybe. But if you meet the birthday boy and get to know him then the party will be a whole lot more meaningful and the thrill will last way after Christmas is over. Without the real reason for the season you will never have a life full of joy that will last into the next life.
Think about the truth of this sentence: "God with us."
I mean really think about it! It's been so long since God was with us that many of us think that it is just a fairy tale. Way back before our time God was with us in a close and personal way without fear. Adam and Eve enjoyed God with us in a way that we have never known.
From Genesis chapter three until Revelation chapter twenty-one, with very few exceptions, everyone lived in fear of meeting God. But when God came to be with us we didn't have to be afraid of him, the angels announcing his birth to the shepherds were more scary than God was as a fragile baby in a manger. We should be as excited as the shepherds were yet we behave more like the inn keeper.
Moses would be amazed that God is with us and we completely ignore him. Moses longed to see God but he couldn't do it straight on, he had to see God's backside, we have the ability to walk up to the manger and see him without a veil and so many of us refuse to do it.
Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.
The Bible is full of predictions that told us about Jesus birth and what his purpose was for coming to be with us. The prophecy's were given hundreds of years before his arrival to authenticate the identity of this child and his mission, God's promised son is here and it is obvious that he has a purpose for being a part of our smelly, hurtful and sick world.
Colossians 1:15-17 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
The world is so irritated by the exclusivity of Christianity but our claims to truth are backed up by the Bible like no other religion. Jesus is unique because none of the other religious leaders authenticated themselves by being born in the circumstances that were predicted for hundreds of years.
None of the other religions have a problem getting along because they are all based on a man that claims to have a way that will get you to God. Only Christianity has a man that has been authenticated as God that tells us that he is the way to God.
Why is it so important to believe that Jesus is God?
1 John 4:14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
If you sin against somebody then that person is the only person that can forgive you. I need forgiveness for my offenses against God but God cannot ignore my offenses and leave sin unpunished. My sin is against God and he is the only one that can forgive them so God had to personally come to my world to suffer the consequences in my place.
That is the true wonder of Christmas! God purposefully came into our world to become so vulnerable that he could be killed. God is the only acceptable and willing sacrifice for our sin that makes it possible for us to be with him for eternity.
Revelation 21:3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
God loved us so much that he gave himself to be the sacrifice to pay for our forgiveness. If I agree with God that my sin is against him and it is offensive to him then I can accept his payment for what I have done and I will be able to experience God with us for eternity.
That's the real meaning of the season that will bring you joy that will last in this life and for eternity!
