I wish I could remember which scripture was being read at the high school concert this past week, when I received my Christmas blessing. It was a fabulous concert that presented singing, orchestra, band, speaking, prayer……and as I sat in the dark enjoying the evening of Christmas songs, one of the scriptures pierced me with Christmas truth again.
It’s more than the story of the birth of Jesus. Of course, that is where it has to start…..with the birth. But as we know, Jesus grew up….to teach and to heal and to love….and to be the example to us of how to live…..and then to die so that we can have salvation and Eternal Life. We can gaze at the nativity scene and smile and we can sing “Away in a Manger” and even “Oh Holy Night”…..but seriously……its about you and me not having to live with the cost of our sinfulness.
Our Christmas blessing is the promise of Salvation…..and living in the love of Jesus every day. We can and we should spend time with family and friends, bless others and give good gifts, go to church and sing songs……but for me, at that concert, I was brought fresh to the reality of Christmas. Christmas means I am forgiven. I am redeemed. I am adopted into the Heavenly Home of my Father God……
Maybe Christmas will be storybook perfect in your home…..or maybe it is a train wreck with wrapping paper and tinsel….maybe your family is full of love and happiness…..or maybe it is full of brokenness and tension. Maybe you have money to provide all the earthly things your people want and need…..or maybe you don’t.
Here is the truth of Christmas. This gift…….this gift of Jesus…..is for all of us. In all of it. The storybook homes, the train wreck dysfunction, the joy, the yuck, the haves and the have nots. Its all Jesus. He came to save us, born as a baby in a humble place…….and when He returns to make all the wrong things right He will come as a Lion, not a Lamb and He will come with authority and power and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord of all.
