Christmas

It's that time again.  And a whole year has passed since last Christmas.

God the Father had a redemptive plan - a plan He designed before the beginning of time, a plan that no human brain could match, a plan that causes shepherds and kings alike to bow in adoration, a plan that will one day cause the whole world to confess that He is Lord of all (and that we aren't).

This baby in a manger, the visible dawn of that redemptive plan two thousand years ago, is the reason we celebrate at Christmas.  He is a Savior who made us, was for us, came to dwell among us, died for us, and now watches, waits and intercedes for us, calling us home.

We come together in a broken world to remember that the Perfect One came into it for us.  We come together in a lost world to remember the One who told us how we could be found.  We come together in a drowning world to remember the One who gave His life to rescue us.  We come together in a world of injustice to remember the One who alone justifies.  We come together in a world of ashes to remember the One who makes beauty from them.  And friends - we come together to acknowledge that we are desperate and hopeless without Him.

A lot has happened since last Christmas - things that I couldn't have imagined, and things that I will never be able to explain or bury.  I don't think I'll ever move on from them; I will move on with them.  Christmastime brings these difficult things to light.  But having a heavy heart and refusing to rejoice isn't the answer.  Jesus is the answer.  And the very reason we groan is the very reason He came.

He didn't come because our lives were in perfect order.  He didn't preach to make us feel good about our situations.  He didn't make mistakes or accidentally get killed.  He came deliberately, He acted perfectly, and He sacrificed intentionally.

He knew that we were sinning and stuck in it, He knew that our lives were not in order, He knew that we were hurt and scarred and falling apart in the destructiveness of sin and the world's evil, and He knew that we couldn't find the answers by ourselves.  He knew that people walking in darkness must see a great light.  (Is. 9:2)  He knew that we all like sheep have gone astray and the He would become the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.  (Is. 53:6)  He saw that there was no one to redeem and no hand to delve out justice, so He became the Redeemer and Justifier of those who believe.  (Is. 59:16)  He knew that there was trouble in the world, so He came to overcome it.  (Jn. 16:33)  And He knew that if we could only grasp a fraction of the love He bears us, and embrace in full our need for His forgiveness and sacrifice for our sins, and surrender forever to His Kingship and Authority, then to the fainting, He would give power and to the weak, He would increase strength. 

"The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable....Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Is. 40)

The answers and unsearchable things belong to God.  A God who says for us to wait for Him, trust in Him, to find Him both Rock and Defense when the waters rise.

All people strive to justify themselves before God.  All other religions call men to climb their way towards their idol.  But not the Children of God.  Jesus came to us, and He justified us completely.  That reality is unmerited, indeed "unsearchable", and should radically effect the 365 days until next Christmas, causing our hearts to sing, "Amazing Grace" from the depths of our soul.

That slain Lamb - who came by grace and died to justify us - rose from the dead.  He conquered the power of our Enemy - who tries to kills and destroy us - fulfilling the promise of God. (Gen. 3:15)

And our risen Savior now sits installed on a heavenly throne (Ps. 2) - and His power frees us to have nothing to fear or lose for now into eternity because our treasure is in heaven with Him and our hope is not banked on the questions we don't have answers to, but the One who holds the answers, our hearts, and says, "I will never leave nor forsake you." (Heb. 13:5)

Jesus came.  And because of Him, we live and face tomorrow.


December 2017