The Amazing Promise of Christmas Hope
Some of us are tired of all the Christmas commercialism; the frantic pace; the commercialism; the rush; the crowds; lack of parking spaces; a man decided not to go along with the crowd. He chose not to send Christmas cards. He felt that the cards he was thinking about purchasing were too expensive. He felt good about his decision for the first two weeks of December. But then, as the mail brought him card after card from friends all over, he began to feel guilty about not sending cards. Finally, three days before Christmas, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He rushed to the Hallmark store in Silverdale and grabbed one of the few boxes of Christmas cards left on the shelf. He went to the Post Office and purchased stamps. He was told at the Post Office that if he mailed his cards today before midnight, the cards would arrive before Christmas morning. It was already dark as he rushed home and addressed the card envelopes. He signed them, stuffed them into the envelope, stamped them, and quickly drove down to the post office and dropped the cards off at the Post Office. The next day while sitting at the kitchen table, he saw one extra card. It occurred to him that he was so excited that he had addressed and signed all those cards but had not read what the card said. He picked up the one last card to see what it said: This Christmas card has come to say: A gift from us is on the way.
God’s GIFT to us. Matthew 1:18-25, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows…behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to…Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus…Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us…And he called His name Jesus.”
God gave us the GIFT of His only Son, choosing the most improbable, unlikely place in Bethlehem, Israel, and a couple, Mary, and Joseph, to send us His miracle GIFT OF HOPE. Remember that WHO we have in our lives is far more important than WHAT we have!
I have learned that just because I hit bumps in the road does not mean I am on the wrong road! Driving home, I might run over a pothole, but I am still on the right road home with a couple of new bumps, but I am still on the road home!
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “That is why we never give up, so we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”
Our culture is trying to sterilize the meaning of Christmas. I was listening to the morning talk shop when one of the guests said that she was tired of the meaning of Christmas being stolen away. It caught my attention, but then I heard the guest talk about “her” meaning of Christmas being a time for family, holiday foods, gifts, and enjoying movies as the “meaning” of Christmas. These things may be part of the activities or traditions of Christmas, but these events are NOT the meaning of Christmas, which is the gift of God’s Son born to all humankind for all time. Jesus came down from Heaven to take on human form, who started as a baby, lived, and grew up on the earth, and then died on the cross, taking on the sins of all people for all time. Then He rose from the dead as our Resurrected Lord and ascended into Heaven. If anyone has chosen to believe and receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we will have the gift of eternal life and the hope for an abundant life.
The Good News is that God gave us hope when He made the way for us to be SAVED and FORGIVEN of our sins, bad behavior, attitudes, and rejections of God, and He gave us the way of HOPE.
Psalm 103:10-13, “God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
The GIFT of God’s LOVE and our HOPE for the future.
John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be SAVE.”
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Steve