Christmas Pause

A Pause to Reflect on Christmas.

It’s December and a season to reflect. I like to be pensive during this time of year, looking back on the last year and forward to the next. What have I learned? What happened? What didn’t happen? What would I like to see happen in the future? It’s important, to look backwards..if only briefly as I move forward. I think the end of the year is valuable for that.

It’s also a time to be thankful and filled with hope. If Christmas reminds us about anything, it’s to be hopeful. We are lost without hope. Hope looks forward expectantly. Advent is that season of expectancy. It reminds us to be hopeful of Jesus’ purpose and plan for our lives. Just today, I participated in a wonderful Christmas presentation by a lovely group of special needs kids associated with our house church. The host had asked me to open and close the program for the 20 or so people who had gathered in their driveway to support the kids. He wanted to make sure I preached a message of hope. As I floundered about looking for just the right words to close the program one of the kids said, “Jesus loves you.”

Yup. That did it. I had nothing to say after that. Jesus LOVES you enough to empty himself of all his glory and humble himself to the lowliest position in order to accomplish God’s purpose for you and me. He became a man like us, so that he could die a very physical death and atone for sin once and for all. The past sacrificial systems, tabernacle worship, and priestly duties were ever only a temporary fix to the problem we had of being separated from God.