Today is Christmas

We’ve all heard the Christmas story about how God became man in the form of a baby with the sole purpose of dying on the cross to redeem sinful man. Have you ever really considered why? Why would God, who is self-existent and needs nothing, bother creating mankind, knowing how depraved we’d become to the point of rejecting His love demonstrated by His son, Jesus Christ, and murdering Him in the most painful way practiced by man in that day?

I believe we have a very limited view of God. We’ve been told of His anger, wrath, and judgment of sin. We sin. So we fear His punishment. And rightfully so because it’s forever. But let’s look at it a different way. Let’s look at what God is and what He offers to those who believe in Jesus.

God is holy.

Because we’ve never known a world without sin, it’s hard to grasp what that means. We’re so used to a world where self-absorption, arrogance, and debauchery are the norm that we can’t picture life without it. And many of today’s churches do a poor job of painting a true picture of God.

So, why are we here? God’s splendor, majesty, creative power is awesome and because of God’s character of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, generosity and much more, He wants to bless us with the results of all that. The prophet Jeremiah tells us in Lamentations 3:22,23, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease. For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” Can we get our arms around a God who just wants to share Himself with us for no other reason than He loves us?

Some will say

that God is narcissistic and needs approval or reinforcement from man. That couldn’t be further from the truth. His love is unconditional, ever giving, pure and we can’t comprehend that because it’s not how we love. He has created heaven for us to enjoy…forever. Jesus told us, “I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2,3). Why would you want to spend eternity with someone you don’t know very well? How do we get to know Him? The Bible is the best tool we have. The Psalmist asks God to, “…establish Your word to Your servant as that which produces reverence for You.” Ps. 119:38.

We view God’s righteous anger over sin incorrectly when we only think of God as the punisher. His motive is not to punish, it’s to restore us to fellowship with Him so that we don’t miss out on anything He has planned for our future. What a promise. What a gift…the best possible way to celebrate Christmas. Have you received the gift yet? It’s available to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to a restored relationship with the only One who loves us unconditionally, the only One who paid the price for sin that we could not pay. The only One who not only wants us to spend eternity with Him but who took care of all the details and preparation to get ready for our arrival. If you’re not sure your spot has been reserved, check out our “Steps to Salvation” page elsewhere on this site.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you on the other side.