Father,
This week is
Christmas. And we will be remembering it and celebrating it in our different
ways. And that is good. It is good to be reminded that our Savior has come. He
has come to save His people from their sins. That’s us. We are among the many
sinners whom Jesus has come to save. How good.
Father, it is so
very sobering for us to consider what it would be like if Jesus hadn’t come to
be our Savior. We would still be in our sins. And that means that You would not
be our Father. No, quite the opposite. You and we would be enemies and that because
of our foolish hostility to You. And the Spirit who now watches over us, who
guides us, who loves us in His special ways - well, there would be none of
that. We would be entirely on our own, wandering through a very dark life. And
one reality that we would be working hard to keep at bay would be the
hopelessness of it all. Father, that is a very sobering picture and one that we
need to bear in mind from time to time.
But that is not what
our lives are like. And the only reason for that is that Jesus has come. Jesus
has come to rescue us from all of that. And He has rescued us from all of that.
He has changed our situations dramatically.
So, Father, it only
makes sense for us to celebrate Jesus and to celebrate what He has done to make
us into a very different people than what we would have been.
We ask, Father, that
You would bless our celebrations, as we renew our family traditions and all the
rest. And the blessing that we desire most is that our celebrations would exalt
Jesus. We ask that You would make, even just a little clearer, what it means
that Jesus has come. Amen.