Christmas – Forgiveness and Hope

Christmas.  It’s a time of joy, love, and family.  It’s a time to remember the amazing things God has done for us in coming to us in the form of a man.  Sometimes it’s easy to get “wrapped up” with all of the gifts, parties, and people and forget about the serious – even painful – parts of Christmas.  Yes, Christmas is about love, joy, and family, but it is primarily about Jesus and there is a lot more to Jesus than simply the things that make us smile.

Jesus is God.  Just think about that for a few minutes.  Who was this Baby born in a barn?  God.  Yes, the same Person Who created everything – the stars above, the hay He slept on, and the people who rocked Him to sleep.  This is an incredible concept; it is wonderful to think that the God Who created the universe cared enough to become one of us and live among us.  Not only live among us with our selfish, sinful ways, but to walk through it all with no sin for Himself and to take our well-deserved punishment for those things.  The mere mention of Jesus should fill us with awe.

We should be glad that Jesus to came to take our punishment for sin, but in order to be truly grateful for what He has  done, it is important to look at the hard side of this marvelous grace.  God humbled Himself from being King of Kings to a peasant baby born in a barn.  How can you and I choose to humble ourselves, both during Christmas and the rest of the year?  Jesus gave His life to pay the price to justly forgive you and me.  Have we fully accepted His complete forgiveness, or are we still depending on our own merit or strength?  Just as Jesus has forgiven us, so we should forgive those around us (Ephesians 4:32).  Who can you show this forgiveness and grace to today?

It is through God’s gracious gift of Jesus’ blood that we can have not only forgiveness, but also hope.  Because we are forgiven, if we accept this gift of salvation, we have the hope of eternal life instead of eternal punishment.  God offers hope for our lives here on earth as well as eternity, as it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”  Recently I have thought quite a bit about why I’m involved in creation ministry.  At times I think it would have been easier to be an atmospheric scientist (i.e., a non-TV meteorologist) who doesn’t believe in man-made global warming than a creationist who is simply trying to work with other creationists.  Life will not be easy, but He promises to walk beside us all the way, “. . . and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . .” (Matthew 28:20)