Tis the Season..
“Ho ho ho and Merry Christmas” said a grey bearded man in a red suit giving out free gifts to all the kids on his “nice’ list while the “naughty” ones got lumps of coal…
Surprisingly this is not what Christmas is about, I apologise if you thought Santa was real, but I do have good news for you. “What could be better than getting gifts if we are good all year?”. Well first of, no one can be good for an entire year, if Santa was real, there would be a lot more children who don’t get gifts. I will say this, one thing all the movies are accurate about is that this is the season about gifts.
Wow Annie, how shallow do you think we are, and don’t you mean the season of giving? Well, my friends, everyone likes getting stuff especially gifts and why? Because a true gift is not earned nor worked for. I mean think if your birthday, you get gifts, not because you did anything, but just because you were born. Which you had nothing to do with by the way. You basically got awarded for just existing. Okay Annie, what is your point? My point is, that there is one gift above all gifts that was given to you in this season, one we celebrate till today. And His name is Jesus…
Okay, that’s pretty weird that we get a human as a gift but let me explain. Have you ever felt so alone before that you end up getting consumed by feelings of sadness and hopelessness? Have you ever been so sad because of the fact that you’re single and you have no one to share life with? The examples can go on and on, but the truth is we as humans yearn to be loved…
Think about it, every top song out there is about love or people falling in love, people falling out of love, people getting hurt by so called “love”. What if I told you, you were created to be loved?
Annie that’s good, but that just makes me feel worse. My friend I’m not just talking about any love I’m talking about God’s love. “Is there a difference?” Yes, there is my friend. When you search for love from people or things, you will always be disappointed, and you will come out worse than before. You my friend, were created to be in a loving relationship with God, allowing him to show you what true love is.
Okay, what does this have to do with Christmas? Well way back when, the only thing stopping us from having an intimate relationship with God, was sin. God is a holy God, and He loves us, but he couldn’t have a relationship with us as His children because of sin. Imagine how sad that must be? Think of it, picture a time of a person that you once loved or love and there is a wall in between you and them. You can’t hug them, or speak to them properly, there will always be a hindrance.
John 3:16-17 “16 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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God saw that one thing, sin, was stopping us from having relationship with Him. And He conquered it, He gave us Jesus and Jesus made a way so that we can have an amazing, close relationship with God. The scripture tells us God is love. We all have a love shaped hole in our being that can only be filled with the love of God. So why is Jesus as savior such an amazing gift?
Because, with Jesus comes freedom. With Jesus comes Wholeness. With Jesus comes grace. And best of all with Jesus comes true, fulfilling Love…