December 20, 2008

December 20, 2008

Isaiah 9: 6-7
A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” Prince of Peace.” His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace.

Matthew 16:24-25
“If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, carry his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Greetings My Friend,

Well, in a short few days, it will be Christmas! It has come once more. For Christians, it is a time of wonderment, of awe and we celebrate God in the flesh.
As the years have come and gone, I have begun to truly be excited about Christmas. Long gone are the days where I wanted everything to be perfect. Gone is the need for baked goods. Gone is the need for a Christmas tree. My whole being wants to rejoice in the gift we have been given – Jesus – our Savior – our Redeemer!

For the last many years, I’ve started remembering that Jesus was born as a baby. Wow! We all get excited about babies. They are precious. We have adopted a kitten, I know we didn’t need another cat, but we adopted her anyway. Babies are precious. They are curious. They find EVERYTHING interesting. I like to think about baby Jesus. He needed his diapers changed. He needed to be nursed. He needed to be potty trained at some point.
As I go along in my thoughts about Jesus’ being a baby, a child, a teenager… I eventually remember that he grew up. He was our Savior. He went to a cross…for us. That’s when I get real sober in my thinking process. If I am to celebrate his being born, then I need to remember…he grew up and then died for me. Okay, that is when I get sad.

For a while now, God has been pointing me to look at the cross. I usually fuss when I have to review what Jesus went through. At the cross… I find how ugly sin is. Looking at Jesus’ broken body points that out real quick. I hear God saying…”Go on,” a whole lot. So, I walk through the last hours of Jesus’ life. Often I want to cry I am so sad. At the cross, I learn how ugly sin is to God. I learn, even my little sins are a horror to God. Still I hear, “Go on.” So I move along the last hours. He is abandoned by his friends. He is beaten horribly. He is nailed to the cross. I can’t even imagine all that pain. Back then, they hung them up naked. Not only was Jesus hurting physically, he was humiliated as well. I hear God say, “Go on.” So I move along. There is Jesus again. He gives his mother to John. He ministers in his pain – he provides for his mother’s care. He asks God to forgive us. I marvel at this. The pain, oh the pain he felt. God tells me to move along again. I find myself slowing down and looking more now. Jesus says, “It is finished.” He then dies. The world is dark. I cry. God says, “go on.” There he is again, risen! My heart jumps for joy. Jesus paid my debt. He was in hell for three days and now he is risen. Hell, he paid my debt in hell… A horror I cannot even imagine. Now he is risen. My heart begins to pound faster. Wow! There is hope.

God gave me a prayer. “Lord Jesus, you are the light in my heart and the hope in my soul. Wow! I have hope. I am saved (as long as I believe in Jesus and I accept him and let him change me.) With that, I find that I can walk out the front door. I can face the day. So what if my friends leave me, my children don’t want much to do with me! Jesus loves me.

As we celebrate Christmas…let us remember Jesus. He is the reason for the season after all. Not only let us remember him, let us let him transform our lives. Now, that would be awesome!

May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you.

Love

Janet