Joy to this World

With all the inane attempts to remove Christmas from the public square or better said, God, isn’t it nice to be able as a believer to be to celebrate this grand holiday and understand what it’s truly about?  I was just preaching recently from Paul’s first letter to Timothy where he wrote to encourage him: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. . .” (1:15).  Despite the Satanic misinformation and attacks about Christmas, the apostle here puts his finger on the real reason for the season, namely, to save those very people who are embittered against such a loving Savior.

I have spoken to a good many so-called atheists through the years and I would have to say most of them have been hurt in some way. Perhaps a church has let them down, a Christian has been a lousy testimony, a person they perceive to be a Christian who really isn’t has injured them in some way, or a tragedy or adversity in their life has caused them to think God doesn’t care about them.  As a child of God it behooves us to look beyond the symptoms of the person railing against God so and look to the root cause and solution.  They need to see in us the same love that sent the Son of God to that manger in Bethlehem.

The next time you hear of an inane action by anti-God people twisting our Constitution why not pray for them? And pray for yourself while you’re at it, that God will help you to truly have His love for these enemies of the Lord.  Make every day a tribute to the true spirit of Christmas in this way by showing Christlikeness to those around you.  One of the best Christmases I ever had was just a couple of years ago. The kids are “out of the nest” now so having no young ones around that morning and them coming later in the afternoon we decided to go to the local hospital that morning to cheer up folks who were stuck there for the holiday. To our delight we were able to meet make new friends and pray for them, listen to their problems and encourage them but to top it all off, see one gentleman accept the Lord !   The very reason Jesus came was realized by this man that day !!  So don’t let this old world and it’s negativity and unbelief get you down, stay on course with Christmas this year and you will enjoy and spread the real joy and peace only God gives.