Christmas All Year Long

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17 
We need to understand that when God looks at the world and sees the selfish sin and surrounding degradation that is so prevalent, He chooses to bring us a solution to the problem. God hates sin and there can be no doubt about that, but when He sees us stuck within the sin we are in, it instills within the Lord a desire, not to destroy the person who is sinning, but to make a way in the human race so that our sin no longer will disable us and keep us spiritually paralyzed. 
“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” We can’t be good enough until we admit that we are helpless and hopeless without him. All religion ever does is leave us with the impossible task of trying to earn a love that is well beyond our price range!
I heard a car commercial this Christmas that was singing the jingle, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Payment.” I know they were using these words within the context of automobile sales, but I took it into the light of the present state of our souls.
Nobody could afford the necessary means to cover the debt that our disobedience to Heaven has put us in. I don’t care how many good deeds that a man or woman tries to do, it could never be enough to purchase even one splinter of the tree that Jesus died upon for you and me.
Once there was a little boy who was really mean. No matter what his parents tried, he continued to be ornery and extremely defiant. Christmas was coming soon, so the little boy, in his usual, selfish way, compiled his “Dear Santa” letter and gave it to his parents. It was 12 pages of gadgets and toys. When his parents saw the monstrous letter, they were outraged.
The father picked up the little boy and carried him to the living room, setting him firmly on the floor, right in front of the family’s nativity scene. “I want you to sit right here and look at this scene until you remember what Christmas is all about. Then I want you to write a letter to Jesus.”
The little boy sat there awhile and then returned to his bedroom. Finding paper and pencil, he began to write, “Dear Jesus, if you will bring me all the presents I want, I’ll be good for a whole year.” Then he thought for a moment and tore up the paper.
He started again, “Dear Jesus, if you’ll bring me all the presents I want, I’ll be good for a whole week,” but once again he tore up the paper.
The little boy quietly left his room and returned to the living room, looking intently at the nativity scene.
He gently reached down and picked up the figure of Mary. Returning to his room, he placed the figure in a shoebox and set the box in the back of his closet. Then he wrote another letter, “Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again …”
Let’s just say that left up to our own ingenuity, we come up quite short! Jesus is God’s gift to the world, not because our world deserves Him, but because we need Him.
If you want more of less this Christmas, make sure you do it on your own! But if you want to discover that less of you means more of Him, plug into Jesus!
At the first Christmas, God entered the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus came for the express purpose of saving the world, and Jesus gave the church the mission of carrying out His purpose until He would return. Through the church, the entrance of Christ into the world continues.
Our church is God’s instrument for retelling the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If we strip away all the glitter and tradition that has attached itself to the Christmas story, what we will find is God being birthed through a human womb so that He can save humanity. Unfortunately, too many people run away from their one and only option for eternal rescue. God is not your enemy! Christmas proves that He is the only real ally we have!
A radio station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, was laced with poison. The car’s owner had planned to use the crackers as rat bait.
Now, the police and the owner of the car were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than to recover the car.
Oftentimes, when we run away from God, we feel it is to escape His punishment. But what we are actually doing is eluding His rescue. God came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ because He wanted to rescue us from our lost condition and become the Lord of our lives.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. – Revelation 3:20
If you answer Jesus’ invitation, He will come into your life and change you from the inside out. Jesus will be in your life, literally. Do you really believe today that God is literally in your life? If so, there are no limits to what you can accomplish in this world.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.