Not exactly your average Christmas message...not about the birth of Jesus...but a message of importance just the same. So intertwined, so connected...so relevant on any day.
I grew up in a church where the the message of Jesus Christ was not preached the way I know it today. I'm sure it talked about God's love and grace and mercy. But it probably missed the mark on the truth, that it's about a relationship, not a religion of works.
So I had no idea that a relationship with Christ was what He is all about.
1Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all...
Oh, I knew I had been baptized as an infant and attended most Sundays until a teenager. I went through confirmation classes and graduated in the eighth grade (not remembering much at all and hating those Saturday mornings at church). Then when my parents, due to marriage problems, chose not to go anymore, I didn't miss it at all. So what did I get out of any of that??
I attended a Unitarian church for a time with my first husband. I liked that the minister would quote a scripture, probably talk about it with his dry sense of humor, then tell us to go home and apply it in any way WE wanted. Then there was the weekly coffee social afterward. It's not about how our selves; it's about His truth.
I gave up on church altogether after getting divorced other than, maybe, once a year when at Christmas I felt "religious" and needed to attend a Christmas mass at the nearby St. John's Cathedral. Somehow I felt close to God then.
I was probably as far from being close to the Lord as ever.
Many more years went by. Many more Christmases when my focus on the season perked up. I was still missing something but didn't know that yet. For me it was a combination of Christ and Santa. Presents without church. Or church because it felt like something I should do. Office Christmas parties with secret Santa. Where was the true meaning?
I didn't know I was a sinner. I would have laughed had I been told that. I sneered at those on the streets passing out tracts to lunchtime passersby. I would take what was "shoved" in my hand and at the first trash container, plop, there it went. Was I bad...I never even gave one look at any one of those pieces of propaganda.
And then there was the language at work. I fit right in with the guys (and some other gals). It almost seemed a common thing to be speaking certain, and often times God-centered in the wrong way, words into the office atmosphere without regard for others. Who cared? Everyone did it. No one complained.
And my sinful lifestyle continued. Worldliness, unhappiness, off color jokes, and other things I don't care to write about. It was all about me. It was about getting the most out of life because I thought it was due me. Somehow I deserved something.
And there you have it. Grace is unmerited favor. We certainly do not deserve it, although we think we do. Yet Jesus came to give us that free gift. He took the blows and rejection and ultimately death that belong to us...His grace covers all our sin. A concept difficult to understand. There is nothing we can do to deserve God’s favor. Only accept it as truth.
This is the greatest message we can hear at Christmas...or any time. We are all covered in a blanket of sinfulness until such a time. And sin will not grant us access to God or His kingdom...until we receive Christ into our lives.
The day finally came when I was ready to meet the Prince of Peace, for that was, unbeknownst to me, what I needed. I still didn't realize it was I who was the sinner, but that eventually came. I just knew that something had to change and I was willing, oh so willing, to let the Lord do it. And He did...but He did the work in me! He gave me peace that has grown. He gave me a hope that has lasted. He gave me freedom and especially a desire to know Him more.
Is this what causes so many people to reject Him? Not wanting to change, fearing it, afraid of what others would say...while all along God has greater plans for us than we can imagine?
I would never have guessed...that the greatest message was not necessarily preached that morning I met the Prince of Peace (although it was good) but the greatest offer was sent out...and it seemed to be just for me. The offer of Jesus Christ as my deliverer, my help in time of trouble, my peace.
This is Christmas. Jesus was born that we might meet Him and get to knowing Him. He was born to bring us back into that right relationship with His Father. He was born, as the song proclaims, that man no more would die but that we could have a second birth... second chance at life...this time eternal life. No more apart from God. Born not of water but of the Spirit. In other words, born again.
Oh how I remember after I was born again how I cringed when others would laugh or gripe about "them born again Christians and holy rollers." I knew I was somehow different. I knew now what born again was. Jesus said we must be born again. He speaks nothing but truth. It's more than my baby baptism, confirmation, going to church at Christmas and Easter...or every week for that matter. It goes much deeper than that. It goes right to the very heart and soul.
I mentioned yesterday that it's about God living in us. It's a biblical thing that some churches I don't think really get, which is sad. I'm not trying to sound critical. It's the way it is. It's about God opening up our hearts, minds and souls to receive Jesus. It's about a truth that convicts (to the point of rejecting Him sometimes) and yet a truth that when understood is amazing.
Give some thought to this real Jesus today. Give thought to the greatest Person bringing both the greatest message and gift...His words and Himself. This is love at the greatest. This is what Christmas is about. Let Jesus be part of this Christmas in a greater way. The greatest message IS Jesus.
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