Good Morning All!
Luke
2:11; “Glory to God
in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Merry Christmas to you
all!! This is a common greeting this time of year. But do we really understand
what we are saying. Most tend to think that “merry” means happy or filled with
gaiety. That in order for me to have a merry Christmas means that I am all
smiles with a jovial laugh and not a care in the world. I have to admit, I don’t think I know anyone
like that. Most people I know have some
sort of struggle or battle.
I have parents who worry
about what their children will learn in college. Not “book things” but “life
things” things that will tear and erode their faith. I have others who worry
about their parents and their deteriorating health and maybe changes that must
be made but will face strong headwinds.
I know others who are looking at (but not forward to) retirement. They
have no idea what they will do; their job and work has defined them for 45
years and soon it will be over. I know of an empty nester couple who struggle to
find anything in common with each other and they question their marriage. I
know an elderly person who watches as the people his age are dying and he
suffers greatly and wonders why he lives. I know a younger couple who desperately
want to be parents, but it is not working out. So Merry Christmas, but how?
The old English used
here really refers to peace not happiness. Merry Christmas is really about
telling someone “may you have peace with God.” That is what Christmas is truly
about. It is about God coming to earth. It is about God experiencing the toil
and tumult of life, overcoming this struggle, and then giving that victory to
us. It is about God filling that void in our life that left us felling empty,
unwanted, unloved, broken, and lost. It is about a loving God whose desire to
have a fatherly relationship with us, moved him to sacrifice his son to achieve
it. Not matter the tumult, we have peace with God. We know the wonder of his
love, the majesty of his grace and the soothing balm of his mercy.
Merry Christmas does not
have to be a seasonal response, rather it should be a lifelong assurance of God’s
mercy not leaving us in a situation where we have no hope but rather, He has
drawn us to himself that we may always remember that our future our destiny
lies in Jesus and in his resurrection. The promise thar awaits us is one of
eternal life. So merry Christmas, even in the worst of times, we have peace
with God, and we can trust our God to send his healing to us and to keep us in
his grace.
Jesus came to take away
our sins and to replace it with hope. A hope that we will live eternally with
God. Knowing this simple truth, we can have peace with God, the presence of God
in our lives giving us the comfort and healing we need to face tomorrow. Merry
Christmas and may you know God’s peace today and forever.
Gracious Father, you give us the peace that the world does not
understand. It is the peace that your presence in us guides us to keep focused
on Jesus and life eternal. Guard our hearts and keep us strong. Heal the broken
and restore the fallen. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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