Don’t Have a Merry Christmas!
The gospel according to Hallmark says this is the season for sleigh-ride snuggling, jolly holly-ing, and rockin’ around the Christmas tree, but what if you are alone in a desert where snow is once-in-a-lifetime, can’t remember the last time you felt anything close to jolly, or are fresh out of holiday greenery of any kind? What then? Are you supposed to paint on a grin that’s as false as a 20-something department store Santa’s beard?
NOPE!
I have truly good news for you! The REAL gospel paints a different picture.
Into a world of oppressive taxation, psychopathic rulers, an unreliable census, poor sanitation, childbirth without medication or birthing suite, and gossipy neighbors – Jesus came as the With-Us God, not the one just near us like some kind of cosmic bodyguard, or the (creepy) ever-watchful elf-on-the-shelf, but the One who is IN IT with us, in every bit of heart-bruise and -break we can experience.
He has already picked up our griefs and carried our sorrows. Nothing pleases Him more than for us to be honest with Him about what’s happening in our hearts, and for Him to be allowed to bandage and heal them!
From before the beginning of the world, He planned to enter our suffering and heartbreak as one of us, as though we deserved better. He came as a baby and lived the kind of life that lets us know that He identifies with us in everything.
So this year, instead of pretending your way through the 25th, or hiding out from the rest of humanity until sometime after Valentine’s Day, bring your broken and bruised heart to Jesus. Let Him take it in His healing hands and give you what only He can give!
Praying for you an honest and real Christmas. I am still
Following Jesus every day in the everyday,
Christi
0 Comments