Amazon Box
Do you recognize this box? Yes,
it’s an Amazon box! Perhaps many of us received these boxes this past week. Every
time a box comes to our home, it is a reminder that someone who lives far away
in our family or from our friends is thinking of us and we are not alone. Or perhaps
some of us have ordered gifts for our children or grandchildren, we had
them come to our door, we put them under the Christmas tree, and we can’t wait
for them to come and open those gifts on Christmas Day. It is a reminder that
we are thinking of them and care for them.
The Gift
During the Christmas season, many
of us exchange gifts. It is a reminder that God gave us the Gift. It is
a reminder that God still gives us the Gift today.
Love came down at Christmas. Love came down today (tonight). The message of Christmas is this: “We are so lost, so dark, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than God himself could save us. So God came down. He came to our messy life and loved us just as we were. He became one of us. He became our sin. He lived to die to give us new life. And he invited us to be part of his family. He invited us to play an important role in his story. He showed all this great love for us, while we were still sinners.”
When we receive God’s gift, the Christ Child, our lives are transformed forever. At the first Christmas, Joseph’s life was changed, Mary’s life was changed, the shepherd’s lives were changed forever because they received the Christ Child, because they believed in the Christ Child. I still remember when I was wandering and walking in the dark in my college years. I knew I was lost, but I didn’t know what to do and where to start. I didn’t have strength to turn around. Although I tried hard to pull myself together, I just was not able to do it. But God was constantly pursuing me. He came to my broken and messy life. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” I was one of them. I saw the light, and my life was changed forever.
The Road
There are times when we wonder
whether God cares for us. When we look around the world, we wonder whether
God’s goodness prevails.
The Road is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. The story begins with a father and his son who survive after the total destruction and end of the world. All plant life and animal life are extinct, only a few human survivors are left. The man and boy travel on a road to the coast, to the South, hoping that they can find safe haven. In their journey they encounter so many hardships and dangers. At the end of the story, they finally make it to the coast. But the father is fatally injured, dying. Because he is dying, he had planned to kill his son to protect him from greater suffering after he himself is gone. But when the time comes, he takes a leap of faith. He chooses to let his son live, trusting in the goodness of God—that somehow God will care for his son in spite of the horrific dangers of the world.[1]
On this Christmas Eve we are convinced that God’s goodness prevails. We are convinced that God’s light is greater than darkness. We are convinced that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love. Today (tonight) love came down.
Barbara’s Card
In early December I received a
Christmas card from a 95-years-old former church member. Recently, she lost her
husband after 69 years of marriage. She had heart surgery, knee surgery, hip
surgery, and recently two teeth had to be pulled out. But still, in her card,
she says, “I’m thankful that at 95 years of age I can remember at all and
depend on and love my Lord. He sustains…” The other day I had a chance
to talk to her on the phone. She said, “Pastor, I can’t imagine life without
God and the church family. Every Monday morning six of us still get together.
That keeps me going. God is good.”
One morning I was overwhelmed with the problems. I was almost paralyzed and unable to even to get out of bed. No strength, no desire to start the day. On that day my four-year-old daughter, Hannah, gave me this coloring paper that she had made at school. At that time she herself was having trouble adjusting to the school. The coloring paper simply said, “P is for Praying.” That moment I heard the inner voice saying, “Why worry? Why discouraged? You can pray!” That day she carried me out of bed and into life again. It’s God’s grace. It’s God’s light.
The Gift Is on the Way
Life is hard. But for those who
received the Christ Child, they always carry the fire. We Christians
always keep the light within us, and darkness can never extinguish it.
God’s gift (God’s presence, God’s reign, the Christ Child) is like a mustard seed. It’s like the life of a child. We can barely notice, barely see at first. But it grows and grows. It transforms us. In the meantime, we still suffer, we grieve, we die. But that’s not the end of the story.
Not only did God come down to be with us here on earth, but also he will take us his home. In Revelation 21-22, the Apostle John by the Spirit says this way: “Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with us, and we will be his people. God himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (NLT).
At the first Christmas God gave the greatest gift to his people. On this Christmas Eve God still gives the greatest gift to us. So today, we hear and believe and proclaim this same Good News:
“For to us a child
is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And
he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace… He will rule with justice and with righteousness from this time on
and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will do this.”
May we receive God’s gift and believe in the Christ Child. May we come to him, abide in him, and walk with him always. Amen.
[1] Alan
Noble, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living (p. 102).
InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
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