04 Dec When you think of Christmas
“She will bear a Son; and you will call His name Jesus for he will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1 v 21
When you think of Christmas what are the first things that come to mind? Christmas for everyone is a time of celebration where families come together to give and exchange gifts. On Christmas morning we enjoy watching the children open their presents and then the visit of relations is followed by the family meal. There is however more to Christmas than our family traditions. When I think of Christmas, when I consider what God has to say about the season I always come back to what the Angel said to Joseph.
“She will bear a Son; and you will call His name Jesus for he will save His people from their sins.”
The Angels announced the coming of Jesus with the primary purpose of saving people from their sins. God gave his only begotten son that if we believe in him we would receive the gift of eternal life. Many people know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem but do you know that the Angel proclaimed that it was Jesus that would save his people from their sins. For many years of my life I was familiar with the Christmas story and even went to Church at Christmas but never received anything from God the Father. Sadly my familiarity caused me to show contempt to the very truth that we celebrate and as a consequence I never received the gift that had been bought for me.
God sent his son Jesus to die on a cross for my sin so that I could be forgiven and receive a new life. It took me nineteen years to realize that the Christmas message could change my life. There is a pop song from my childhood that says, “I wish it could be Christmas everyday”, if you give your life to Jesus you won’t need to look forward to Christmas every year because you will have Him in your heart every day.
Approximately 40% of people in the United Kingdom will visit a Christian service or event over the Christmas period this year. People are more open to visit Church at this time of year than at any other time. As a consequence a lot of work and effort goes in to our outreach events over the Christmas season to give you the opportunities to reach out to the sphere of relationships you have. I would ask you to prayerfully consider how you can best respond to the opportunity the season gives us by reaching out to someone you know. To those you exchange gifts with this Christmas perhaps you should consider how best you could reach them with God’s gift of new life. Let us reach out to someone with something eternal this Christmas.
I trust you have a wonderful holiday,
Alex
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