December 25 is the day the Christian Church celebrates the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The gift God gave mankind, His own precious son was the supreme act of love. It would have been far easier, less painful to have chose to come Himself, but instead He gave up His only begotten Son. Jesus left His rightful place in Glory knowing He would be crucified. By Jesus selfless act of obedience He allowed His love to open the door for mankind to receive forgiveness for their sin & come into a personal relationship with their creator.
God Himself saw the necessity of a sacrifice that would be all inclusive, the Sacrificial Lamb! But the lamb had to be perfect, unspotted, which meant in a spiritual sense, uncontaminated by sin. For this to take place He would have to be tempted & tested by sin itself & found sinless. Jesus came through with flying colors, tried tested & true!
As we learn in John 3:17 Jesus did not come to condemn the people of the world but to save them from themselves & sin. He totally disregarded their ethnic, religious or sordid backgrounds. This could only be possible from someone who has a love foreign to this world, unconditional. By this act of love He has forgiven us our sins, no matter how horrendous they were or undeserved we may be, or feel we are. All we have to do is ask Gods forgiveness in Jesus name & the slate is wiped clean as if we had never committed them (l John l:9 forgiveness & Romans 5:1 justification) Too good to be true you say, agape love I say!
The love this world knows is perverted beyond comprehension in comparison to Gods love. It is self-centered & only sees through the eyes of lust, rather than compassion. What this world refers to as love is actually focuses on sex, materialism & power. Sex has been turned into a dirty word, while even the sacredness of marriage has been stained & tarnished & opened to make way for what God refers to as abomination, homosexuality. Materialism is a big word, I believe it to be the reason for every war, you know like the war in Iraq, which in all likelihood have nothing to do with anything but OIL. And the root cause of every war is the rule of supremacy "we want to be numero uno! Sorry for this rant in the midst of my Christmas message.
Each time someone receives Jesus into their lives His love explodes in their heart. It is as if the life that life itself had molded them into is shattered & a new person filled with Gods love & compassion starts to be transformed into what God calls a NEW CREATION. Gods love is needed today more than ever before. His love looks beyond faults & differences to see the needs. His compassion within us compels us to do something to offset those needs.
Gods gift to mankind His love, truly is the gift that keeps on giving. The love God has placed within a believers heart is FOR-GIVING! He has forgiven us our sins, does not hold our past against us, does not focus on our mistakes or family history but only looks upon our heart & what motivates it. Christmas comes but once a year but Jesus wants us to share His gift of love numerous times each & every day to all those we come into contact with. As we help to meet the needs of our fellowman they see a Christ-like-ness within us & they in turn are drawn unto Him, praise the Lord!
Merry Christmas!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
Yes, the gift that keeps on giving - for-giving.
ReplyDeleteBless you Kenny!