NO MORE TIME TO PONDER OR PROCRASTINATE!
It is time to write my Christmas 2016 blog post! I took this photo at our mall yesterday, so the countdown is at 4 days. If you are taking a few minutes out of this busy week to read this post, I want to respect your time and show my appreciation by getting right to the point.
According to the Christmas angels, joy and peace were given by God when Jesus was born. So where is the peace? If we put aside the material things on our wish lists and honestly answer the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” many of us would say world peace. Some really honest people might answer “peace of mind” or peace with a person or situation.
According to The Free Dictionary, peace is
While I’ve been making notes and thinking about the focus of my first Christmas blog post, I have also been reading “The Purpose of Christmas” by Rick Warren. He describes Christmas as A Time for Celebration, A time for Salvation, and A Time for Reconciliation.
Warren asks, “Is peace on earth really possible, or is it an unattainable fantasy?” He then describes two causes for conflict, the opposite of peace. The first is our natural self-centeredness. When I want everything my way and you want it your way, we clash unless we can compromise. The second cause, says Warren, is “expecting others to meet needs in our lives that only God can meet. We make demands of others instead of looking to God.”
He also states that we may not have realized that if we are trying to live our way instead of God’s way, we are in conflict with God. This causes tension in the mind and fatigue in the body. Here’s where Christmas comes in! God sent his son, Jesus, not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17). That is good news.
Warren says it this way, and I am living proof that “Jesus can replace the frustration in your heart with peace, replace your guilt and shame with forgiveness, replace your worry and anxiety with confidence, replace your depression with real hope, and fill your emptiness with meaning and purpose” IF we invite him in. Christmas is a wonderful time to accept peace with God through faith in Jesus.
Unlike the Daily Deals that we’ve been receiving in our e-mails, this offer will not end at midnight on Christmas Eve or at 12:01 on December 26. Jesus paid the full price for peace with God. He was born as a baby, but grew to a man who lived a godly life, taught about his Kingdom, and gave himself as a sacrifice so we could trade our sinfulness for His righteousness and live eternally in God’s presence. That’s an offer we shouldn’t refuse.
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2