It’s Another Christmas Miracle!

Family gatherings come with a mixed bag of emotions.

On one hand, great food and beverages as friends and loved ones gather to catch up on all of the past year and to celebrate.

On the other hand, for some, it is an opportunity to once again be reminded that they really haven’t changed in the past year(s). 

We talk about and identify ourselves (and others) by what happened eighteen or twenty years ago. We use terms like ‘felon’ or “divorced” or drug addict” or “alcoholic” or…

We seemed fixated on keeping people stuck with who they were; instead of seeing each other (and ourselves) for who we are today; this Christmas.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that he was determined not to know anyone in the flesh.

“So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!” (2 Corinthians 5:16 NLT)

The Christmas message tells us that God’s grace is greater than our sin. The sin issue was settled at the cross on which was hung Jesus Christ. That is the gift that we celebrate on Christmas day.

The Christmas message has not changed in over 2000 years; God is still with us. And that is what the people who will be spending their Christmas gatherings with us NEED to hear! And some one has to tell them; perhaps you?

My friends, those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ (Christians); have been given so much. 

We need to be grateful for all that God has bestowed upon us. 

This is a day to rejoice!

If Jesus was going to go to the family gatherings, He would be rejoicing and sharing love! 

Jesus knows the Father’s love! Jesus knows the Christmas message!

We as Believers also need to love as though we know this message, instead of looking as though we hate being with our families because ‘they aren’t saved’.

We need to let our lives show that we know the One who died for all sinners and rejoice and laugh and love those whom we are spending time with (see Romans 12:9-21).

This year, let each of us make a commitment to receive each other for who we are today and sit down and hear each other’s stories about what they did this week; as well as what they did this past year.

 

Let’s give each other a break from our past!

I know we all could use that!

This Christmas is a great time to be ‘mission-centered’ and reach out to those in our world. We are all called to be ambassadors as though God were pleading through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

My prayer is that God will show each one of us how and to whom He would like us to reach out this Christmas.

Jesus is the reason for the season.

It's Bathing Suit Season

Its autumn in Minnesota...and it is the season in between seasons…it’s too cold to wear shorts or tank tops or do activities such as swimming outdoors, and yet it’s not cold enough to enjoy winter sports.

 

It is a season in which we will rarely ever wear short pants or short sleeves; let alone a bathing suit!

 

So we use autumn as the season to start stretching our pants in preparation for the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day during which we wear heavy sweaters and bulky clothing to stay warm as well as to hide the extra weight we will carry as we become more sedimentary. 

 

It is the season when men get to wear pants with expandable waists and women start wearing maternity type clothing or yoga pants all day long; which for some will mean bulky sweat pants.

 

Funny thing is that we never see this season as the time between summer and summer as the cold winter gives way to warm weather and we shed our clothing to greet the sun. And once again we are caught off guard and embarrassed as we realize that soon it will be bathing season and we have gained in all the wrong places.

 

All throughout the history of the world men and women have forgotten that the season that they currently were living in would soon be followed by a new season. People lived as though what they did made no difference as to how it would affect their lives or the lives around them.

 

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (Isaiah 22:13)

 

What if instead we started to see autumn as the season between seasons; summer and summer? What difference would it make in our lives?

 

I submit to you it would make a HUGE difference (all pun intended) as to what we gained at the end of the season (again, all pun intended)! We would use the time to be more aware that everything we ate would leave its make on our bodies good or bad. Every way that we used our time…to sit on a couch or to exercise…would have results that would not only affect or enhance our lives but others as well  

 

So I write today to proclaim to you that it’s Bathing Suit Season! There is something beyond this season and the next! And how you choose to spend it will be seen in due season.

 

Similarly, we are in another season in between seasons… It’s been over two thousand years long! It’s the season from when Jesus left the earth to when He will return and transform this mess we call earth.

 

Jesus is coming back for His bride…

“A glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27)

 

And quite honestly, she has put on a few extra pounds; forgetting that after the wedding there will be a honeymoon…perhaps even “bathing suit season”.

 

All throughout the history of the church, men and women have forgotten that the season that they currently were living in would soon be followed by a new season. People lived as though what they did made no difference as to how it would affect their lives or the lives around them.

 

Again, I submit to you it would make a HUGE difference as to what we gained at the end of the season. We would use the time to be more aware that everything we ate would leave its mark on our bodies; good or bad. Every way that we used our time…to sit on a couch or to do spiritual exercises…will have results that will not only affect or enhance our lives but others as well!  

 

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9)

 

Don’t forget that Jesus will return when we least expect Him to do so.

 

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” (Mark 13:32-33)

 

Be ready.

 

Revelation 19:7 says that she, His wife (the church), “…has made herself ready.”

 

Make preparations now.

 

It’s Bathing Suit Season!

 

 

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.