“A man who was merely a man and
said the sort of things JESUS said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level
with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of
Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the SON of GOD;
or else a madman or something worse. You
can shut HIM up for a fool, you can spit at HIM and kill HIM as a demon; or you
can fall at HIS feet and call HIM LORD and GOD.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about HIS being a
great human teacher. HE has not left
that open to us.” C.S. Lewis
Once again I find myself confronted by Christmas,
and if you’re anything like me, you have mixed emotions about a season that
brings hope to so many while at the same time being mocked by so many
others. It seems that Christmas
is being methodically stripped of CHRIST.
But for those of us whose lives have been
transformed by the indescribable power wrapped up in those swaddling clothes
some two thousand years ago, celebrating anything other than the birth of JESUS
makes about as much sense as exchanging all that we have gained in CHRIST for a
mouthful of cotton candy.
For us, Christmas means new
birth. This season speaks of a living
hope for a time when all of our pains and sorrows will be swept away by
unrelenting waves of joy and bliss.
During the coming weeks I urge you to fix your minds on the greatest
gift ever conceived by man or GOD, the gift of life and power and laughter and
pleasure and peace offered freely by a SAVIOR born in Bethlehem.
Isn’t that why we give gifts? Don’t we mean to say, “Accept this token of
GOD’s goodness to you from me, and remember that it’s only a dim reflection of
the gift that CHRIST has given you in rebirth and just a foretaste of the
incomparable gift that awaits you in heaven”.
And whatever else you do during this time of
celebration remember that when you give the gift it has rich uncompromising meaning,
because in its own small way it represents a gift that, however misunderstood
by the world, is life itself to those of us who believe.
“When JESUS came to the region
of Caesarea Philippi, HE asked HIS disciples, ‘Who do people say the SON of man
is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still
others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets’.
‘But what about you?’ HE asked.
‘Who do you say I am?’” Matthew
16:13-15
This
holy-day season, may you open your heart to find the answer to HIS question for
yourself.
Merry Christmas, and may the LORD
richly bless you with HIS presence in the coming year …
Lori <◦})><
Sharing life ...
sharing Christ
FYI: Portions of the previous text are from something I had
cut, copied, and pasted into a Christmas letter file several years ago because it spoke to my
heart. However, somewhere in that
process, I lost the original
information as to who wrote what from where – if you recognize some of material and/or who the author(s) might be, please
let me know for proper crediting. If it's yours, I'm sorry; please forgive me and my ineptness - no thievery intended. In any case ... I hope it speaks to
you as much as it still does to me.
Amen!
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