December 25 each year for centuries has been thought by many
people to be the birth date of Jesus Christ. Christians think of it as
the anniversary of the day that God placed his only son in the midst of
humankind, thus attempting to show His love for us by teaching an improved
approach to our mortal life.
Of course, some of us have found the rituals of purchasing
and giving gifts, sending Christmas cards and meeting with friends and
neighbors at holiday parties, a frantic effort to stay on a tight
schedule. So, we might have blurred the religious side of Christmas in
our minds and hearts.
Well-known Pastor Rick Warren, with a church in California,
offers some helpful ideas on how we can recover our focus on the deeper meaning
of Christmas. He explains why we need on-going gratitude
for the birth of Jesus, and to not limit our gratitude to one day of the year.
Pastor Warren says the first purpose of Christmas is to celebrate.
Do you realize---- God loves you! Not based on what you
do, but based on who God is. Our good works do not buy God's
favor. This is so different from the rewards of the secular world!
Secondly, Warren says, God is with you and will never
abandon you. Sometimes, you may not feel like He is near, but that
means you are not tuned-in. Therefore, the gift to humankind of God's
only son Jesus, is a priceless gift to you.
But, there is more!
There is something called "Salvation." Rick
Warren believes that most people recognize their need for somebody or some
thing greater than themselves. This would help them through a problem,
rescue them from a tight spot, and ultimately save them from something they
can't solve on their own. They realize the need for somehow being saved
---- salvation !
Warren believes that Salvation is three-dimensional.
You are saved FROM something ---- yourself. We all have a
pride problem; an unfortunate attitude. We call the problem
sinfulness. We sin by acting out or saying: "I want to be my
own boss ---- I don't need God." The problem with sin is that it
separates us from God. Jesus came to free us from sin. Is
there truly something from which we need to be set free? We need to
be set free from ourselves. We need a Savior!
In addition, Pastor Warren believes Jesus came to save us FOR
a purpose. It's in Christ, he says, that we find out who we are and what
we are living for. But, Warren believes we will never be completely
satisfied with mere "success" in some secular sense. We were
not made for "mere" success. We were made for a higher level of
significance. Significance that comes from knowing God, His purpose for
our lives, and then for us to fulfill it.
Thirdly, Rick Warren reminds us that Jesus came to save us BY grace.
Grace is when God gives us what we need, and not what we deserve. Grace
is when God says, "I'm going to take your problem and make it my problem."
God comes to save us from our hurts, our habits and our hang-ups.
So far, God and Jesus have done all the work. What
role do we play at Christmas time, if any? Rick Warren sees a very
difficult but important role for us! In a word, it is Reconciliation
---- when a broken relationship is restored. Perhaps it starts with our
relationship with God ---- but it does not end there.
Pastor Warren sees three varieties of Reconciliation:
----- First, if you are trying to
live without God, then you are at war with God and you need a peace
treaty. How do we make peace with God? You don't do it by promising
to be good. We don't do it by trying to be perfect. You don't do it
by never sinning. You will sin. You make peace with God, the Bible
says, by developing faith ---- trust in God's grace, believing that God's grace
will be accorded to you.
----- Second, you've got two
choices in life. In every circumstance, you can pray or panic. You
can worship or worry. If you pray as much as you worry, you will have a
whole lot less to worry about. The peace of God happens in your heart
when you have made peace with God.
----- Third, God has given us
both a ministry and a message about Reconciliation ---- to help other
people find peace with God and peace with each other.
With whom did you need to rebuild a broken relationship this
Christmas? Just remember that you will need to let Jesus Christ fill you
with his love so you can love other people the way he does. And, you will
need to let him fill you with his forgiveness. Until you let God
in, and feel truly forgiven, you don't have the ability to meaningfully forgive
others.
So, we have a range of gifts to acknowledge, but not just at
Christmas. There could be some material gifts you received or gave at
Christmas, like new golf clubs, or special gifts for the children in our
lives. At the same time, we should count on a priceless gift from God, as
evidenced by the birth of Jesus. But, one of the most precious gifts we could
give might simply be the gift of forgiveness to someone who caused us
pain in the year that is now behind us, just as God's grace has already
forgiven us of our repeated sinning. We can give this gift any time of
the year ---- not just at Christmas time!
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
spiritual growth this winter at CPC.
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