The Ultimate Christmas Gift!!!
So here it is...Christmas has come again, but this is where I leave the typical trajectory of a Christmas Bible study. I'm not going to talk about a little baby laying in a livestock feed trough, and how cute and adorable baby Jesus must have been. Nor am I going to talk about how blessed Mary and Joseph were to be chosen to be Jesus' earthly parents. Nor am I going to talk about how privileged the shepherds were in receiving the message of Jesus' birth...or the Three Wise Men who brought expensive gifts, fit for a king.
Christmas as an event, and as a season has lost its true value and meaning. It has become this over-commercialised series of events within our personal calendar, which are often driven by pride and vanity. Some who are reading this are probably getting all hot under the collar, just me saying that. But think about it...think about what happens in households around the world. Family members battle with each other to provide the ultimate Christmas gathering and meal. Every year has to be bigger and better than the previous one. The presents from last year - which most people have either forgotten, broken or lost - are no longer good enough, so bigger, better, more expensive presents are purchased. Then consider families that cannot afford to have the 'ideal' Christmas...how much pressure and anxiety is placed on parents and children alike to create the 'ideal' Christmas experience. Not to mention all the families who do not have children of their own, or those people whose families are distant, or estranged from them - where is their 'ideal' Christmas...it is often the case that Christmas is a painful time, not a pleasant time - due to the pressures and expectations that others/society place on them.
Does that sound like an act of worship and commemoration of the birth of the saviour of all of humanity?
Or does that sound like the pollution of the world seeping in to that which should be maintained as holy?
What we should be celebrating is the true gift that Yahweh blessed humanity with - His son Jesus...but not just his presence on Earth, but rather his mission to die and be raised again so that we can have an eternal relationship with Yahweh - so that humanities ties to the divine, which were severed by the fall in the Garden of Eden - can be fully restored again.
In 1 Peter 1:3-9, regarding our salvation, and this life - the apostle Peter puts it as plainly as he knows how...
Verses 3-5: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
The greatest gift of all - is having access to a living hope of salvation. That is the true meaning of Christmas...Jesus the little baby who was laid down to rest in the feed trough of a animal pen - is the one who became a man who was beaten, tortured and hung on a cross to die. The blessing is that God - the Father - chose to let this happen so that his glory, mercy, grace and power can be shown in the resurrection of that same Son.
That salvation is better than any Christmas present that can break, rust or fades away to nothing - it is a divine, eternal inheritance that is being kept for us in Heaven.
Not only is our future salvation, and restored relationship with Yahweh being kept in heavenly places, but God also has a mind for us here on Earth before the time that we go to meet Him. We are being kept...in other words we are able to handle what we face because God is watching over us, and looking after us - no matter the difficulty that we are facing.
Which brings us into the next set of verses...
Verses 6-9: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Because we are alive on this Earth, we must go through hardships - it seems like a long time for us, because we are limited by the linear temporal nature of our existence. We define our lives by the 80 or so years we spend on this planet alive.
Yet, it is "for a little while" - meaning that our glorified bodies, our being in a righteous state of existence in Heaven, for eternity is going to be longer than the pain, suffering and trials we face on Earth.
There is a purpose for those tough times...they serve to be a platform for the testing of our faith in Jesus. They form the fire upon which all things that are unnecessary and irrelevant - and indeed even our sinful nature - are burnt away. Leaving the fulness of our faith behind.
The key to holding on to our faith in the midst of all our pain, suffering and anguish is that our salvation will play out either at the end of our lives or if we are still alive - when Jesus returns to rule the world.
It is only at the end of our lives that the struggle during our lives has any meaning - it is only then that our faith has been tested enough to be illuminated by our salvation.
This is the true gift of Christmas...this is the true meaning of Christmas...forget the tinsel, the tree, the presents, the great food - forget all of that. Do not focus on it, nor dwell on it. Rather, focus on your faith...is it going to stand up to the trials that you are facing in your life, or is it going to wither and die.
I pray that at this time of festivities and celebration you draw close to your heavenly Father, and celebrate that His son was sent to live, to die, and to be raised to life again - for the salvation of our souls. May Yahweh bless you and keep you and your family at this time.