Into the world came...

God's purest Light to show us the way;
God's perfect Savior to free us from sin;
God's tender Shepherd to care for our needs;
God's sure Foundation to make us secure;
God's fullest Joy to give us a song;
God's broken Bread to satisfy our hunger;
God's conquering King to rule in our hearts;
God's healing Fountain to make us whole;
God's highest Purpose to fulfill our longings;
God's quieting Peace to bring us rest;
God's redeeming Love to make us His own.

They will call him Immanuel, which means "God is with us." Matthew 1:23 NLT

-Roy Lessin

Merry Christmas

[For] to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Christ. (Luke 2:11 NRSV Bible)

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Jesus is our savior and the savior of our world. He came to bring God to each of us, so it is important to use this great season to renew our lives with God through Jesus Christ.

I remember reading in a newspaper article about a father who got so excited about Christmas that he order a tree house for his three children. Unfortunately, the day before Christmas, the company made a mistake and sent the man a build-it-yourself sailboat instead. He immediately called the company to complain. The operator who took his call tried to calm him down.

"Please, sir, we sincerely apologize for our mistake," she said. "But consider yourself lucky: somewhere out there on a lake is a man trying to sail your tree house."

I hope we don't make the mistake of sailing through Christmas without taking time to renew ourselves in Jesus Christ.

As the time old saying goes, "Jesus is the reason for the season." There are no Christmas sign flashing, "No room in the inn," because there is plenty of room in this season for Jesus. The question for us: Is there enough room in us for a savior?

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Lord Jesus, thank you for coming for me. I do want to make more room for you. Help me do that during this season and all year long. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

The Word Became Flesh

"The Son is the Spoken Word, the living expression of all that God has ever sought to communicate about Himself."
-The Bible Readers Companion

John 1:1-5,10-12,14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)

The Word Became Flesh

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. When he came into the world as a baby, he was sent from heaven to earth to become the living expression of the Father God. This was the gift he brought. His very life would speak to us everything that God ever wanted to say to us about himself. What an amazing gift!

One day we were discussing this passage in John 1 on the Christianity forum. As we considered the enormity of this gift, we were struck by the phrase, "the living expression." One member of the forum, G. Anthony Buchsbaum, marveled, "The living expression ... for that speaks of nothing less than the living Christ encountering us in our present circumstances. He is the personal Word of God to us. Through Christ, God continues to communicate himself to us through the personal revealing of his Son. In the person of Christ, all wisdom and knowledge is to be found. Yet the Father must reveal the Son to us so that the Son will in turn reveal the Father."

Buchsbaum continued, "Our knowledge has always been two-dimensional in nature. Yet the knowledge of God presented to us through his 'living expression' takes on a three-dimensional form, for it addresses the entire person, from head to toe. It not only informs us, it transforms us."

Have you ever stopped to consider this concept? God so intimately wanted to communicate with you, that he sent Jesus to speak forth the living demonstration of his heart. As you dwell on Jesus Christ and his Word, realize that God is still speaking his "living expression" to transform you, not just this Christmas season, but every day.

Joy to the World

"The door of repentance opens into the hall of joy."
-Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 32:5
"Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD'—and you forgave the guilt of my sin." (NLT)

Joy to the World

By now you've probably discovered that even a room full of shiny new Christmas gifts won't bring lasting joy. Once the newness of the gift wears off, the joy starts to fade. Presents get lost, toys get broken, and dreams of long-lived happiness begin to evaporate. The truth is, nothing in this earthly life offers unending joy.

Last night I had a truly terrifying dream. In it I had committed a murder and I was desperately trying to cover up my crime. A crushing burden of guilt weighed heavily upon me. When I finally awakened to learn it was only a dream, the flood of relief I felt was difficult to describe. I was no longer guilty of my sin; I was free from its oppressive weight. What joy filled my soul!

Like waking up from my dream, there is a way—but only one way—to be rid of quilt from sin and experience everlasting joy. We must walk through the door of repentance. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." All sin, all unrighteousness—past, present, and future—is washed away by the blood of Christ when we confess our sins and receive his cleansing salvation. Our souls are forever freed from the crushing weight of guilt, thanks to the loving sacrifice of our Savior.

If you've walked through the door or repentance, then you've awakened into the hall of joy described by Charles Spurgeon. This is the message of the Gospel that we celebrate at Christmas—God's pronouncement of everlasting joy to the world!