I watched a new movie about Christmas the other night. It was about a boy named Nicolas who went in search of his father and found hope. Hope had been lost and the king challenged the people of the kingdom to find hope and bring it to him. Through a series of events, Nicholas found a magical village of elves and showed the king where to find hope. It was in giving gifts to others. This act impressed the king so much that he put Nicolas in charge of distributing free stuff each year on Christmas day. This became the basis of hope.
How sad. How heart rending, to base hope on magic and the feeling we get when handing out free stuff.
Once again the world totally misses the point.
The true Christmas story is based on the Gift of Jesus Christ, given to us as Savior, as Redeemer. Through His birth as a man and the voluntary sacrifice made on the cross, He paid the penalty we brought on ourselves when we sinned through our father Adam. Jesus came to redeem us from our lost, broken and rebellious condition in order to reconcile us to the Heavenly Father. This gift was not free. Jesus left His home with the Heavenly Father, wrapped Himself in human form, died on a shameful cross so that we have the opportunity to share in God’s righteousness, becoming part of His eternal family. John 1:12 tells us “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
This advent season is anchored in Jesus Christ. We have hope, peace, love and joy because of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done.
We have HOPE as an anchor for the soul, we have PEACE with God, we know LOVE because God demonstrated it, and we understand JOY because of what Jesus Christ endured. May the truth of Jesus Christ encourage us this Christmas season and fill us with hope, peace, love and joy.
On Sunday, November 28, 2021, we will ask the question, “how does the Christmas story anchor us in HOPE?” We will address this question using Luke 1:1-25.