Are We Breathlessly Swept off Our Feet—for HIM?
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
(Jude 24-25 NASB)
and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
to the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory,
majesty,
dominion and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
Amen.”
Every morning, for twenty-five days, we count down to ‘the day,’ and in anticipation, we wait for ‘the day’ to arrive. As a child, this waiting, this anticipation took FOREVER!
However, as we age, ‘the special day’ comes quickly, and even seems to speed up as time passes by, as we grow older.
This Christmas, as most, I have taken up the practice of counting down to ‘the day,’ to the Christmas morning. As I pass by our pantry door, headed to grind my coffee beans each morning, I hesitate, I pause, to lean down to the cloth calendar hanging from the handle, and I move the cloth mouse to the next pocket—Counting Down to Christmas Day.
There is a melody that reflects how I feel this Christmas, a song that I wish you would pause and listen to now, yes, right here—right now.
“Gratitude” by I Am They.
Each Christmas, we focus on the narrative of Jesus’ birth, and this is appropriate understandably so, but this Christmas, let us pause to also read, to focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection that He foretold. In doing so, we see the miracle of Christmas, for we clearly see the TRUTH—
Jesus was born to live among us!
&
Jesus was born to die for us!
JESUS said these words to HIS apostles—
“A little while, and you will no longer see Me;
(The Gospel According to John 16: 16-20 NASB)
and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
Some of His disciples then said to one another,
“What is this thing He is telling us,
‘A little while, and you will not see Me;
and again a little while, and you will see Me’’;
and,
‘because I go to the Father’?”
So they were saying,
“What is this that He says,
‘A little while’?
We do not know what He is talking about.”
Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them,
“Are you deliberating together about this, that I said,
‘A little while, and you will not see Me,
and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
“Truly, truly, I say to you,
that you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice;
you will grieve,
but your grief will be turned into joy.”
- What seems to be an eternity of time—QUICKLY TURNS INTO JOY—when a baby is born in the world.
- When Christmas seems to be an eternity of time in coming—QUICKLY TURNS INTO JOY—when Christmas morning is upon us, once ‘the day’ finally arrives.
- That which we anticipate—THE COMING OF JESUS, HIS SECOND COMING—will quickly turn our current suffering into JOY—WHEN WE SEE JESUS COMING IN THE CLOUDS!
Are We Breathlessly Swept off Our Feet—for HIM?
GOD’S GRACE is not abstract; it is tangible.
- Humanists stumble over this fact because they cannot fathom that their good actions are not required.
- Rational-minded individuals also stumble because this ‘GRACE’ just does not make sense, how God would send His Only Son to die upon a cross.
- Unbelievers are totally bewildered by this whole narrative of the Christmas miracle.
Nevertheless, the TRUTH is the TRUTH!
Believers can know HIS GOODNESS because GOD’S GRACE does not just ‘feel’ gracious toward us, because HE SHOWERS HIS GRACE upon us. Consider the warmth of sunshine & of rain saturating the earth, and just imagine the beauty seen in a new snowfall & the breath we inhale moment-by-moment.
The amazing wonder of GOD’S AMAZING GRACE!
IT BEGAN WITH A BABE BORN IN A MANGER!
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
(Jude 24 NASB)
and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,”
We who believe, know He is coming again, for we believe in JESUS.
&
We who accept GOD’S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON as our SAVIOR, know JESUS is speaking the TRUTH, for we accept His Holy Word—HIS TRUTH!
“to the only God our Savior,
(Jude 25 NASB)
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory,
majesty,
dominion and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
Amen.”
We who confess JESUS AS LORD will experience the JOY JESUS’ DEATH & RESURRECTION bring to each person, to each one of us.
MAY WE, THIS CHRISTMAS, BE BREATHLESSLY SWEPT OFF OUR FEET—FOR HIM, FOR JESUS!
“Truly, truly, I say to you,
(The Gospel According to John 16: 20 NASB)
that you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice;
you will grieve,
but your grief will be turned into joy.”