I just had a great time with my parents, my wife and kids celebrating Christmas. It's good to spend time with people I care about during this time of year. While I am still feeling the warmth of family fellowship, I thought I would share a thought about Christmas.
My parents have a ceramic nativity set on their hearth. We have a similar one in our house. These are not just decorations to me. They are reminders that I can see every day. They help me to explain to my children the true meaning of Christmas. We also have a plastic one that the kids can hold without fear of breaking. Thanks to my in-laws for that. These peaceful nativity scenes are really ceramic and plastic pointers to the battle for our souls.
Christmas displayed in a nativity set is a reminder that God is good. I think most of us understand that there is darkness that engulfs the world. The darkness is here, because mankind declared war on God from the very beginning of history (not just recently, as it sometimes feels). In spite of that, God offers the warmth of family fellowship with himself to everyone. His plan for redemption is active in the nativity. How so? When I look at a nativity scene, I am looking at a symbol of Almighty God becoming a child, a peace offering to people who don't want or deserve it. (I have to include that these same people later kill this child, but it's all according to God's plan.)
There is no better way to describe what I see in those nativity sets than in Paul's letter to Titus. It reads, "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us" (Titus 3:3-5a).
Merry Christmas.
Friday, December 23, 2011
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