Christmas

⁶ For to us a child is born, 
   to us a son is given, 
   and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called 
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
--Isaiah 9:6

What Christmas especially means to me this year:

• We can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).  Because of Jesus, we are now able to boldly approach God and have an intimate relationship with Him.  We no longer will be struck down because of our sinfulness and God's holiness, but we have been justified and have Jesus' imputed righteousness.
• The God of the universe became flesh and made his home among us (John 1:14).  He descended to our level to help us to see God and His love.  He went through the stages of development, even beginning as a helpless baby.  He came to earth knowing full well what the end of His live would be.  He came down knowing that he would be misunderstood and hurt, even by His closest friends.  He came knowing that He would be rejected and wrongfully punished.  He knew that He would experience separation from God for the first time of His life.  He knew he would be flogged unjustly.  He knew one of his closest friends would deny him; another would turn Him in.  Knowing all this, Jesus still came down and willingly subjected Himself to the will of the Father.
• Jesus endured the pain of life on earth and in crucifixion for the joy to come (Hebrews 12:2).  He had the eternal perspective:  we endure temporary pain now for eternal joy later.
• We no longer have to continually offer the sacrifices of animals because Jesus' sacrifice paid for all sins for all time (Hebrews 9:13-14).  We all can take hold of Jesus' sacrifice paying for all of our sins if we open our hearts to Him.
• Jesus lived on earth and experienced trials of all sorts and thus understands the depths of trials in our lives (Hebrews 4:15).

Without Jesus, I could never have a personal relationship with God.  Without Jesus, I would have had to try hard to earn salvation and still inevitably fail.

With Jesus, I have abundant life, both here on earth and in eternity.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love for me.

Merry Christmas!