Are the bills piling up this year? Do you feel a sense of abandonment this Christmas season? Please hear this: God understands how important it is SHOW UP -- and that's exactly what He did that first Christmas! You don't have to feel like your Christmas is in Foreclosure -- like you may be feeling in so many other areas of your life. Experience the true meaning of Christmas this year -- one that is rich and full of FREEDOM!
Everyone reading this article realizes that Christmas brings a healthy level of debt; only to add to the pressures of existing debt, which seems to be increasing every day. I’m not sure about you but I feel that pressure often and it’s almost unbearable at times.
The best way for me to rediscover the MEANING of Christmas is a healthy dose of REPRIORTIZING my life. I’m talking about the important things in life. The Bible tells me pretty explicitly in Mark 8:36: “How does one benefit in life if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul in the process?” When I’m dealing with material possessions that appear to OWN me, I must examine how much God really OWNS me and my stuff! I must determine quickly what’s important to me in my life and what’s not. Life is TOO SHORT if you don’t and I’m convinced that God never intended His most precious creation (Mankind) to live life at FULL THROTTLE and feel the pressures of CONUMERISM the way we do!
He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that “His plans for us are for good not disaster, to give us a future full of hope!” The key thought in that passage is a genuine understanding that HE PROVIDES US WITH THIS – we don’t have to do it all ourselves! The correct PRIORITIES in life -- especially in dealing with our material possessions – apply directly to our RELATIONSHIP with Jesus! And you know what’s most interesting? That’s exactly WHY you and I were created -- for a RELATIONSHIP with God! To keep the pressures of the CONSUMER WORLD from crashing down around you – you don’t need to look any further than the ONE who created you!
I realize that TRUSTING in something you cannot see is difficult. I once heard someone say…“I need a God who’s now. I need a God who teaches me how to live now. I need a faith that’s about today, that helps me understand the world that we live in today.” Well, that’s the message of CHRISTMAS!
What you need to know is this: because of our choices to live the way we want to live -- we lost the perfect RELATIONSHIP God designed for us to have with Him. The only way this RELATIONSHIP can be restored is what we see IN and THROUGH the LIFE OF JESUS! Where He became man, like you and me, in the flesh, born in a manger. He lived the ‘other way’ -- according to how God created Him to live. Where He fulfilled and provided you and me with the opportunity of a way back to perfection with God. Laying down His life, sacrificially, on a Cross. Perfection Offered – yes, Perfection Restored -- yes, Perfection Received… that still remains to be seen in the lives of many!
When you purchase those presents this year – when you continue to apply that pressure of feeling your DEBT this Christmas -- let me encourage you to consider shifting your thoughts (for a moment) onto the greatest DEBT that as ever been paid. The DEBT that JESUS CHRIST has PAID for your and my SINS! It’s true -- DEBT and the feeling of FORECLOSURE brings an immense amount of PRESSURE! However, knowing that your DEBT has been eliminated brings an immense amount of FREEDOM!
The central fact at Christmas is that Jesus Christ is willing to alleviate your SIN DEBT – the question now remains… WILL YOU LET HIM? His gift is Personal, Practical, Pleasing, Permanent -- and He has already Purchased it for you this Christmas. WILL YOU RECEIVE IT? No need to feel the feeling of your LIFE being FORECLOSED!
Josh Barrett is the Lead Pastor at the Church of Celebration in Maricopa. Check out their website at www.churchofcelebration.com or feel free to contact him at office@churchofcelebration.com.