Hi, this is Joni and you know it happens every year about this time. Somebody sends you a Christmas card early, and you hear a carol on the radio, like this one:
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head
The stars in the bright sky look down where he lay
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
Can you believe Christmas is about to happen and maybe, maybe, you don’t know where the time has gone. Seems just yesterday you were trying to think of a hundred-and-one ways to use up leftover turkey and here it is, December the 16th. Yep! You feel this, this pressure to get into the Christmas spirit. Well, you simply can’t wait around for the Christmas spirit to hit you; you have to create it. Like, um, I’d don’t know, like singing a beautiful Christmas carol like this one I just did, it’s very simple.
Even though it’s a week-and-a-half before December 25th, you can take a big step toward making the spirit of Christmas come alive in your heart—and you can get it started by thinking on and meditating on all that the birth of the Lord Jesus means. And now—not next week—now is the best time to do it. I know, as a kid growing up in the Reformed Episcopal Church, our family would use the Book of Common Prayer to get into the Christmas spirit. The Scripture readings during Advent season always got us thinking about our need of a Savior… how so? Well, those Advent Scriptures are from Isaiah and some of the Minor Prophets and those readings focus on how lost, how utterly lost in sin we humans really are! How much we need to be rescued. I mean, come on, how can we celebrate a Savior come into this world unless we know—I mean really know—that we need to be saved. That’s what makes the meaning of Christmas come alive.
And maybe that’s why God puts nostalgia in the hearts of us during this time of year. He wants us to define that nostalgia as nothing more than a deep human longing to come home to His Son. Oh, sure, holly, ivy, candles and sparkling lights and trees all decorated help those longings for the “perfect Christmas.” And those things are nice, but there’s nothing like creating the real Christmas spirit by focusing on just why you need a Savior—why you desperately need Jesus. Oh, thank you Jesus for coming and bringing your light into our dark world. Thank you for shining your light into my dark and sinful heart.
Okay, so it’s only the 16th of December. I’m just asking, please don’t let the frazzle of this next week rob you of the real joy of what this time of year is all about. Recognize your need of a Deliverer, your need of a Rescuer, your need of a Savior. Let’s celebrate that God sent His Son to, ah and I love this, save us from our sins! And I hope you’ll visit my radio page at joniandfriends.org today, because I’ve posted a video of a special Christmas message just for you. And share it with your Facebook friends… and celebrate the Rescuer, the Deliverer, our Savior, Jesus, come into our dark world to give us His light.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376