Christmas Greeting 2008

It is amazing how quickly time passes. When you are young the days, months and years drag on as you eagerly anticipate the next milestone of life. It could be becoming a teenager, or getting your drivers permit or graduating from high school. As we get older the days, months and years run swiftly by and we want to slow down the next milestone of life. It could be the dreaded 50th birthday, or the more intrusive doctor’s examinations that accompany the aging process, or qualifying for AARP benefits. When we were young we couldn’t wait to test the limits of our bodies in sports or adventure, now we treat the damage we did to our bodies from those sports and adventures with the latest pharmaceutical remedy or surgical breakthrough. At least we prepared for this stage in life by putting some money away in our 401K. With the recent economic crisis that makes us feel real secure. Christians have always been accused of having blind faith, trusting in a God we can’t see. I guess it is better to trust in a mutual fund that you can watch disappear. The longer we live it should become more clear that the only thing we can really and truly trust is God. Our bodies will grow old, the car we loved 5 years ago no longer thrills us, and everything we posses will end up in someone else’s closet eventually.

As we come to another Christmas this should be a time of reflection. Perhaps because of the economy it will cause us to remember what is really important. In the end what really counts is our relationship with God and with people. We see a great illustration of this in the cross. The two parts of the cross illustrates the vertical (our relationship with God) and the horizontal (our relationship with people). If we have a relationship with God then what is required of us in relating to people? In 1 Timothy chapter 2 it says that we are to pray for all men (horizontal) and especially for Kings and those in authority over us. We are to give thanks to God for those in authority over us that we might live a quiet and peaceful life. It goes on to say that this pleases God who wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. “For there is one mediator between God and Men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all.” With a new President and congress we need to pray for them, as the scripture tells us to. Pray also for people that aren’t Christians, even those people you don’t like. God’s desire is that all people would come to know the truth. This is the message of Christmas; this is what is truly important.