Christmas Greetings
Monday 24 December 2007
Christmas in Australia is a great time for celebrating with family and friends, for holidays and for relaxing. Sometimes we can get so caught up with the busyness of shopping, presents, parties, family, holidays and even the ‘Christmas Spirit”, that we forget to stop and reflect on the central message of Christmas. The birth of a very special child in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago was all about the fulfilment of God’s great rescue plan.
In the last year we have heard a great deal about the Global Financial Crisis and the Global Environmental Crisis - and the need for a Global Rescue plan for each one. We don’t often think about the biggest crisis facing us all - the Global Sin Crisis. This is our biggest crisis because we are all sinners and therefore are facing the righteous judgement of God on the day he holds our world to account. Christmas is a time to remember that God’s solution to our greatest crisis was to send the Son into the world as a human - born in a shed in Bethlehem. The arrival of Jesus was GREAT NEWS because he came to be our saviour and to make possible our forgiveness and new life with God. Jesus was God’s incredibly generous gift to us on that first Christmas - worth far more than even the trillions of dollars being spent to rescue the world’s economies. Yet even more amazing is God’s generosity in offering us the gift of forgiveness for free.
Please take the time this Christmas to remember that Jesus is God’s gift of love to you. Will you thank God for His gift, and live in thankful dependence on our loving heavenly Father?
We hope and pray that this Christmas is a time where you know the true Peace that comes from knowing God through Jesus Christ.
Richard Blight
