Hope

Think about what Christmas really means to you. (You keep thinking, we'll get back to your answer in a minute.)

This past weekend, I hosted a Christmas party for our local ACFW group. We had an incredible time of fellowship and fun together and at the end, we sat around and talked about this very topic. Christmas is so very special and precious to me. I love to decorate for it (in fact for years, I've had a Christmas tree and nativity scene in every room, even the bathrooms- okay so tell me I'm nuts), I love the music, the time together as a family and I love celebrating the Greatest Gift of all coming to earth for you and for me. It bugs me when people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Why did we start taking Christ out of Christmas? Why are we Christians, letting it happen?

David Phelps wrote a song on his new Christmas CD entitled If Christmas Never Came.
It's a beautifully haunting melody that depicts if Christmas never came, we wouldn't have stockings, or decorations, or church bells ringing, or carols ... or hope. The last lines of the song, "... there'd be no hope for me ... If Christmas never came" are so very moving.

You and I would be without hope had our Savior not come to earth to sacrifice Himself for us.

So, what does Christmas mean to you?

What can you and I be sharing with everyone this season and every season? Hope.
Hope.

The world is lost and dying - we need to be sharing what we have.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
He was born of a virgin, He lived a perfect, sinless life, He loved the 'unlovable', He gave Himself up for you and me, taking our sin and shame upon Himself. He was tortured and crucified. He died for you and me. And then... He rose again on the third day.

No matter where you are or what you have done, He loves you and gave Himself for you.
We are all the same. Sinners. No one is better than another.

Get out there and show the love and joy from our great God. Share the hope!
Merry Christmas!