Receive

"Tis the Season to________" you fill in the blank. What does this time of year mean to you? Celebration, the fuzzy feeling you get thinking of Christmas morning? Or does it bring pain, feelings of loneliness, or reflection on pain in your past? Tis the season the hurting hurts worse. Tis the season for broken families to be reminded they are broken. Tis the season to remember what truly matters in this life on earth. Tis the season to celebrate Jesus our sacrificial lamb who came to earth in human form to save us from our sins.

Many of you have heard the story before, but I hope and pray your hearts soften to receive and hear. Jesus has paid our ransom and stooped down to our level to save us. I tell children its like us becoming an ant to die a painful death by the ants to save all the ants. This may sound silly, but that is the closest thing I can relate it to in this earthly body of mine. "He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:7-8) We are LOVED, we are guilty of sin, and we are in this world of sin which causes pain, sorrow, guilt, shame and loneliness. But guess what? There is hope all because of a baby born in a barn a few thousand years ago.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom i am the worst." 1st Timothy 1:15 I. love. this.Verse! I am included in the worst. Yet he still came to save me. He came to save YOU. And all we have to do is receive it. Believe and Receive him as truth. And when we receive His forgiveness, and receive His grace and we are set free. So much easier said than done I must admit, but when I walk down the street I don't see joyful people. I see people hurting. I see anxiety, pressure, pain. We need healing, and freedom, and true freedom comes from Christ!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creations; the old has gone, the new has come!" A new life comes, we are a new creation. What chains are you in? Where do you need freedom in your life?

So I say Tis the season to reflect deeper than our temporary suffering on earth. Tis the season to receive. Receive God's truth, love, spirit, forgiveness, grace, hope. He has saved us. We just have to receive it. He is knocking on the door. We just have to open it. He wants you. He wants your heart. Receiving Jesus is the best gift we could ever get for Christmas. Merry Christmas friends!