2 Cor 6:2 I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
It's the day after Christmas. And the world sure emphasizes the word "after". It's time to turn the carols off that everyone is sick of since they have been playing since October. Its time for the after Christmas sales. Its time to start thinking of New Years. What ever happened to the 12 days of Christmas?
Someone had shared with me that they wondered why they hadn't received a card from me yet. This was still 3 days before Christmas! It was as if I was late in their minds. The urgency of now really matters when it comes to Christmas. Get the shopping done! Get the cards done! Get the baking done! And get it all done now! Try this experiment- say Merry Christmas to someone in the next couple of days and see how they react. Yes, the world is ready to pack it all up and go on to the next thing. We've waited for the Savior to be born and now that He has arrived we're exhausted. Can't we enjoy His birth for a couple of days? Maybe I'll still send a card this week or even blog a Christmas message for Project 52!
The Scripture tells us that the only urgency in life is the urgency of knowing Jesus as your personal Savior. You have no idea if you will be around to celebrate the New Year. You also do not know if this coming year will be the year that your life ends. Are you ready? Now is the day of salvation!
Just think what it would be like if the same urgency to be ready for Christmas was placed on being ready to die? Again, are you ready? Don't let another day go by. Seek Him out like the wise men. Go to Bethlehem like the shepherds. Receive the One who has already been looking for you and who loves you enough to come and die on a cross for you so that you could be forgiven and ready for heaven.
I'm not worrying about what I did or didn't get done this Christmas. Or even what I have or don't have this Christmas because I have the Savior, therefore I have everything! Its time to share that Gift with others because NOW is the day of salvation!
In Christ,
Pastor John
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4 comments:
Wow….great blog! I asked a gal I know to come to a Christmas play with me the weekend before Christmas and she went into a long story of how she can’t cuz she has so much to do still….clean the house, make the cookies….make some kind of food dip or something like that…..and how tired she is…. And that is what her whole week was looking like…….cleaning and baking and cooking…no time for anything else…..like listening about Jesus. I said, be careful or Christmas is going to come and you’re going to miss it. I did not see her at the Christmas eve service. ….. maybe her cookies were not done yet.
I had a friend who I worked with everyday. We took breaks together, joked in the office, took a golfing lesson together. One day she just kinda quit talking to me. She started talking to this other gal in the office who she did not get along with. I thought that was pretty strange, but ok. After a couple weeks of not talking with her I decided I was going to sit down with her the next day and talk with her and see what was going on. She was going to another town for training, so I was going to wait until the next day for the talk. I got a call that evening from my supervisor to come to the office right away. My friend was coming back from the training and fell asleep at the wheel and got killed when her vehicle rolled over. We will never have that talk. Don’t think you can wait until tomorrow or next week to find out who Jesus is, and what’s he got to do with your life here on earth and what’s he got to do with you going to heaven, cuz you might not have a tomorrow. This is just one story of someone not having a tomorrow. There are a lot of us out here with stories of people waiting to do something tomorrow….…only that tomorrow never came. The cookies can wait……. the cleaning can wait…..the new games can wait. Knowing Jesus cannot wait. Have a question about Jesus....ask it ....today.
Thanks for the reminder, Sandy and Pastor John. Many times I don't even make "plans" for a talk tomorrow and how sad is that? (Very sad!) May 2011 be a YEAR OF TODAYS.
Colleen,
2011, a YEAR OF TODAYS. Awesome!
So here it is January 9th 2011, were a long ways away from December 25th...and yet the next "holiday" that "we" in the church look for is Easter. I challenge and welcome anyone to tell me why it is that as a mortal individual we establish a date, a physical 24 hour period, to celebrate the birth and/or death of JC?? I dont fully understand each and every ritual or action that a good christian does at these times of the year...but I know that I need to be humbled and thankful at these special times, and I am!!
In a perfect world we should wake each morning, and wish each other as Gods children a Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Frohe Weihnachten, it doesnt matter the country or the day! Lets be thankful each and every day for the birth of our Lord. Not just once a year.
If your a person like I...well then we spend a lot of our days saying, "I'll do it tomorrow" and sadly enough...I have done that in my spiritual journey also. I pray that tomorrow is another day in my life and many more will follow. I pray that I have the time and opportunity to grow in my journey for God and have the opportunity to share my love for Jesus and the loved ones in my family.
Its never to late, and never to early. Wishing each and everyone Gods Grace and a Very Merry Christmas, today and every day. Thank you dear lord.
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