THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

By Shirley Wiggins

The day dawns clear, crisp and cold.

Trains of thought come into my mind this morning like engines rolling around the hills and valleys on tracks that will take each one to its appointed destination. 

Casual observers who watch trains go by have no idea where any of them may be going, but the engineers and the conductors onboard know perfectly well where their train will come to a stop at its pre-determined destination.

I am tempted to jump on board one of my thought-trains this morning  and see where it will take me.  But, I don’t.  I wait.  I feel tired and melancholy today, with an overall sense of time passing in a rush, and I want to hold on to my minutes.  I’m not ready to move on, yet, not with this strong sense of something left incomplete.

So I wait, and let the thoughts come and go.  And, I contemplate and meditate as I read my two favorite devotionals¹ for my early morning quiet time. 

Christmas went by much too quickly for me again this year.  There was so much I wanted to do and share and savor and have time to enjoy, but the calendar and the clock both said, “No, you must hurry.”

And so, I fear I left many important things undone.  I love Christmas and each year I want to fully enjoy the season,  most of all, I want to savor the most important aspect of Christmas:  the reason  for Christmas.

Every year I experience this vague sense of disappointment – this sense that something was missing for me.  Maybe it is just the fact that I love to linger long with those things that bring me pleasure and with those people who are dearest to me.

But, there never seems to be quite enough time.

I think I will take this time now and just enjoy this second cup of coffee, and let my fingers run across this computer keyboard and see where my mind takes me.

But not with my idle mind in the engineer’s seat.   I want the God of all creation to guide my thoughts by His Holy Spirit who knows the mind of the Christ of Christmas.  And, it is to Him that I direct my prayer, asking Him to guard my heart and guide my mind as He directs my thinking. 

I don’t have any more time to waste, and this isn’t a waste of time.  This is my life.  My life will not end when I breathe my last breath of God-given air on this earth. 

My life will extend forever, and so will yours, time without end, for all eternity stretches before each human who has ever breathed in the breath of life.   Time will change but it will never extinguish the God-given life.

So, I have the time.  I have time to explore the words of God with the Word of God.

Another train of thought has returned, and it is one I’ve thought on a lot since I first heard about a large sign that was made and paid for and placed  high above the ground  in a city just in time for Christmas this year.

I don’t remember the specific wording of the sign’s printed question, but I surely remember the answer someone assigned to the question.

The question basically asked who needs Christ at Christmas, and someone decided the answer was, “Nobody.”

When I heard that, for a moment I was left astounded and speechless as hundreds of my own questions came pouring into my head.

Like, has this person (or these people) given serious consideration to the Christ of Christmas, and if they have, how could they have reached such an arrogantly erroneous answer?!  What on earth are they basing their conclusion on?! 

I considered that staggering arrogance that someone concluded that their answer applies to every human being!  No one needs to think for themselves, as this person (or group) has determined for all of us that not one of us “needs” Christ.

I am disappointed and dismayed every time I see or hear of another instance of disrespect paid to the God of Creation,  whose love is so high, and deep, and wide, and complete, that, without His help, none of us can comprehend His majestic greatness.

I recognize my own puny efforts at sharing what He means to me as a mere drop in an ocean; yet, He has so impacted my life that I cannot keep silent.  I absolutely must add my small voice to the testimonials of His goodness, His grace, and His loving kindnesses  and forgiveness, and the multitudes of His great and good gifts that He continues to pour out upon His world and its inhabitants.

God is so great that I cannot find words to adequately express what it is that my heart loves most about Him.

Love.  He is Love.  We don’t even know what love is apart from Him.  We ‘swim’ in this vast ocean of His love and fail to recognize Him and His kindness to us.  We can’t even fully appreciate His loving kindness and His great faithfulness to pour out grace upon grace to people who can never be worthy of His holiness.

And yet, He chooses to lovingly teach us again and again about Himself!  He goes to great lengths to reveal Himself to people – many of whom cannot yet see their great need of this One Great God.²

He patiently teaches about His love, His power, His sovereignty, His supreme rule and authority – all the while continuing to give people the right to choose whether they will believe Him or call Him a liar and/or profess not to even believe that He exists.  Amazing!  Astounding!

The Holy Bible.  His Holy Word.  The Christ of Christmas:  Jesus Christ,

Immanuel =  God with us!

God is with us!  Embrace Him by embracing His Word, Jesus Christ Who became flesh and came to earth to dwell for a time; and His written Word, the Holy Bible.

If you do not have a Bible, find one:   get your hands on a Bible and read it for all it is worth!  Find a church where Jesus Christ is exalted, and worship Him for all He is worth, and enroll in a Bible study class and study His Word for all you are worth!

Life will not end permanently with our death, and we will all live forever  somewhere.  Make sure your somewhere is in the holy presence of God, our Savior who came to earth one day – the original  Christmas Day – on a search and rescue mission:                                  Jesus Christ, …“the Son of Man, has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  Luke 19:10.

Don’t let anyone else determine for you whether or not you need the Christ of Christmas --- you seek His face for yourself and you decide based on the Truth of His Word.  You will live with your choice for eternity – time without end.

 

¹Streams in the Desert  compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman; and Daily Light  for Every Day with Anne Graham Lotz.

² To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Christ. 

John 3:16-18 (ESV):    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
If you have never acknowledged your sin and confessed it by agreeing with God about it, and received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, you are encouraged to listen for His still small voice to invite you to pray the prayer of repentance sincerely confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin.   If you repent and turn from your sin, to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead; you will be saved," according to God's Word, the Holy Bible, in Romans 10:9.

If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone.  Then become a participant in a church where God is exalted, and His Word, The Holy Bible, is taught as the standard of life.