Dear Friends,
We usually post new content on Thursdays. As someone who is obnoxiously type-A by personality, I like to stick to the plan. While we have a lot of great content in our hopper that I’m excited for you to read, I wanted to take a break from our normal posting schedule to send you this Christmas Special 2020 and reflect on what Christmas means.
Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. I’m not opposed to the niceties and traditions which accompany this time of year, but I worry that sometimes we can get the wrong idea about what Christmas means.
The coming of Christ is the answer to all the sin around us, past, present, and future. The cute baby in the manger at Christmastime is the Lion of Judah whom the Father sends to triumph over the forces of evil in this world and the world beyond (Colossians 2:15). He made peace between God and man by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). This ministry of reconciliation began by God now extends to those redeemed by Him as we seek to see all men and women reconciled to God and to each other (2 Corinthians 5).
We, as a ministry, seek in all we write and speak to be hopeful. In a dark world so marred by sin, one may wonder why. Christmas gives us the answer in the person of Jesus.
What hope have we of overcoming evil apart from the One who conquers it by himself?
This is not a post to say that our only duty in confronting racism is to preach. This is a post to say that everything we do to advance the cause of justice must be undergirded by the conviction that every answer to God’s promises is found in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:20). The message of the Gospel is what begins our concern for true justice and fuels it all the way to glory. Christians know the way the story ends, and must be those who dare to hope in God despite evidence that things will always be dark.
Christmas gives us that hope. Friends, please allow yourselves to be encouraged this Christmas. Remember the words of Jesus, “In this life you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Amen. We believe he has and will again. Come again soon, Lord Jesus.
Merry Christmas, friends.
