Christmas Scrooge? No, the Epitome of Love

As we once again enter the season of celebration of our saviors birth, I feel a deep desire to reach those that typically would not entertain dialog referring to a God, or creator, not to mention a loving God. I think it is the best chance as maybe they are softened up by the season, reflecting back on Christmas past with fondness. I also feel more tender-hearted and inspired by the nostalgia of a simpler time and a desire for a childlike peace among people.

Those who are even willing to recognize God want to diminish him as an Old Testament destructive creator or an outdated unloving dictator. God does not need our approval. To say that our God is without love or compassion, unknowable or unapproachable is flat out ridiculous. To believe these things is simply to say that you know nothing about God.

I am currently preparing a Bible study on the Gospel of John and his stated purpose in verse 20:31 “But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name”. John was an eyewitness to Jesus who was constantly referenced as the image of our God, Jesus plainly states in John 10:30 “I and the father are one”. In Old Testament times, God was dealing with a group of people that was not capable of understanding his Grace and redemption as we are afforded the opportunity now. He led his people by laws that showed man’s sin nature and need for redemption. People now cannot see past the Old Testament bloodshed and killing; to the sacrifices required to atone for the seriousness of sin. All pointing to our future savior in God’s love story of salvation for us, his amazing grace in sending a perfect human sacrifice, his son Jesus. John starts out his Gospel in verses 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” John wants us to know that in Jesus we see the very mind of God, the attitude of God to men and women. If we believe that, then we also believe that God is like Jesus, as kind, as loving as Jesus was.

The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is an essential, nonnegotiable tenet of the Christian faith. Several lines of biblical evidence flow together to prove conclusively that He is God. So now it just takes a desire to know God to be able to learn about his character and love for us. Jesus did not come to talk about God, he came to show people what God is like, so even the simplest mind can know him. Who doesn’t want to be loved? Why do people not want to know more? Pretty simple answer is he will reveal their sins and require them to submit. It is much easier to plead ignorance or irrelevance, outdated scrooge or whatever label allows God to be discarded and the good times to continue on unregulated.

To the people that say a good God cannot exist with so much pain and suffering in the world C.S. Lewis states “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free wills involve, and you will find that you have excluded life itself.” God started with the law and the prophets and eventually led to his climatic revelation of grace in Jesus Christ. He made things clear by revealing his attributes in human flesh and allowing his spirit to work through eyewitnesses who wrote these things down for us to learn who he is and how much he loves us. Probably the best known verse in the Bible John 3:16 ” For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish but have eternal life.” The next verse goes on to say that ” For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”. These are but a very small sampling attesting to the true character of our loving God, waiting to be discovered by those truly seeking to know him and grow closer to him.

William Barclay points out that in the book of John he is giving his eyewitness accounts of Jesus actions and the narrative is that of getting a small glimpse into the window of eternity. I think the season of Christmas has a special place in people’s hearts because deep down they want to experience the peaceful setting of a tiny manger with the innocence of a newborn baby. We desire the bonding with loved ones and have a need to feel loved. there is a certain feeling of completeness in unifying with those you love. Unfortunately, society as a whole has lost its moral compass and desires to remove any reference to Christ from our Christmas celebrations, not to mention a loving God.

If you live in the north like I do, press your face up against the cold window and gaze into the dark evening sky as the stars shine in the distance with awe and wonder of the majesty of our loving creator and God. It’s my prayer that it will eagerly make you want to then press your face into God’s word and begin to feel the joy of his presence and a small glimpse of his unending loving magnificence.

When I was in about third grade a friend of mine asked me over to spend the night during a winter weekend. After supper, we ventured out into a dark woods not far from his house and were on a hill overlooking the road. He had the great idea to throw snowballs at passing cars. We threw at the same time and missed probably about three cars but then suddenly after throwing at the next car we hear a big thump of success as we hit the intended target and began a high five celebration. The celebration was short lived as the car stopped and turned on it’s police lights! We both took off running and I had no idea where we were but all I could picture was us getting chased down and put in jail. We could have easily been tracked down in the snow had the officer pursued the perpetrators of the attack. We didn’t leave the house the rest of that night. I don’t remember but we were probably pressing our faces against the window praying to God not to see the policeman pull up.

We have been given through God’s grace an undeserved blessing in being able to see and understand the character of our great God, who I believe is willing to even forgive little heathen “snowballers”. Jesus’s example makes it possible for God to never be a stranger to us again! Thanks for walking along this holiday season, wishing you a Merry Christmas and God willing I hope you will join me again in 2021.