For us this is the darkest time of year. Late sunrises, early sunsets and frequent dense cloud cover add to the personal challenges we face. All of these make us especially appreciative of the encouragement we receive by remembering our Lord’s birth. All around us people celebrate by exchanging gifts, but the gift that God gave us we can never match nor repay.
“If you knew the gift of God,” Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well, “you would ask of him, and he would give you the water of life.” Our Lord is Himself the Gift and in Him we receive other gifts.
Consider also what the apostle Peter has to say in the beginning of his second letter. Here is an excerpt: “His [God’s] divine power has given to us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires…. Therefore, my brothers [and sisters], be all the more eager to make your calling and elections sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Everything we need, God has provided for us in His beloved Son, culminating in our opportunity to enter His eternal Kingdom.
So, we are most grateful that Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, has come to enlighten our darkest days. We draw upon His life again and again. We depend on the very great and precious promise that our lives will become conformed to His. He sustains our hope through the challenges we face as we experience transformation.
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