Who is the Christ of Christmas? - Part 2

John 1:4-14
4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.

6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]

10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God spoke through his prophets for centuries laying out the coming of the Messiah, the fulfillment of his covenant to save the world for the darkness of sin. The signs of his coming where everywhere. Daniel had laid out the reign of the rules prior to his coming, for 400 years the prophets were silent, but the prophecies where being fulfilled. John the Baptist appeared, proclaiming his arrival, just as the prophets had foretold. Wow, the time of salvation had arrived....their should have been huge celebration....right?

Well, as we know, Jesus was not received with open arms or celebration. God sent his son to a world that did not recognize him. He sent Christ to His own, but they did not receive him. Where they CRAZY!! He was the Messiah, all the signs pointed to it, the prophecies where revealed.....what were they thinking!!

Well, as John so eloquently writes in John 3:19-20 "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

How true is that today. How many people still refuse to truly believe in the Christ of Christmas because they think it means they have to become a prude, give up all their "fun", live like a monk? Too many people I know are what I call "convenient Christians", let me be honest, I was one too. Sure, I was baptized and confirmed. I had my children baptized. I would have told anyone who asked I was a Christian, I believed Jesus was born, died and I would have even told you he rose again on the third day. Sounds great, I was "in" right.

Oh how wrong I was!!

If you refuse to see the light of God, the light he sent into the world in His son Jesus Christ, then you really aren't a Christian. What does that mean? Light is good, it is God. If you truly accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you allow His light to shine in every nook and cranny of your life. You allow it to expose all the sin and bad things you were hanging on to...all those "fun" things you thought you never wanted to give up. I won't get into the specifics, you know what I am talking about. The sin you liked to do and didn't want anyone to take away from you, not God, not Jesus not anyone.

You see, the Christ of Christmas came to shine his light and snuff out the darkness (sin) once and for all. He offers us salvation from our sin, the light of eternal glory in his kingdom. All we are required to do is accept Him as the Messiah, believe He is the fulfillment of the prophecy, the light of the world. And in so doing, we gain the right to become children of God, receiving all the gifts that wonderful distinction entails. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trade the gifts of my new life in Jesus for that so called "fun" life I was leading before for anything in this world (or beyond). How about you?

Prayer:
Lord, thank You for shining Your light into my life and exposing it for what it really was. Thank You for leading me out of temptation and delivering me from the evil of the dark world. I am so much happier with the light shining on me, warming my heart and my soul. This Christmas allow me to share the light of Your Son, our gifted Savior, with the world. Amen