DIS-HONORABLE MENTION
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King!’ ” —Isaiah 52:7
The Good News of Christmas is: “A Savior has been born to you” (Lk 2:11). “Your Savior comes” (Is 62:11). “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us” (Ti 3:4-5). If Jesus had not been born, our future would be bleak, our present a desperate escape attempt, and our past an even heavier burden. If Jesus had not been born, fear, resentment and depression would reign supreme. If Jesus had not been born, we could not stand to live but would be afraid to die.
At Christmas midnight Mass, I looked at the congregation from my place behind the altar. One young girl was trapped in fornication. Two young men were in a homosexual perversion. A middle-aged man had destroyed his family through alcoholism. An elderly woman was mentally ill. A couple was talking divorce after thirty years of marriage. This was a sampling of the midnight Mass crowd. They desperately needed to be saved. Despite this, none of their fellow parishioners had told them about Jesus the Savior. They were given Christmas carols, Christmas presents, and holiday wishes, but Jesus was only given “honorable mention.”
Tell a broken world about Jesus this Christmas. Accept Him as Lord and Savior. “Christ our Savior is born!”
Prayer: Jesus, open my lips to tell a lost and hurting world about Your saving love for them.
Promise: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory: the glory of an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love.” —Jn 1:14
Praise: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with Child, and bear a Son, and shall name Him Immanuel” (Is 7:14). Merry Christmas!
