He is always with us!

The promise of Christmas was spoken of 700 years before the birth of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The promise was spoken of through the Prophet Isaiah:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

The Gospel of Matthew also tells of the birth of Jesus:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."” (Matthew 1:23)

Right from the very beginning the promise was that Jesus would change everything and that God would be ‘with us.’ It is interesting that some of the last words Jesus spoke reiterate the reality that He would be with us. In Matthew 28 Jesus said:
“I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus’ time on this earth started with ‘God with us,’ and His time on the earth ended with ‘I am with you always, to the very end of time.’ This is a wonderful promise and a fearful promise. It is wonderful to know that no matter whether I’m on the mountain top of life or in the deepest valley of life He is with me. This is amazing, wonderful and so reassuring. It can’t get any better than that! The Creator of the Universe is always with you!

It is also a fearful promise because whatever is happening in my life, there He is. ‘I am with you always!’ This means in the midst of our bad attitude, our harsh words spoken, our unkind reactions, etc., He is ALWAYS there! There is nothing hidden from Him, not even our thoughts. There is nothing we say that He doesn’t know about. There is nothing we do that He doesn’t know about.

The Christmas Promise: He is always with us! The Christmas reality: He is always with us!

Giving Different At Christmas

The real meaning of Christmas so often gets buried under the peripheral celebrations of Christmas: the giving and receiving of gifts, the songs, baking and special meals, events and programs, church and social parties, etc. Somewhere in the midst of all the hoopla is the real meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is the celebration of God’s gift of Jesus Christ to the human race. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.” Christmas is a celebration of God’s greatest gift to us, not a celebration of gifts that we given or received.

Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas – that’s $450,000,000,000 - on Christmas gifts for each other! What percentage of that ends up in the garages, storage sheds and garage sales across America? Is all the gift giving about blessing others, or is it more from mixed up motives such as buying love, covering up guilt or showing off?

It is estimated that it would cost $10 billion – that’s $10,000,000,000 - to provide clean water around the world. So if Americans gave 2% less in total gift giving and instead gave it to groups that were working to provide clean water around the world, within a few years every person would be cooking, cleaning, bathing and drinking clean water. Just 2% less!

Please don’t think I’m trying to tell people where to give, how much to give or whether to give at all. My intent is to encourage each of us to think differently about how we celebrate God’s gift to humanity. Giving to someone who can’t do anything for you in return and who you will probably never meet will be the greatest gift you can give to celebrate Christmas.

I can’t give $10, 000,000,000, but I can give my 2%.