Though the clock has just ticked 52 minutes past Christmas, Christmas isn’t yet over for those lingering just a bit longer…
Christmas — that’s His gift for us.
Here we breath our relief, here we find our grace, here we find His heart beating with kindness, longing with love just for us — just to us.
If you find yourself hurting tonight, confused and desperately waiting…
I just want to let you know:
He’s here – for you and I, whatever hard place we may find ourselves in.
You know, the Jews were waiting too — waiting for their coming King, waiting for the promised Saviour, waiting for their great Rescuer.
But it was four hundred years of the deadening quiet.
A quadricentennial of complete silence.
The span alone could make anyone quiver. That silence alone could cause anyone to give up hope.
The agony of the unknown can spin us around questioning:
Was God really there? Did God really care? Is faith a complete waste?
And we ask the same questions too. The pain of the unanswered could make us bleed.
Tonight somewhere my friend’s waiting for hope to break in tomorrow morning.
And we’re crying with her.
And here today, we too may find ourselves waiting.
Waiting for a breakthrough, waiting for a clear diagnosis, waiting for a long sought answer, waiting for some kind of solutions.
“Very soon He’s coming”, they were told. And they clutched to the promise.
And soon enough – not one second early nor late – He came.
A baby formed miraculously. A baby born in a manger. A baby born to a virgin.
A chaotic night in Bethlehem, down a slope on a hill, in a hut carved by the wind and the rain – the Saviour born to die the sins of our life.
And it is ridiculous. And it is unthinkable. And it is beyond our understanding.
And so is hope: it is ridiculous, it is unthinkable, it is beyond the natural.
And it is available to you and I.
Jesus – He’s the method to the madness in our world.
Jesus – He’s the Peace that soothes away our pain, silences our persecution.
Jesus – He’s the Hope for a world punctured out in fear.
Because He’s come, you can walk out in victory wrought.
This greatest gift could be the hope that we’ve forever been waiting for:
God is at Work in Our Waiting.
He is working while we’re waiting.
That Christmas Grace is Heaven invading our earth, that this baby born in a stable is our lifeline, our hopelife.
And so when you want to really savour a bit more of these gifts of Christmas, just tune in to this song below.
And may Christmas grace flow to you and your family…
Merry Merry Christmas, My Friend…