Wednesday, December 6, 2017

NO CHRISTMAS...NO ANYTHING...WITHOUT JESUS



Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

He is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the Beginning and the Firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

Colossians 1:15-23a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Christmas is on the horizon once again, the day we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that should be our main focus today and every day leading up to this special holiday.

Not shopping, parties, gifts, decorated trees, or lavish holiday dinners where we host family and friends.

Only Jesus.

Why?

Because everything else, every perfect gift we could ever ask for, comes a result of Him. We know this because we have today’s wonderful scripture passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse that spells it out clearly to us, a passage that shows all that there would be no Christmas (or anything else for that matter) if it weren’t for Jesus.

For we read where Jesus, and only Jesus, is “before all things and in Him all things hold together”. He is the Beginning and has supremacy over everything, including Christmas.

Scripture also tells us this Jesus is the “Image of the invisible God”. In other words, God couldn’t be seen but His Son Jesus, who was just like His Father, walked among man in the flesh. He was fully God and fully man at the same time, Emmanuel, God with us. Indeed, God, Jesus’ Father, “was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross”.

Because of this truth, we not only celebrate Christ’s coming but also what is yet to come with Him, His future crucifixion and resurrection where He willingly sacrificed Himself to pay the price for our sins and then defeated death to join His Father in Heaven and provide us the opportunity to do so too.

All we need to do is simply believe and trust in Jesus as our Savior.

Truly, Jesus saved us. For before Him, we were “alienated from God and were enemies…because of…evil behavior”. But with the coming of the Savior, a coming we will celebrate in just under two weeks, we would be “reconciled…by (His) physical body through death” as He presented us “holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation”. In other words, through Jesus, those who “continue in…faith, established and firm…not moved from the hope held out in the gospel” will be justified by Christ. They will be made just as if they had never sinned, for there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)

Friends, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus, the greatest gift ever given because it was an eternal, heavenly, holy Gift of hope and salvation from God, a Son who was the “Firstborn over all creation”. No other one has been born to rule over man since and there will never be another to come. Jesus has been given all authority over heaven and earth by His Father (Matthew 28:18).

Jesus was no ordinary child. Not by a long shot. He was born the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace, the Head of the body which is the church. There was no child ever born like Him and there hasn’t been one since.

And this is why we should do nothing short of worship, praise, honor and love Him, not just during this special holiday celebration but always and forever. For we would have no Christmas, no anything, without Jesus, our gift from God, the One who is the reason for this wonderful Christmas season.

Let’s keep him at the center of it today and every other day we’re blessed with.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

No comments: