Tuesday December 4, 2018

It has been said that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Yet for many it can be the most stressful and unjust time of the year because it is also the time when you may have to come face to face with people who have hurt or harmed you. Like the ex-spouse who shows up at the Christmas party and to make matters worse, shows up with their new spouse. Maybe you were planning on attending a Christmas party but you found out that there are people attending who have wronged you so you decide instead to stay home. Then there are the people who are upset with you and who feel that you have harmed them. It is actually the stress and the mess that makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1: 14 NIV

When God sent Jesus into the world it caught everyone by surprise because he was nothing like people imagined him to be. Most expected Jesus to come full of justice and truth, or perhaps judgment and truth. But no one expected him to come full of grace and truth, that would be an oxymoron. While we are on the subject of truth, many people have failed you but truth be told, we have all failed God. The truth is that we ignored him and kept him at a distance and made promises we did not keep. But glory be to God that he did not send his son Jesus into the world to seek justice and truth or judgment and truth, but rather to pour out his grace. Because on the other hand, the truth is that it was not fair for Jesus to die because of our sins but he did so anyway. Because even though he came full of truth, the truth proves that we are all imperfect people. Jesus also came full of grace, the grace that does not ignore our sins but that forgives us and cleanses us from them.

Grace is what makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year because without grace there would only be justice and truth. The justice and truth that would condemn the people who have wronged us and that would also condemn us for the wrong we have done to others, and more importantly that would condemn us all for sinning against God. What is interesting is that grace is God’s gift to the entire world but it is not for everyone; grace is only for those who are guilty. I don’t know about you, (actually I do), but I have sinned against God and I have hurt people. But I thank God that he did not send Jesus into the world full of justice and truth but rather full of grace and truth.