Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-11-01 / 11-12. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Christmas changes our world. But it should and it can. As we prepare once again to celebrate or commemorate the birth of Christ: Let’s explore how Christmas, not just the celebration of a holiday, but how Christmas itself will change our world if we’ll allow it to happen. Christmas will change my world by.........allowing me to experience genuine LOVE. The Bible tells us that God is love. We’ve all heard that said many, many times. The Apostle John wrote those words in his first letter to the believers in the Mediterranean world. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been bom of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. I John 4:7-8 (NIV) At Christmas we celebrate God becoming flesh, becoming a man so that he could free all men from the power and penalty of sin. God became a man because he loves us. He became a man so that he could show us the way to Him. In Christmas - God becoming man - we get to experience genuine love. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 (NIV) God loved us so much that he gave his Son, not to condemn us but to save us. That’s an amazing love. So how does knowing about the love that God has for me change my world? It doesn’t. Knowing about God’s love isn’t enough to change my world. I have to experience that love and I will never experience the love of God in Christmas unless I tmly believe in that love. Christmas changes my world by allowing me to experience genuine love. It also changes my world.......by providing me with lasting PEACE. The second way that Christmas changes my world is though providing me with lasting peace. Peace is something that all of us need and most of us don’t have. Most of us spend a great deal of time and energy pursuing peace, but very little time experiencing it. Decisions we have made and the actions we have taken in the past often haunt us. Our desire to have a better, more fulfilling life keeps us awake at night. Questions about what could have been or what should have been often plague our minds. We want to be fulfilled, satisfied, we want to be complete but we lack that completeness and as a result we lack peace. Rather than days filled with peace and confidence we find our days filled with stress and worry. Often that sensation is heightened at Christmas because we hear all about peace on earth but can’t find peace in our own lives. One of the great things about Christmas is that, if we truly accept in faith what God gave us, His Son, then we can experience peace.......Peace with GOD, Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5:1 Jesus; that baby bom in a bam and laid to rest in a manger, came so that we could have peace with God. Sin separates us from God. Sin puts us at odds with God but Jesus came in order to pay for our sins. He came in order to bring us forgiveness. His death upon the cross paid the penalty for our sins. Therefore, if we will accept his sacrifice and the forgiveness it provides, we are made right with God. When the relationship between man and God is fixed, we then experience peace with God. When you believe the Christmas story—the whole story, not just the part about the baby in the manger, but also the part about that baby growing up and dying on a cross to pay for your sins, the part about that baby-tumed-man rising from the grave and defeating sin and death - when you believe the Christmas story and accept God’s forgiveness you will experience peace with God. And when you experience peace with God you will also experience.. .Peace with OTHERS Let’s face it; we often don’t live at peace with others. We find that other people have a way of disturbing our peace and we never stop to consider that we tend to disturb the peace of others. Living at peace with others is hard work, but Christ calls us to do so nonetheless. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 So how does Christmas help me to experience peace with others? It relates to having a true understanding of Christmas. When I understand what Christmas is all about - God providing a way for me to be a peace with him -1 can choose to experience peace in my relationships. If God can forgive me and restore me to a right relationship with him after all I have done to violate his trust and love, if God can choose to be a peace with me, then I can choose to be a peace with others. I can learn to forgive them. I can learn to tolerate what it is about them that disturbs me. And when I choose to live at peace with others, I will be less inclined to disturb their peace as well. And when you find peace with another, You will also experience.. .Peace with Y OURSELF One of the great aspects of peace I get to experience because of Christmas is peace with myself. If you are like me, you may say to yourself, in a more honest moments, I don’t like myself much. I am too aware of my failings and my sin. But because of Christmas I can have peace with myself. Not because what I’ve done doesn’t matter, but because I am a new person in Christ. I can be a peace with myself, not because I’m such a great guy, but because in Christ I am a new creation. I’m not the same old mean, evil, hurtful, self-centered person I once was. In Christ I’m forgiven and I’m a new creation. That doesn’t mean I don’t have moments when I fail. But it does mean that, in Christ, those moments become the exception and not the rule. I am growing and becoming more than that I am today. I can be at peace with me because Christ is now working in me and renewing me daily. Christmas changes my world by allowing me to experience true love and by providing me with a lasting peace. Christmas also changes my world......by giving my life PURPOSE. Too many people aren’t living their lives. Too many people just exist. Too many people are moving day to day without any
