Baby Joel, born to live!

People sing blithely about Christmas, not even realising what the word “Christmas” means. The following explanation is from Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia……

Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning  “Christ’s  Mass“) is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christand a widely observed cultural holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by billions of people around the world.

 Have you ever stopped to think that although all babies are born to live, the only baby who was born to die was Jesus Christ? He came into the world for the express purpose of dying to take away mankind’s sin. The angel told this to Joseph, the husband of Mary, “You are to call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins”. (Matthew 1: 20-23)

Peter tells us that it is only by the precious blood of Jesus Christ that our sins can be taken away (1 Peter 1:18-21), and that this was determined before the world was even created, before man was brought into being to sin. God knew, and Jesus knew, exactly what it was going to cost to bring a people to Himself, yet man was still created as he is.

What is being free? A land bird is free in the air, and out of its environment in the water; a fish is free in the water and out of its depth on the beach. So we see that to be free we must be in our natural environment. For  a Christian this is to be in touch with the God we profess to belong to. We can only be free while walking in obedience to Him….. once we are walking without the Lord we are out of communion with Him and have no real peace.

Our conscience works overtime at first, and then gradually fades and stops working until some trouble comes into our lives and we are driven to seek God’s face once more. The wonderful thing is, that He is willing to take us up again and give us a second chance. Not only does He give us a second chance, but He also restores our opportunities of service to us and as we find the wings of communion with Him again, we are once more able to soar into our natural environment and be truly free!

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)