Many years ago, while working at a hospital in the insurance verification department, I was eating my lunch at my desk. I was “the insurance verification department” and the office was my own. So, I was afforded the luxury of having a private lunch at my desk in total solitude for the time allotted. Christmas had already passed with now having entered several months into the new year. During the Christmas season I brought a miniature (very miniature) single piece, plastic nativity scene to the office, which I placed in the back center of my desk so that I would have something to see every day to remind me of the season we were celebrating. I also wanted it there as a witness to my faith in Jesus and God’s plan for the ages, should any see it on my desk.
Well, as I said, Christmas came and went, but my little plastic nativity didn’t. I decided to leave it there on my desk all year because, as we all know, the message of Christmas wasn’t just for Christmas – it was for all year, every year, until time is no longer. Sitting at my desk on that day, eating my lunch, I stared at that nativity and felt drawn into it in my thoughts. I thought about the story it portrayed: God sent His son Jesus to our world to be born as a baby to grow up, to die on a cross for all of us. And all we have to do is believe He died for me and I’ll go to heaven for eternity and live happily ever after! I don’t have to do anything else!!!
The more I thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed. God, the God of the universe(s), who lives in heaven in the North, prepared and sent a child (His child) to our Earth to make the way clear for us to know and have fellowship with this God, and all we have to do is say “yes” to His sacrifice and gift of love and forever be rewarded with living with Him in heaven! Again, I say, it sounds like a fairy tale. It’s so simple, and SO AMAZING! I could see how this seems like a child’s wish or fairy tale to anyone who hasn’t come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus.
It’s not complicated. It is so child-like. It is so simple. But no matter how “unreal” it may seem, it’s true. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!” There it is – right there in the Bible. And this is the message of Christmas. Receive the newborn King, and “we all will live happily ever after” – just like the fairy tale says. BUT IT IS NOT A FAIRY TALE!
As we come to this Christmas day, let us never forget – God sent His gift of love to you; Jesus came to earth for you; and as a result of God’s gift and Christ’s willingness to come, the miracle-working power of God’s Holy Spirit abides with you and me forever! What a message! What a living reality!! What a Savior!!!
Merry Christmas everyone! May this Christmas season be filled with God’s presence and His peace which surpasses all understanding.
With Our Love,
Ken and Mary Anne
Heartgate International Ministries 