CCOG Newsletter

How many more gifts do you have to purchase? I have to force myself to stop buying things... seriously. There comes a point every year that I do not allow myself to go to the store or look on Amazon because I know that I will just keep buying things. I had already bought and wrapped gifts for Gracie, but just a few days ago, she sent me a wish list "just in case" I hadn't gotten her anything yet. And of course, I started getting things on the list (Don't tell her! It's a surprise:).

While this probably sounds silly or wasteful or excessive, our Father does the same for us. In the KJV, Psalm 68:19 says that God daily loads us with benefits. In other versions, it says that He daily carries our burdens. Either way, His blessings are given to us every day. Each morning His mercies are new. He provides for us and blesses us. Before we call, He is answering. Our Father knows our needs before we do, and He will supply them according to His riches that are in Christ.

“O holy night. The stars are brightly shining.

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.”

Every year, when I help my mom decorate the Christmas tree, “O Holy Night” is the first carol playing through the speakers. As a child, I loved the melody and the story. Now, I also appreciate the profound words that point to the heart of Christmas.

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”

These words tell us of our need for a Savior.

When our creative God set the universe into motion, the Bible says it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31, ESV). Humanity was the pinnacle of God’s creation, made in His image to reflect Him. We were made to flourish.

But Adam and Eve’s rebellion in Genesis 3 broke our relationship with God, and evil entered our world. Sin is now a part of our nature. I see the sin in my own life, in our communities, and in our world. Sin and its ripple effects are devastating. We died spiritually that day in the garden, and we need God’s intervention to bring us back to life.

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new glorious morn.”

But in the same chapter, in Genesis 3:15, God’s promises of redemption and restoration begin. Even as Adam and Eve turned from Him, He responded in love and hope. And this restoration will be a gift to us, not anything we can earn.

Jesus, our promised hope from God, suffered and died so we might have a restored relationship with God, be saved from our sins, and be made whole. Now we long for the day when the hurting world will be fully restored by the Messiah who was born in a manger.

This hope is the heart of Christmas — that we would remember and reflect on the hope we have because Jesus, God’s greatest gift, came to earth to save each of us. Now, you and I can experience joyful hope as we eagerly wait for God to fulfill His promise — for Jesus to return and restore humanity and our world to the goodness God intended from the start of creation.

Let the weary world rejoice.

Reflect

Where do you need God to intervene in your life right now? Where do you need the hope God offers? What hope can Immanuel, “God with us,” give you for the future? Pray and ask God to give you that hope today.

Pray

Father, the world is weary, and we long for hope. I confess the brokenness in my own heart, and I see the destruction of sin throughout the world. God, thank You that You have loved us so much that You sent Jesus into the world to save us. You are God with us. Thank You that because of Jesus, I can now have a relationship with You. Restore my hope. Restore the world.