Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas everyone! I pray this Christmas would be your best one yet.

God is so faithful, isn't He? This year Christmas sneaked up on me and my family and we spend the last two weeks preparing gifts and getting out our Christmas letters. But God's been so good to us. He's been teaching me so much lately... About Christmas and other things.

Have you ever thought about how detailed the birth of Jesus is? Look back at some of the prophecies in the Old Testament, then read the Christmas story in Luke AND Matthew. So many details! For instance, did you see that the star appeared at Jesus' birth, and then again about two years later when the wise men came? And it actually MOVED so that the wise men could follow it. That's just too cool.

But what I really want to focus on is why Jesus came to earth. Do you ever think about that? That He came to earth... to die a criminal's death as payment for OUR sins. All we have to do is receive it. That little baby boy we see in manger scenes represents Immanuel, God with us! He came here to give everything good to us - eternal life, healing, peace, restoration - while He died a horrible death. We didn't deserve it. Jesus, the only perfect human who ever lived died in our place because of LOVE for us. Can you imagine? For God so LOVED the world that He gave His one and only Son... Wow. That's so hard to wrap my mind around! Did you notice that He loved us while we were still sinners? God's love is unconditional. Nothing we do will make Him love us any less... or any more.

This Christmas, take time to thank God for what He's done. Not just a little, "Thank You." But really spend time thinking about what He did for you, and thank Him. Not only with words, but with actions. Determine to spread God's love through the way you treat people all year around, and not just during the month of December.

I pray you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Christmas reading suggestions:
Isaiah 9, 53, John 1, Luke 1-2; Matthew 1-2.

4 comments:

Danielle Diez - Maiden of Emmanuel said...

Hey! I'm Bookie. :) I found you through Araken's blog, and when I saw your username I was very interested in coming to say hello.
I play the violin as well :D --And I'm homeschooled, and I'm a Christian, and a bunch of other things in common. :D Well yeah... :P
Sorry for my randomness,
~Bookie

Violinist4Christ said...

Hi Bookie! That's great that you play the violin! How long have you been playing? I'm glad you stopped to say hello. :-) And be as random as you want (within reason). I don't mind. :-) Sorry I didn't see this earlier!

Danielle Diez - Maiden of Emmanuel said...

Hey, sorry I didn't respond back for a while. I forgot that I had commented for a moment....*whistles and looks away* :D
I've been playing for around 5 years? How long have you been playing??

Have a great week!
~Bookie

Violinist4Christ said...

That's all right. :)

I've been playing for almost exactly 5 years too! Do you enjoy the violin? What kind of music do you like playing on it?