Believe

I look around me and see others plodding along through life feeling empty, while wearing a mask of happiness. I see those people that are successful, according to the American culture and appear to have peace in their lives, but I know that on the inside they are searching for something. Case in point would be Tiger Woods these past few days. Who would have thought that Tiger Woods had all of that dirty laundry in his life? A better question might be, Why did Tiger Woods have all of that dirty laundry in his life? If we look at him he was a millionaire many times over, with all the homes, cars, and stuff that anyone would have a desire for. He was married to a model for a wife with two beautiful young children. So what did he NOT have? Now I do not know Tiger's heart so I will not judge him, however; I would guess that he is lacking a relationship with Jesus Christ that brings true joy, peace and happiness to life.

I often wonder what life must be like without Jesus. It seems to me that Hopeless would be the answer, and that is frightening to think about. I attended a funeral a while back of a man that was lost. Those around that man knew he was lost because he often proclaimed a verbal denial of Christ and his resurrection. That was the most depressing and hopeless funeral I had ever attended. What hope is there if you know your loved one is in hell? I see a world all around me that desperately needs Christ and the real hope that He alone can provide. Jesus is the answer to all of the worlds problems without exception.

Jesus is an amazing gift that God has given us. I've been pondering lately the sacrifice Jesus made for mankind's sins. In the old testament before we had Christ believers had to have a substitute for the punishment they deserve for sin. We all have sinned and fail to reach the requirement for entering into the presence of God. Just one sin is enough to condemn us to death. It doesn't matter that we have lived our life mostly good, but instead it matter that we have done wrong in the sight of the creator God. Sin is anything that goes against the nature of God. For Example when we lie, we are committing an act that is in direct opposition to the nature of God. God is absolute truth and has no lie in Him. God cannot be in the presence of a being that is in direct opposition to His nature. Therefore we must pay the price and that is eternal punishment away from God. Before Christ a perfect Lamb was used as a sacrifice and substitution for the punishment we deserve. That lamb was killed and burned so that the sins could be forgiven of the person sacrificing it. It must have been a horrible site to see all of that blood and pain to cleanse the sinner.

God made a better way for us. A young lady named Mary, a descendant of David, was visited by the angel Gabriel. She was told that she would have a child even though she was still a virgin. She was going to have the Son of God, through a miracle. I wonder if she was scared since she was engaged to be married to Joseph and could have been abandoned or stoned to death. She was protected by God Joseph did not abandon her. now imagine that you are nine months pregnant with your first child and you have been ordered to go to a town 80 miles away for a census on a donkey. Nazareth is about 80 miles from Bethlehem. I have two kids and I don't think my wife would have enjoyed that ride at all. When they finally made it to Bethlehem all the hotels were booked up since people from all around were in town for the census. They found one innkeeper to let them stay in the barn for the night. Have any of you been in a barn lately? A barn is full of dusty straw, smelly animals, mice, bugs, and any number of unsanitary things since the animals eat sleep and poop there. Not a place that I would have chosen to have a child. But, God was with Mary and Joseph and she gave birth with no recorded problems and swaddled him up and laid him down to sleep in the manger. I cannot even imagine what Mary and Joseph must have been thinking, giving birth that night. How scary for two people traveling away from home and neither of them had even been to medical school. Then as if that wasn't enough after Jesus was born shepherds showed up telling you a grand story of how the whole sky opened up with angels singing to the new born King. What a night that must have been. Do you ever wonder what Mary thought when she looked into the eyes of her baby that was conceived by God? Did she know that her Son was to be the Lamb sacrifice for all humanity for all time past, present, and future?

There was a miracle that night in that stable in the small town of Bethlehem. God has provided a way of redemption for us through the Lamb of God. That is what Christmas is all about. We don't have to be lonely, empty, lost. We can have a peace that our sins are forgiven, and a peace from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God provided the lamb, all we have to do is believe.