Merry Christmas!
Greetings in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:7)
God created this world, and He was really pleased with His creation. Bible tells “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31a) Among all His creations, He made us special. He created us in His image and His likeness. He also let us to rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. What a blessing that we received! God was with us, and we were with God in His Garden — the Garden of Eden, and we enjoyed the blessed relationship with God.
However, this relationship did not last long. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and the fall came in. Since then, sins rule over us, and we have been enslaved by sins. Immediately after the fall, Cain killed his brother, Abel mere out of jealousy. Then Cain lied about his terrible sin of killing his own brother. The sinfulness of our human hearts continued tale spinning while being wrapped around greed, jealousy, and simply wickedness in our hearts. The initial fall, thus, could not be contained, but it was accelerating to a point of a complete crash into a bottomless pit. The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6)
The wickedness of humans broke His heart. Additionally, there was no sign that the wickedness ever stops. Even so, this did not deter our God, who is full of love, mercy and grace toward us. Neither the floor of Noah nor a sacrificial lamb could be restored us. All humanity continued marching toward the complete destruction and condemnation.
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a), which is implicitly known to us because our hearts tell this. However, we have been continuously denying this. Although we have goodness in heart, the force of our sinfulness in us is so strong that it has been eclipsing our desire to be good. Apostle Paul shared this struggle:
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (Romans 7:21-24)
I believe that all of you, like Apostle Paul and me, have experienced this terrible struggle rather ofen. In fact, the power of sin is so strong that nobody could resist by one’s own strength and will power. If we did, the world would been a totally different place. We could have lived in a paradise, where love and peace would prevail without any sins and darkness at all. Of course, our world is nothing like a paradise. Yes, our heart desires, but it is impossible for us to create a paradise on earth by our own might.
Our God, who are merciful and full of grace and love, has His salvation plan for us to save out of this misery.
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. … Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12, 18-19)
God’s salvation plan is to revert the Adam’s sin bringing death and continuously spreading to everyone by sending His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ making Him to take all of our sins instead. That is, God made Jesus Christ paid all wages of all our sins, which means sacrificed Jesus Christ on cross as the atonement of our sins. Why? Only could He be the ultimate sacrifice because He had no sin at all. If a person dies for his own sin, it does not do anything to sins of others. However, the death of sinless Jesus Christ could forgive all our sins. This is the most amazing truth that we know and have. Only is the catch we have to believe this. Specifically, this means that we have to accept Jesus Christ as our savior. If we believe, through Him, we are completely forgiven and free from all our sins. The age-old heart quest of returning to the original paradise is now completed as soon as we believe this truth, i.e., the Gospel.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
On the Christmas day, Our Savior was born. Let us rejoice and be glad. Sing praise to God. Let’s join the angels, who praise at the birth of Jesus Christ:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2: 14)