Who is this Child?

This Christmas take time to discover exactly who Jesus is.

Who is this Child?

Predicted to be:

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

Is not “will be:”

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

The Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

The Father:

Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. John 12:44-45

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? John 14:9

God:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthian 4:4

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:3

Christmas isn’t the Only Reason I Love December

Although I do indeed love Christmas – the shopping for the perfect gift, the baking and the decorations all can set my heart aglow – my fondness for December goes beyond this. In my family we celebrate three birthdays in the month, mine is among them – but still that’s not why I love December.

I love December because it was the month in which, for the first time, I realized the full extent of God’s love for me. It was in December while I was contemplating suicide that I decided that turning my life over to God might be a good alternative. I’d heard the Gospel story that Jesus had died to pay for my sin and I could no longer pretend I wasn’t a sinner. I knew the depths of my depravity yet still I clung to my way of life. I didn’t want to change yet I did want to change. I wanted to be the girl I once was, full of laughter and fun. So in my bedroom on South Magnolia Drive in Mentor, Ohio I told God that if He could do anything with my life He was welcome to it. 

I know lots of people feel an instantaneous relief when they do this – I did not. There were no fireworks going off, no sense of something different at all yet slowly I began to change. I developed an insatiable desire to read the Bible. I scoured the New Testament to learn about who Jesus really was and what He expected of me. What I saw there disheartened my because I knew that I couldn’t live up to God’s standards – I mean it said that I should be holy and perfect like God. Who can do that? So I went to Rev. Bill Worman and he slapped his knee and said, “Praise God, you’ve got it!” I just looked at him with my jaw open until he explained. He said, “Jill, if you could be good enough for God, Jesus would not have had to die for you.” 

Then the weight fell off my shoulders, then I understood – there isn’t anything any human being can do to meet God’s expectations. Billy Graham, the Pope, Mother Teresa and I all had to come to God humbly and accept the sacrifice freely offered by him.

This started my adventure into a life lived for the one who died for me. I still live a rather common life but in service to an uncommon Savior it takes on so many new dimensions. He created me to do good works before the creation of the world. I don’t do these works to gain heaven – heaven is the gift he gave me long ago. But I live my life to please Him and He prompts me to do AWESOME things that reflect who He is. This brings an unbelievable satisfaction to me.

It amuses me greatly that those who know me now won’t believe me when I tell them the type of person I was before coming to Christ. He has transformed me beyond my wildest dreams and chooses to use me for His Glory. 

If you need transformation, if you hate what you’ve become, reach out to Him. He’s waiting for you just like the father of the prodigal son in Luke 15. He looks at you with love in His eyes and longs to have you in his household.  And if you choose to come there will be rejoicing in heaven.

Merry Christmas!

Jill

EVIL

Max Lucado posted this prayer in response to the Sandy Hook masacre:

Dear Jesus,
It's a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.
These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.
The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?
Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod's jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won't you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.
This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your Children

This got me thinking about what Jesus said about evil. Here is what I found:

Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 6:13

¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

Matthew 7:11

¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Mt. 7:21-23, Luke 13:27

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matthew 12:34-35

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21, Luke 6:45

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Luke 11:13

¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 18:9-14

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

John 3:19-20

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

John 17:15

¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

 
Today  I plan of spending some time meditating on these Scriptures, I challenge you to do the same.