HERE COMES CHRISTMAS!

Well, it is mid-November, but already we have seen John Lewis, Asda, and Lidl all bless us with their helpful advertisements to encourage us as the Christmas season draws near!

The suggestion from John Lewis is that it brings a moment of hope, of re-connection and friendship – which sounds very good!

Quite rightly let’s all remember this is a season of good will to all men (well, women and children too!), let’s  be kind to each other, not overspend, and, by the way, be aware of some gift ideas that might be within our budget!

This morning as I popped in to my local Aldi, my attention was taken by their advertisement banner – “Make Christmas Amazing!”

Oh, I thought it already was, and is, and always will be –  AMAZING!

Aldi seem to be telling me that it is my responsibility to make Christmas amazing!

However, I thought our Father God had already accomplished that when He gave the greatest and most undeserved gift to us all – in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus, the precious one and only Son of Father God was born as a baby in Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago, in the season we now call Christmas.  He left heaven and came to this earth to be our Saviour and reveal the heart of God.

I looked at the synonyms for ‘amazing’ and read words such as astonishing, astounding, stunning, staggering!   Those adjectives describe exactly how I feel about God’s gift to the world, to me.   It was actually in the Christmas season many years ago that I ‘opened’ His gift, finally realising I simply needed to pray, repenting of my sin and asking for His forgiveness.   I received His gift of new life and freedom from my past.

When we put our trust in the person of Jesus to forgive us our sins, (and those are the things that separate us from God), we are reconnected to our loving heavenly Father. He longs for an intimate relationship with us, He loves and accepts us unconditionally – what a gift!   His word tells me that I have a sure hope in Christ and He will never let me down.  Another amazing truth to think about – this gift is available for whoever and whenever, for everyone who trusts in Jesus for a brand new start in life.   Jesus is not just for Christmas!