When I speak I want to speak from His heart. When I look at someone I want to see them with His eyes. When I touch someone I want to touch them with His compassion. When I listen to someone I want to listen with a heart that has His understanding.

John Piper

“How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ‘tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.”

—

Benjamin Franklin

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Merry Christmas!

As a reader I have always dreamt of living in some other world—one where good versus evil supplies an action-packed story of peril and forbidden love, one infinitely more interesting than our own. In comparison to a world like that, ours seems dull and lackluster. Devoid of the adventure so many of us crave. But recently I realized that we do live in a world like that. We live in a world where there is a constant battle between guilt and grace with souls hanging in the balance. We live in a world where the Creator of the universe created each of us as a special character in His story, every one serving an unique purpose only He knows because He is the Writer. We live in a world where a loving Father sacrificed His only Son for the love of His creations, undeserving in nature, so that we would not be separated from Him forever. We live in a world where that Son willingly gave Himself for us and conquered death. We live in a world where evil has been conquered thanks to the love of our God. Angels and demons swarm, good and evil fight for the sacred space of our souls. We live in a world where God has crafted the most beautiful story ever known, and we so often overlook it. We live in a world where Jesus has given us the privilege of continuing His work of making heaven crowded during His absence. God has created us to serve a purpose in the greatest story ever told, and we so often take it for granted. But unlike the stories we read that are not threaded by His hand, His is a story we can never close the book on. His is a story where the perils are real and the wages of sin is death. Today let’s realize that God has masterfully woven us into the greatest story ever told, and that as His messengers playing a sacred role in that story, we should take it seriously.

“You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift.”

— John R. Rice