Jesus said, “I'll be with you… day after day after day,
right up to the end of the age.” – (Matthew 28.20, MSG)
Well, the lights are
down, the trees are gone, the decorations are put away for next season.
This past weekend, my
wife Kate and I took a drive to look at the Christmas lights on the houses
around our area. There were a good number of homes still adorned for the
holiday season. But many folks had already put away their decorations. Many more
will begin taking down their lights, wreaths, snowman, reindeer, etc. this
week.
But we know there will
be those who will not want to take down the festive lights right away – they
want to linger in the Christmas spirit. Some people won’t take down their
lights at all – it’s too complicated, or maybe it’s just too much work to take
them down and then put them up again. And some will want to leave the lights up
and on just because they like too. I’ve seen Christmas lights on in February
and March, then again in September and October, and a few homes lit up in the
middle of summer… Christmas in July?
Perhaps it’s just that
some of us don’t want Christmas to be just a day or a season – but every day,
all year round! Well, in some ways that’s right. Not necessarily leaving the
lights up and on all year but the idea of celebrating Jesus – 24 by 365! You see, some of us think
about Jesus mostly on special holidays, like Christmas or Easter. A lot of us
think of Him mainly on Sunday during our church gatherings. But He didn't come
to be our holiday Jesus or just our church Jesus. He may be the reason for the
season – but Jesus is not just a season of the year. The Jesus who is worthy of
our celebration every day won’t fit inside our Christmas box or religion box
(see Colossians 1.15-19; 2.9; John 1.1-3, 14; Hebrews 1.2-3; Revelation 1.8; 2
Chronicles 6.18). He came here to make possible an intimate love relationship
with Him that gives meaning to every day of our lives; not just to be a belief
or a religious compartment in our lives.
The event Jesus, the holiday Jesus, the
religious Jesus; they're just not enough to forgive your sin, to answer your
questions about the meaning of your life, to get you to heaven someday, or to satisfy
the deepest longings and yearnings of your soul. You've got to belong to Him
every day, not just visit Him occasionally. He told those who belong to Him: "Never will I leave you; never will I
forsake you" – (Hebrews 13.5; Deuteronomy 31.6) And a "never leave you… never forsake you”
relationship is the kind of anchor that our soul is hungering and thirsting
for.
Every relationship in our life is "loseable." People turn on us,
they dump us, they disappoint us, they divorce us, no matter how deep the
relationship – ultimately they die on us. That's why we can never really feel
safe in this world, until we anchor ourselves to the Savior who said, "He who comes to me I will never cast
out" – (John 6.37).
In our key Scripture
text found in Matthew 28.20, Jesus made the ironclad promise that He alone has
the power to keep, “You can be sure that I am always with you, to
the very end” – (NIRV)
What’s more, we have the promise that the love of Christ is enduring,
unfailing, everlasting – and nothing in all of God’s created universe can
separate us from His love – “Who can separate
us from Christ's love? Can trouble or hard times or harm or hunger? Can
nakedness or danger or war? It is
written, ‘Because of you, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be
killed.’ No! In all these things we will do even more than win! We owe it all
to Christ, who has loved us. I am
absolutely sure that not even death or life can separate us from God's love.
Not even angels or demons, the present or the future, or any powers can do
that. Not even the highest places
or the lowest, or anything else in all creation can do that. Nothing at all can
ever separate us from God's love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has
done.” – (Romans 8.35-39; Psalm 44.22,
NIRV)
Now, in a world of things and experiences
that are never-lasting, Jesus offers the only thing that is ever-lasting. He
tells us that, "whoever believes in
the Son (that's Jesus, the Son of God) has
eternal life" – (John 3.36). You see, you don't have to die to see if
you have eternal life. You have it when you put your faith and trust in Jesus.
The verse then gives the alternative: "Whoever
rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on Him." For
you and me, eternal life can begin here and now. Jesus said, “This is eternal life – that they may know
you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” – (John 17.3)
We had no chance with God until Jesus entered
our world... until He gave His life on the cross to take the rap for every
wrong thing we have ever done. We can't get anywhere near a holy God with our
sin. But Jesus took all our sin on Himself that day on the cross, so you could
be clean, so you could be forgiven, so you could be with Him forever.
Yes, the Christmas season provides a
wonderful time to reflect on God’s love and grace in sending His Son into the
world to save us. But Jesus is not just for Christmas, and He didn’t remain as
a baby. He’s the Savior and Lord and He loves you – that’s why He came. He
wants you to experience His love everyday – forever. Today, why not move beyond
a religion about Jesus – to this love relationship with Jesus that can be
celebrated 24x365. Move from just believing things about Jesus… from knowing of
Jesus – to really belonging to Jesus and enjoying Him … “day after day after day”!
“Day and night they
never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is,
and is to come… You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor
and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and
have their being.’ ”
– (Revelation 4.8, 11)
In a nutshell – in Him,
Web Shepherd
