My Hope For Christmas

It seems that despite all the Christmas talk about the Saviour coming into the world, I can subtly slip into viewing God wrongly. Sometimes, without even realizing it, I act as if the cross were fairly impotent, as if I was weighed down by the bondage of sin, and as if God were far from me or withholding good things from me.

I often feel the tension between being freed from sin, and yet still prone to it. The difficulty of living as part of the new creation, and yet in this sinful decaying body.

I know my tendency can be to become too focused on my sin. My pastor preached an excellent sermon the other week on John 17:20-26. He spoke of the character of the Father and that He would love us so much that he sent His very own Son to die, and how the victorious Christ even now prays for us.

Even in light of this, we sometimes tend to walk around defeated as if there were no victory in Christ. My pastor said something to the affect of, "Some Christians have a morbid fascination with their own sin."

This stuck me painfully as I saw my own error, but with that pain, incredible joy as I was reoriented to the wonderful truth of the gospel.

This morning I read Zephaniah 3:14-17.

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

I am amazed that this mighty, awesome God would rejoice and exalt over poor sinners. My hope for this Christmas is that I will be quieted by His love, trusting in the power and sufficiency of the cross, and that I will be able to truly rejoice over the "mighty one" who came to save.