It’s the last day of Christmas. This evening is Twelfth Night, the last occasion for celebrating this joyous season. Somebody told me it’s bad luck to have a Christmas Tree up past New Years Day. What nonsense! We church people know different. That’s what I thought until I came to my church on a Saturday, January 4, to find that the Christmas tree was gone and the decorations removed by a well-meaning member of the congregation who thought it had been up long enough and it was time to get back to normal.
 

I love Christmas, so I try to make it last as long as possible. Most important is trying to keep the message alive all year long. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). The word “Savior” is important. It means someone who delivers us from dangers and distress. Jesus is the Savior who rescues people from sin and death. But the word “you” is also important. Jesus is your Savior. He gives you the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. It is one thing to thing of Jesus as a Savior is some broad, general sense, but something much more powerful to think of him as your very own Savior.

Don’t pack the living Jesus away with tiny figure in the nativity set. Keep him close to you. Ponder in your heart all that you have heard and experienced in this joyous time. And like the shepherds and wisemen, glorify God for all you have heard and seen.

Read Matthew 2:1-11 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne
Today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%202:1-11