Unto us a child is born

Christmas comes two weeks from today. We look forward with joy to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to hear the Angel announce the good news to the shepherds “And unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, Christ the Lord.”

Whether it’s Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the message is the same, the joy is there but that is two weeks from today, there is time to prepare our hearts and minds for that celebration. There is a correlation between preparation and celebration. The deeper the preparation, the greater the celebration.

The gift comes from God, help in preparation also comes from God in the words of Luke 3:8 “Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.”

Since Jesus was born to save us from our sins, we need to consider our sin as a serious matter. The salvation from sin required the death of the Son of God! So it takes more than a shrug of the shoulder, a raised eyebrow, a rolling of the eyes, a cavalier “it is what it is.” Sin has the capability of bringing death, eternal death, eternal separation from God in utter darkness, contempt and shame.

In all seriousness then repentance means more than a murmured “I am sorry,” repentance means an honest look at my life in the light of God’s law. Have I loved God with all of my heart and soul and might and mind? All the time? Have I loved my neighbor as myself? Have I done the good I could have done, spoken the kind word? Absent a confident “yes” to every question there’s only one answer: “I need a savior”.

The good news of Christmas is that He has been born! And He rose again from the dead to declare forgiveness to each one of us. That makes it possible for us to bring forth the fruits of repentance: to love God sincerely, willingly, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and do the good that we can even though it means denying our wishes to do things for ourselves.

Celebrate Christmas exuberantly because your repentance was honestly remorseful and that has led you to do a lot of good for a lot of people.

Elmer Schiefer
Pastor, Family of Christ Lutheran Church
elmer@myglobalemail.com
573-529-0584