Merry Christmas
May you be reminded that Christmas is not about you. It's not about giving gifts. It's not necessarily about family or friends. It's about remembering the fact that Jesus Christ came down into humanity to take on flesh, and to save the world from hell.
He lowered himself to save us from eternal damnation, knowing that eventually he would die a terrible death on the cross for all mankind. Without the humanity of Christ as a child born in a manger to Joseph and Mary, we would not have an example of who we are to imitate here on earth. Without the deity of Christ as a child born to Mary and Joseph, we would not have salvation that is offered only by God through Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
a reminder
Many of you are doing life 90 miles per hour. And what I mean by that is you are filling your life with things that aren't necessarily bad, but rather, a lot of good things. At this point in life, you may be feeling swamped with things that just don't seem to leave you, like schoolwork (which is where I'm at right now). I beg you and remind you to:
Remember Christ.
Too many times, we allow ourselves to do many good things for Jesus, like attending worship services more than on Sunday mornings, participating in bible studies, doing visitation, and going to group prayers at church, but we miss the point behind it all. It's Christ. Or maybe, at times, I miss the point as to why I do all that I do. Either way, I pray that you will be drawn to God's face in all times, good and bad, and you would avoid filling your lives with anything less than Christ and his Love for people.
Now go love people and love Christ, and never forget the forgiveness that Jesus pours out into the hearts of the broken.
Trail of Crumbs
Tonight was great. I went to the weekly college service at the Church I attend, Bayleaf Baptist Church. We had a prayer night, and it was much needed, not just for the body of believers in the college, but for me as well. God spoke through the prayers of plenty tonight. But what stuck out to me was the final song that we sang to wrap up the atmosphere of prayer.
Derek Webb is an amazing musician. He says what's on his heart in every single song he composes. A certain song, "Take to the World," was the song that we sang tonight. This song was a reminder to the college group at church to take the Gospel of Christ to our culture here in Raleigh. One of the lines in the song stood out to me,
may the bread on your tongue
leave a trail of crumbs
to lead the hungry back to the place that you are from
The bread on one's tongue is the Love of Christ that shines through a body of sin. The trail of crumbs are the actions we take in Love to a lost world. The place that you are from is talking about the Cross of Christ where the pure definition of Love came from. These words that Webb composed spoke deep to my closely-held beliefs of Love and the role of it in our lives. The greatest commandment is to Love God with everything we are and to Love others in the same way Christ loved his bride, the church. If the love that is shown to the world is not of ourselves, but of Christ, we will leave a trail of love that will allow for non-believers to delve into the idea of Love.
Jesus Christ said that he is the bread of life, and that anyone who eats of him will never go hungry. The world we live in is hungry for Christ. May we, as followers of Christ, leave trails of Love for a World that is famished, so that the Bread of Life will fill up empty souls.
