Kids love playing in the snow! Mixing fresh snow with what’s already on the ground for good snowballs is not uncommon. So scenic it is to see a field completely blanketed in snow and maybe a small cabin in the distance flanked by a few withered-looking trees. There’s a peaceful-quiet resting upon the land. Silence hushes over the scene. Like a silent movie, kids can be seen moving about chasing, jumping, diving, throwing, etc. looking like silhouettes against a blinding backdrop of the white, powdery stuff.
Our lives are quite the opposite: noisy, sometimes loud, hectic, stressful, and for sure, filthy, blotched with the stain of sin. A stain that cannot be removed by any effort known to man. Not even Ivory Soap with 99 44/100% potency could get the job done. God, however, has known for all eternity that only one stain-remover is “Highly” recommended: Jesus’ shed blood. How can blood remove sin? you might ask. How can something red remove filth? His shed blood covered all of humanity’s sins. His sacrificial love for you wiped away your penalties. He’s made you clean & whole. Jesus says, “Come, let us reason together, though your sins be red as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Picture that scene again. God’s grace upon your life is like a field blanketed in fresh-dropped snow; virgin snow-not a footprint in. It’s ready for fun. It’s ready for new experiences. Dive in, leave your footprints. Bask in the stillness, lay on your back and feel those flurries falling on your face. Enjoy the peace that only The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) can give. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Make this Christmas not a Santa, reindeer, and elf-place, but a Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit-¬¬place. As great as commercial Christmas is with all the colors and décor, the true meaning lies elsewhere: The birth of a Savior, Jesus, Emmanuel-God with us.
Merry Christmas!!
God Bless,
Sam
