Isaiah 9:2-6 (NIV) 2 The people walking
in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the
government will be on his shoulders. And he will
be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
As
we prepare for Christmas, I would like to remind us of two positive pressures
present in this season. These two pressures do not wear us down, but build us
up, do not leave us exhausted, but expectant.
The
first pressure this season presents is to remember the past. It is hard to make
it through this season without some fond remembrance, and would be almost
impossible, except “how easily we forget.” If we fail to remember, we soon are
left to the mercy of our whims. We force ourselves to make decisions and to
develop values without an adequate information base. We lack the wisdom of
others’ experiences to help us make the difficult decisions that face us
everyday. The past serves as a solid foundation to help understand the present,
to make decisions of faithfulness to God, and to receive His blessings. This is
not taking a good old days approach to the past. Rather, it is remembering what
is of first importance. Before sentimental memories of exaggerated good, before
remorseful memories of exaggerated hurt, we remember moments when God brought
His wisdom to our folly, His forgiveness to our hurt, His light to our
darkness, His security to our lostness, and His love to our callousness. May we
remember all the hardships we have endured, but remember also and first of all
that through it all God did not turn His face away from us.
The
second pressure of Christmas is to remember the promise of God’s future. If it
is hard for us to remember God’s steadfastness with us, it is equally hard to regularly
envision the future with hope and confidence. We easily lose sight of those
horizons of hope that God’s future promises us. When our lives become the
mistake of the moment, the defeat of the hour, the boredom of the day we miss
the point of life. When we lose sight of the future promised to us by God we
can feel trapped by a fixed fate from which there is no escape, or we can get
lost in the illusion of a “happily ever after” for which there is no end.
The
future God promises was fulfilled in the gift of His Son. In Christ God gives
the bread of satisfaction. He gives the horn of strength to face whatever lies
ahead. He gives the lamp that fills the darkness and emptiness of our life with
a light that neither evil nor death can ever extinguish. Christ comes again and
again to enable us to survive our life with hope and love.
From
a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope December 15, 1985
©
Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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