Christmas Eve

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.  And we are in him whom who is true- even in his Son Jesus Christ,  He is the true God and eternal life.  (1 John 5:20)

It is Christmas Eve- a time of great anticipation and the final countdown.  Maybe the relatives are coming.  Maybe the food has to cook.  Maybe it is time to get ready for church.  In some ways, Christmas Eve, for me, is more exciting than Christmas itself.  The great anticipation is even more exciting than the coming.  So waiting for the sun to come up- and when it first comes may seem more thrilling than when it is shining at noon day. 
The good news is that we don't have to do some liturgical pretense that Jesus has not come until Christmas Day 2019.  He has come and comes to us every day.  We are celebrating the greatest birthday for God became man.  He left his comfortable home for us- in utter humility.  While we wait, He has already come. 
Once I was waiting to meet someone at the airport I had never met.  He was a theologian of the first measure and was famous in Europe.  I was sent there by my professor to meet him and I held up a sign with his name.  I waited and waited, but his flight had arrived early (this was before cell phones and google abilities to check on flights), and he had already made his way to the seminary.   I was waiting on someone who had already come and was quite frustrated and impatient for nothing.  God has come and we can have peace. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you have come to light up my darkness 

12-30-14 1 John 5:20

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

Thoughts: Some ask, "Is it even possible with our limited minds and finite perspective, to know Almighty God?  The good news that we celebrate at Christmas is that God wants us to know Him and has come down in accommodation to us in order for us to be able to know Him.  This is more than knowing ABOUT God- but having a loving relationship with Him.  It is out of God's grace and love that He comes in order that we may know Him.  God sympathizes with and has mercy on our ignorance of Him.  Ignorance of God is not bliss.  Not knowing the One who made you and not caring whether you know Him or not means not only do you miss out on know His love, hope, meaning and direction in life;  It also means we miss out on God's design beyond this life.  For to turn away from His knowledge is to turn toward darkness and to love being lost rather than being found.
      I may not know my wife of 35 years fully and completely.  But what I know about her I know truly.  I trust that knowledge and rest in my love for her and her love for me.  We may not know all about God, but we know enough truth of God to make a difference.  Jesus came in order that we could know God better.  Isaiah 11 speaks of Christ's coming as a spreading of the knowledge of God- as the water covers the sea.  Today the knowledge of God through Christ has spread to every continent and nation.
     This verse also emphasizes two other important things.  God is true.  When Christ came, He brought not false hope but truth and real hope.  To not believe the truth of God by turning to our own pride is a sad state.  It is actually wanting eternal death over eternal life because we think we may know better.  What do we have to lose if we believe and follow Christ and it turns out not to be true?  We would have chosen to try to love neighbor better to serve others rather than ourselves.  But if Christ's hope is true and we have refused that hope to go our own way- we have lost God and we have lost eternal life both in this life and in eternity.
     Christ also calls us to be one with Him.  One with Him in family- adopting us as His children.  He calls us to be one in mind with Him.  He calls us to be one in love with Him.  We are in Him as we are in the air and the air is in us.  God comes that we may be one with Immanuel (a title for Christ which means God is with us).
     Christ comes to bring us understanding about the truth, about God, and about eternal life. He calls us to one with Him too. We can be slaves to ignorance or be set free by the truth of hope and eternal life. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming that i may know you and be one with you.