LIFE AND DEATH AT CHRISTMAS
“The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly”. -John 10:10
“The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly”. -John 10:10
Each year at this time I mark the anniversary of my
mother’s death, though she died at the end of the month of November in 1989 it
was the beginning of the Christmas season, yes even in Panama. At this time of
year I allow myself to think back from of the time with her migrating to the U.S.
in 1956 to her death. Of all the ups and down during her life time.
Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more
pointedly than before. Don’t block it out. Allow it to come. Feel it. What is
love for, if not to intensify our affections – both in life and death? But don’t be bitter, it is tragically self-destructive to be bitter.
Jesus came that we might have eternal life. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
(John 10:10). Some of you may not be sure where you will spend your final
years, others do. Again, Jesus came that all may know that their final home
can be with the Lord.
Do you feel restless for home? Do you feel restless
and not sure why? It feels good when a family travels home, to that homecoming
for the holidays. I believe that that the bottom line reason for this
restlessness is a deep desire for that ultimate Homecoming. “He hath made
everything beautiful in its time: also He hath set eternity in their heart, yet
so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even
to the end”
(Eccl. 3:11). All others are a
foretaste. Foretastes are good.
They are good unless they become substitutes. Don’t let all the sweet things of the season
become substitutes of the final great all-satisfying Sweetness. Let every loss
and every delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven.
What then is Christmas? It is this: “I
came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. Make your Now the richer and deeper this
Christmas by drinking at the fountain of Forever. It is so near.
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