Where do you find our Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love?
Greetings in Christ!
We rejoice as Christians and bask in the bright glow of the season. A Christmas season that reminds us of the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love that Jesus brings to us. Emotions in our walk with God that reinforce why God came to earth in the form of a baby.
Not just any baby, but a baby born of a virgin birth, to a betrothed couple over two thousand years ago. A couple, in love and before the marriage could even become blessed, were informed by the Archangel Gabriel, she would deliver God’s Son. Not only would this child be the Son of God, but this child would become a great gift of Love to the world. A gift of redemption for all who come to know and believe in Him.
His Love so powerful, strong, and pure, it radiates in the form of a Bright Light. A Light so intense that darkness will never overpower it. An eternal Light that defeated everything the world has tried to become. The pride of mankind automatically forgiven, to all who come to believe in this Light of Love.
What is Love? We know it is an emotion given to us from God. But why would God give us something so powerful, and at times so painful? Because God is nothing but Love, Purity, and Light. God’s original order for us included knowing only the Purity of His Love. A gift that brings us blissful peace between God and one another. God’s Will for us puts Love at the heart of all our relationships and Love only hurts because of its goodness and purity. When we lose any one of those qualities, love brings with it pain and suffering. The fear and suffering are reminders of what we have lost, or could lose. Love is a reminder from God of something that is only good.
As Christians, we get to experience a sample of what heaven is like here on earth. We see small glimpses of that heaven in others and are reminded, that Love conquers all things. Paul reminds us of the power Love has in 1 Corinthians 13. But we forget and overlook the power Love has over everything in this world. The darkness we face daily works to draw us away, because darkness wants to keep us from the Pure bliss and the Light that Love brings us.
You see, darkness and evil are working overtime and are trying to pull us backward away from the Light. The entire Bible is a story of deliverance for all who choose to become unchained from the slavery darkness controls. Chains that bind us in our thoughts and those thoughts want nothing more than to control our lives. Thoughts that keep us from the freedom that only Love brings us. The true Hope, Peace, and Joy which abound from Love. A happiness that flows throughout all our relationships, because Love dictates and conquers all. Love shatters our fears and keeps those chains unshackled and broken. The chains long to keep us in slavery and that slavery is meant, to remove us from the very reason God came to this earth. To deliver Pure blissful Love that only forgiveness brings and comes from a Loving God. His Love saturates and overflows into the remaining portions of our lives.
John 3:17 reminds us that Jesus was born not to condemn, but to save. The world and evil instill in us those thoughts of fear and condemnation, Not God, Not Jesus, Not the Holy Spirit! I pray this Christmas season you can remember Love conquers All, in everything you experience and do. Love keeps you moving forward instead of trapping you, trying to take you backward in your life. May this Christmas you learn to live and trust in the Light of Love, that little baby boy born so long ago. “Love came down at Christmas,” so you may live your life in the power of that Love, and the freedom that it brings. And, “To save us all from Satan’s power when we have gone astray.”
Merry Christmas and God’s continued blessings for you and your family.
Pastor Kurt