Not Just Another Christmas
‘For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
We once again enter the season of Advent, a time where we are all invited to prepare our hearts and reflect on the incarnation of Christ. It’s easy to let this season pass us without considering the wonder of Christ’s coming to the world. We can forget the power and hope Christ brings into our world. How He reveals the true heart our Heavenly Father has for the world. I have a few reflections for us to consider as we head towards Christmas.
1. Christ’s incarnation reveals God’s love for a sinful humanity
God sent Christ not as an agent of judgement but of love. This fact alone ought to enliven the joy of our hearts. That our Heavenly Father sees the worst of our hearts but chose to send Jesus as an emissary of love. Christ reminds us that our father has affection for you, hope for you, purpose for you.
If you are in need of God’s hope in your life today, reach out in prayer to Him, for Christ’s birth affirms once and for all that God loves His children.
2. Christ’s incarnation reveals the imminent nature of God’s interaction with humanity
God’s love for humanity in Christ is not distant or abstract. For the incarnation of Christ is real, physical and present. Christ wasn’t to save us sitting in the heavens above or redeem us with a new philosophy. Jesus lived among humans, died among humans and rose to life with a human body. God’s love for us is present in the very world we are living in.
Are you in need of the presence of God? Through Christ, God has been made imminent to you through His Word. Pick up scripture and read, and find the wonder of God’s presence in your life again.
3. Christ’s incarnation gives us hope
Christmas also gives us the purpose of God’s sending of His Son. It is to give us an eternal hope. Human hope is short term and destined to fall apart, despite its promises. Governments fall, Empires end and philosophies become old and forgotten. But life in Christ reigns eternal and averts the perishing fate all of us share.
What is your hope? Is it in something temporal or eternal.
In this Christmas season, can I invite you to not simply treat it as ‘another December’, but to truly reflect on the wonder this season brings, not in spectacle or gifts but in the sending of Christ, the son of God.
May God be with you and your family this season.
不僅僅是另一個聖誕節
「神愛世人，甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信他的，不致滅亡，反得永生。」
我們再次進入將臨期 —— 一個接受邀請去預備好我們自己的心，並反思基督道成肉身的時候。我們很容易就讓這節期流逝，而沒有去思考基督降世的奇妙。我們會忘記基督為世人帶來的能力與盼望。祂是如何表達了我們的天父對世人真正的心意。當我們迎向聖誕節時，我有一些反思可給大家作參考。
(一) 基督道成肉身表示了神對有罪的人類之愛
神差遣基督來，不是要作審判者，而是為了愛。僅憑這一個事實已叫我們內心歡欣雀躍。 我們的天父看到我們內心最壞的一面，但卻選擇差遣耶穌作愛的使者。 基督提醒我們，我們的父親給予我們慈愛、盼望和目標。
若今天在你的生活中，你需要神給予你盼望，那就向祂禱告吧！因為基督的誕生清楚表明神是愛祂的孩子的。
(二) 基督道成肉身揭示了神與人類互動的臨在性
神在基督裡對人類的愛不是遙遠或抽象的。因基督道成肉身是真實的、有形體的和存在的。基督不是要坐在天上拯救我們，也不是要用一種新的哲學來救贖我們。耶穌住在人群中間，死在人群之中，又帶着人的身體復活，神對我們的愛是切實存在於我們生活的世界中。
你需要神的同在嗎？藉着基督，神已經透過祂的話語明明的向你顯現。拿起經文去閱讀吧！並再次去發現神在你生命中臨在的奇妙。
(三) 基督道成肉身給予我們盼望
聖誕節也帶給我們神差遣祂兒子的目的，就是給我們一個永恆的盼望。人的希望是短暫的，儘管有承諾，但也註定會破滅。政府會垮臺，帝國會終結，哲學也會變得陳舊和被遺忘。但有基督掌權的生命是永恒的，並扭轉我們所有人一同滅亡的厄運。
你所盼望的是什麼？是短暫、還是永恒的?
在這個聖誕的季節，容我請你不要只是把它當作“又一個十二月”，而是切實地去反思這個節期帶來的奇妙，不是奇觀或是禮物，而是神差遣祂的兒子——基督。
願神在這個節期與你和你的家人同在。
