Grace Was Born on Christmas

Early one morning, I lay in bed recounting some of my past sins, too numerous to remember them all, and asking for forgiveness.   I’m sure I just scrapped the surface and it made me realize just how sinful life can be.  It hurt to realize how much I hurt God and others.  Asking for and receiving forgiveness seemed too slight a price to pay for all that.   Reading 1 John 8-10 we are told, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”  I know what Jesus did for me.  And in no way will I deny my past and make Him out to be a liar.  I am a sinner, and I need all the grace I can get.

Sin is like a thorn in our side.  One, because it happens no matter how hard we try not to.  Two, because sins of the past can linger into our present day.  The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10, “He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” … Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  Jesus loves us.  And it’s because of that love we can be assured we are covered.  When He gave up His life on the cross and rose from the grave, He covered my past, present, and future sins and yours.  Satan doesn’t want us to believe that.  Earlier in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, the Apostle Paul informed us that he had been called up to the third heaven.  There, God revealed some revelations to him that he could have boasted about but wouldn’t.  Then to keep Paul from being proud, He was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming proud.  He begged God three times to take the thorn away, but God said His grace was sufficient.  Satan’s messengers are with us too but Jesus stands in the gap.

God’s grace is still sufficient for us today.  Though Satan may torment us, God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.  It is there He gets to display His awesome power.  He will bring us through.  Satan wants to pull us back into darkness, but the glorious light of Christ burns too bright.  Satan is defeated.  Jesus came to earth to die in our place.  He came to show the love of God the Father, to teach us how to live.  But God knew we couldn’t do it, so He sent Jesus to do it for us.  And when He rose from the grave, Satan and hell were defeated, finished, done.  Revelation 1:17-19 reads, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”   For all who believe He is who He says He is, and He did what He said He did, Jesus is our perfect gift every Christmas, and our perfect Savior every day.  John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”.  Grace, was born on Christmas.