Happy last month of 2020 everyone!!! After a long and hard year, it's finally December, Advent has already started and Christmas will be here in 21 days. However, as with all celebrations, it's a busy and stressful time of year. You're trying to plan dinner, buy presents, decorate, find family time, work, and maintain other parts of you're daily lives. It can feel like a raging storm sometime, yet even now God offers hope, stability and peace. Isaiah 43:2 reads, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." At this point in Isaiah, God is reminding us that those who are faithful will not be swept away by the stresses of life or the flames of of adversity. God will always be there for us to keep us steady and He will not let us succumb to the weight of the world. Encouragement like this comes up all over in the Bible in both the old and new testament. Verses like 1 Peter 5:7, Psalms 34:17-18, Matthew 11:28-30, and Deuteronomy 31:8 are just a couple of examples of the many times God reminds us that He is there and ready to come to our rescue.
Around this time of year, the idea of being good also comes up a lot. We hear it all over the place. "Be good or Santa won't come," we tell kids, Christmas songs often mention it, as well as many other outlets of media. The second part of Isaiah, "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze" has another implication. From time to time, when the Bible talks about fire, it means punishment for going against what God says. However, due to our faith in Jesus, this kind of fire will not burn us. No Christmas song or story talks about the grace of God that is given to us in Jesus. The flames will not burn us because we are God's people that have been forgiven through Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-5 states, "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved" The flames cannot burn us because God was merciful to us and forgave us. So while the world may be trying to be good, we know that we will be saved no matter how badly we think we have sinned. This Christmas, remember that God is with you through this busy time of the year and that you have recieved the gift of forgiveness through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Remember, also, that Christmas is not about food, presents, or presence of family, it is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. Merry Christmas, everyone, God bless you.