Hey
Partners and Friends,
Have
you ever thought about Christmas in terms of recovery?
Recovery
may not be the first word you think of when you are celebrating Christmas. But
it is definitely an important one. It really does relate. Think about this;
Noah
recovered from the flood. Joseph recovered from being betrayed and abandoned by
his own brothers, then sold into slavery, cast into prison, and he was falsely
accused of rape. David recovered from adultery and murder. Moses recovered from
anger. Mary recovered from the disgrace of being pregnant out of wedlock. Paul
recovered from being a murderer and persecutor of the church. Peter recovered
from betraying Christ. The disciples had to recover from abandoning Jesus. The
list is never ending.
Those
recoveries as radical and dramatic as they were, pale in comparison to the
incredible recovery of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! He demonstrated
recovery from all the sickness, disease, pain, sorrow, loss, abuse,
abandonment, ridicule, mockery, iniquity, hatred, evil, ugliness, lust,
arrogance, pride, immorality, SIN of the entire world and everyone in it. Jesus
purchased recovery for all of humanity! How utterly incredible is that? He took
on all of it. “But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa 53:5 KJ
He
came as a baby, He brought recovery, redemption and eternal life with Him! Maybe that’s why the angels proclaimed,
“Glory to God in the highest peace on earth good will toward men.” Maybe that’s why all the heavenly host
celebrated so exuberantly at His birth! That is definitely why you and I can
celebrate today. He took on Himself every wrong thing that has ever happened to
us and every wrong thing we have ever done, or left undone. He did that and it
killed Him. He gave Himself for us so we could be free. The point is this, if
Jesus could recover from the weight of all the sin of the world, if He could
recover from death and hell to live again, forever. Do you think there is
anything too hard for Him, anything that He cannot or will not help us recover
from? Jesus took on all the sin of the world, all of yours and mine and rose
from the grave. The birth of Christ was the promise of salvation, in the flesh,
for everyone that believes.
Surely
if Jesus could recover from all that, come out of the grave after taking on all
the sin of the world, surely He can and will enable you and I to get up from
our sin, our mess whatever that looks like and live a new life. Without the
birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ what is there to celebrate? Happy
holidays? Season’s Greetings?
Christmas,
the birth of Christ is the celebration of hope for new life in Him. The
resurrection is the radical demonstration and reality of that new life!
CELEBRATE
RECOVERY, & MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Jim
& Pam
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