Christmas Hope

I have a distinct recollection of a Christmas when I was 10 years of age. I woke up at 2am. Excited, and unable to think of anything but presents, I went out into the lounge room. There I discovered that my brothers were also too excited to sleep. We stared for hours at the presents under the tree. We discussed what may be in each parcel. As the hours past we knew that the time was near for Mum and Dad to awake (actually, we went in about 5:30am to speed up the process).

Isn’t this hope? It’s where we long for something, we desire something. Christmas holds out hope (Of course it also holds out disappointment for children who don’t get what they want, and I’ll leave you to look at YouTube for this)

Once again though, our hope is rather reduced to what is inside a box and envelope. It’s reduced to what will make me happy.

Christmas hope is about longing, is about desire, but for a better world. And we have the example of people, such as Mary, Elizabeth, the shepherds and a widow named Ana who longed for a new beginning.

If you hope for a momentary experience of joy, place your hope in gifts. If you want a world where no-one suffers, where things are fair, everyone is cared for, animals are protected, armies aren’t needed, where people live with purpose, have integrity, will go to great lengths to help, then place your hope in Jesus. That’s the future He has come to bring. His birth marks the beginning. Now is the time for people to take up the offer of new life and be filled with anticipation of Jesus’ return.

This Christmas as you open the present, remember that there is a bigger one yet to arrive.