He is always about the business of offering us something good in the future if we'll just seek to get it right in the present and acknowledge when we miss the right, owning up to the fact that we've done wrong — sinned that is, a refusal to obey God. When we make that acknowledgment, He begins the process of turning mourning into joy, dissatisfaction into satisfaction, punishment into comfort. He did just that for the folks of Jeremiah's day after their repentance and He does the same for us through the sending of His son in a beautiful package — a Word that became human and lived among us. I might add that this Word still lives among us and in us. As a result we can face things that otherwise can't be faced.
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We can face life's challenges and difficulties when our lives have been packed with Christmas — and I don't mean the things we got on Christmas morning in material possessions. I'm referring to the Word that has become flesh for us and walks in our midst and, in fact, walks in us. The means for responding is to allow your life to be packed with Christmas and then you can do what Jeremiah said we could do like rejoicing in dance, being merry, being joyful, having gladness, and being satisfied no matter what.
Whenever we allow Christmas to pack itself into our lives, we discover that it points us to something better. We are to look forward to the future. Christmas, a day about a Child being placed in a Manger, points us to a Cross, on which this Child would die some thirty years later for our sins and then to an Empty Tomb where a resurrection took place through the very power of God, thus ensuring eternal life to all who would believe.
As a result of that belief, we await His Second Advent, which will result in each of us doing just what Jeremiah said we would do: rejoicing in dance, being merry, being joyful, having gladness, and being satisfied no matter what may come our way. As we wait, if we'll allow the Holy Spirit to do His work, we'll be packed up with joy and gladness and satisfaction no matter what.
So this week as you go about the task of packing up Christmas for another year — all the decorations and stuff that help you celebrate — make sure your life, your very existence is packed with Christmas. Now be very careful as you pack. You might accidentally pack up your faith for another year. Even worse. You might intentionally pack up your faith. Now that wouldn't be so good. Don't pack up your Christmas faith. You need it all year long.
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Jimmy Gentry is Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Carrollton, Georgia