Thursday, December 20, 2012

December 21, 2012

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16
 
If the date 12-21-12 sounds familiar it could be because you have been hearing about it for at least the past year. Blogs, newspapers, radio, TV, social media, and a motion picture have all heralded this date as the last day of the Mayan calendar - aka - the end of the world.
 
Count me among the skeptical but if you delayed your Christmas shopping until after today, I hold no scorn for you and if the Mayans are correct you will be among the wisest to perish in the cataclysmic conclusion of the human race.
 
Should this ancient civilization somehow be correct in their calculations you have celebrated your last Christmas.
 
Regardless of this primitive prediction, you and I do have a final Christmas somewhere in our future. That is undeniable and undebateable. That might a one Christmas from now, it might be this Christmas or it may be decades from now, but there will be a final Christmas on earth for every one of us.
 
Because of the reality of a final Christmas God made sure there was a first Christmas! John proclaims that in this very well-known verse from John's Gospel.
 
God loved you too much to let you perish from this earth and into a Godless eternity. He wanted you to be able to enjoy eternity with Him in Heaven when you pass from this earth. The fact is the vast majority of your life will be lived after you die and God wants you to spend that eternity enjoying Him forever in Heaven. So you must make sure you are ready to depart this planet once you die.
 
The message of Christmas is that God came from Heaven in the Person of Christ, virgin born as a baby in a manger to become the sacrifice for our sins!
 
The motive of Christmas was love! God's amazing love!
 
The mission of Christmas is salvation for all who will place their trust in Christ.
 
The marvel of Christmas is that those who believe gain eternal life when that last day arrives and abundant life until then!
 
No one knows then their final Christmas will come. That is why they need to come to terms with the First one!
 
Have you trusted Christ for salvation?