December 24 (Psalm 30:5)
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
(ESV)
Tomorrow is Christmas Day.
Popular songs, to say nothing of experience, tell us that children will
find it hard to sleep as they anticipate the gifts and pleasures to come. Guess what?
That should be you, too. Tomorrow
may include travel and family and cooking.
It may involve gifts and laughter and lights. Yet tomorrow is so much more than all that,
and the merest thought of it should keep you awake with excited anticipation,
for you see, joy comes with the morning.
Tomorrow is the day when the world acknowledges the birth of
God in the flesh. To be sure, many of
the world’s celebrations are misguided, and many who celebrate do not know God
as anything other than a word of profanity to be invoked when they want to
condemn something. Yet celebrations will
take place, and whether those who celebrate fully understand it or not, it is
because of unspeakable joy.
We humans wrecked everything in the Garden of Eden and have
continued to make a mess of things ever since, hence the weeping. God looked into that mess with the eyes of
love and sent us His Son to comfort us, to guide and support us, and to redeem
us with His blood. So get excited! But not with visions of sugarplums dancing in
your head, but with the image of Jesus Christ, born to die so that YOU could
truly live.
What joy, Lord, it truly is to think about the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus! In my celebration of Christmas with family and friends, may that joy, the joy that comes with a life redeemed by Him, radiate from all that I do. Thank You, Father, for the greatest gift of all! Amen.
Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins
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