Christmas Eve: The Scariest Day of the Year

Oh no...it's Christmas Eve...that is one of the scariest days of the year...

 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

Marianne Williamson

Faith in God does not make life easy.  Faith in God does not ensure happiness. Faith in God does not free us from pain nor strife.

But faith in God makes us powerful beyond measure...

Our faith in God enlists us in the greatest war that has ever taken place on the face of the earth:  The Battle for our Souls.  Our faith means that we might be called upon to assemble an Ark, petition a Pharaoh, fight a Philistine, or christen a King.  Mere mortals that we are, in all our weakness, asked to do extraordinary things.

 

Our faith in God makes us powerful beyond measure...

 

Our faith makes us one of Satan's favorite targets at which to take aim.  He takes measure from all angles and determines the most brutal attack on each of us:

• I'll make them sick, and heap upon them death
• I'll make them lonely, and heap upon them disgrace
• I'll make them doubt, and heap upon them deception
• I'll make them distracted, and heap upon them false idols
• I'll make them disillusioned, and heap upon them pain

Yet, we have a power within us beyond measure...

We have power because God came down from Heaven to live among us on earth.  We have power because he left his throne to sleep in hay, his majestic glory to become the filth of our sins, and his eternity to die in Hell for us.  We have power because God wants us to love him, but he won't MAKE us love him.  We have all this power because the God who created the universe is waiting for us to turn to him, and while he waits, he shows the world HIS glory through our lives, our circumstances, and our weaknesses.

So, for all these reasons, Christmas Eve is one of the scariest days of the year.  It's the day that tells us God expects extraordinary things from his ordinary people.  It's the day that reminds us that we are not in control.  And, with each gift we open, we should remember that the greatest gift we've ever received wasn't wrapped in paper and topped with a bow, but was wrapped in thirty-nine searing lashes, and topped with a crown of thorns.