Hope.

That’s the message of Christmas.

God created the world and the universe and then He created mankind. We sinned and that formed a barrier between us and God.

God is holy and we can’t enter His presence without being cleansed from our sin.

In His wisdom, God sent Jesus, His only Son, as a baby in a manger. He was divine yet He took on flesh. His mission was to give His life for mankind.

 This is a hard concept for us to grasp.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He was tempted but didn’t fail. He was unjustly convicted and sentenced to die on a cross. Jesus could have called on a host of angels to rescue Him but He didn’t.

That’s because God’s plan called for a perfect sacrifice to compensate for the failings of man. Jesus willingly became that sacrifice.

But here’s the problem. In order to restore your relationship with God, you must trust in and believe in Jesus Christ as your savior. For a multitude of reasons, that is hard for some folks.

They may have never had the Gospel of Jesus Christ explained to them in simple terms. They may have no familiarity with what the Bible teaches, especially about Jesus.

They may have had troubling encounters with people professing to be followers of Christ but it wasn’t demonstrated in their behavior toward others.

This is serious business. If a person is not reconciled with Christ before they die, they will spend eternity apart from Him. In contrast, those who trust in Jesus for their salvation are guaranteed a spot in Heaven, reunited with loved ones who have passed and an eternity to spend with our Creator.

That is glory.

That is grace.

That is love.

Tulsa has many, many good churches and a whole bunch of sincere Christians who would like nothing better than to explain the Gospel to a searching soul.

Christmas is a great time to wander into one of these churches and have a visit with someone who could direct you to what Scripture says about the Christian life.

This is also a great time for Christians to look around and spot people who are in great need.

The downturn in the economy and the pandemic have devastated millions of people. Sick people in hospitals can’t have visitors. People have lost their jobs. Seniors in nursing homes are stuck in their rooms on lockdown. Young struggling families try to make ends meet. Children lack direction as schools are closed.

Suicides are up. More and more anti-depressant drugs are prescribed. The homeless population is skyrocketing.

Maybe you can’t meet all these needs. None of us can. But there’s a special joy in doing something nice for someone at Christmas.

And if that leads to a visit about accepting Jesus, all the better.

Merry Christmas!