5 Days of Christmas: Day 5
God’s Unfolding Story
Many of us are grateful for Christmas as a time where we get together with our immediate and extended family, give and receive Christmas presents, and catch our breath at the end of a busy year before another year gets underway. But as we write in the conclusion to The First Days of Jesus: [tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]“Looking forward beyond Christ’s first coming, we find that we, as Jesus’s followers, have a role to play in God’s story as well.”[/tweet_box]
“Those of us who have trusted Christ and have embarked with him and our fellow believers on his mission are characters in the unfolding story. As we fulfill his purposes for us in his plan, we eagerly look for Christ’s return to set everything right once and for all.”
Conclusion
In other words, Christmas is more than merely a time to look inward, and to huddle with family in our cozy homes around a tree. It is also a time when we are called to reflect on the fact that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” on another tree 2,000 years ago, so that everyone who believes in him has eternal life.” And then, inexorably, such reflection should lead us to follow another call: our risen Lord’s Great Commission to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”
This year, let’s not merely look inward; let’s also look outward to a sinful world in need, a broken world full of people made in God’s image who will go to a Christ-less eternity unless we follow Christ’s call to become people-fishers, men and women and boys and girls who gladly and gratefully share the greatest news of all – the news of salvation and forgiveness in and through our crucified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas!
To view a video on the “Conclusion” and access the rest of The First Days of Jesus course offered at the The Gospel Coalition, click here. You can purchase The First Days of Jesus here.
