Credit: Bil Keane
As the world braces itself for yet another Christmas weekend, we are constantly bombarded by media advertisements, shop and brand campaigns, shopping mall events, all capitalising on this special festive season. Pretty lights, decorated streets and malls, secular Christmas songs, gift shopping and giving, the glitz and the glitter encapsulates the consumerism that has shrouded the true meaning of Christmas, often even in the hearts of Christians?
Do the simple gospel truths and good news of the baby Jesus born to save the world still continue to capture our hearts each Christmas? Or do we slowly begin to see the gospel grow smaller and smaller in our hearts each year, especially if we have been Christians for a long time? As John Piper writes, “Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.”
How can the gospel get bigger in our hearts? When grace gets bigger; when Christ gets greater; when His death gets more wonderful; when His resurrection gets more astonishing; when the work of the Spirit gets mightier; when the power of the gospel gets more pervasive; when its global extent gets wider; when our own sin gets uglier; when the devil gets more evil; when the gospel’s roots in eternity go deeper; when its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger; and when the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.
As the last week of Advent begins, let us remember the words of 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” May we experience God’s love anew this Christmas, and with the love we receive from Him, let us pray for opportunities to love the world and the lost, that they may come to know His love through the Lord Jesus Christ. May God teach us to love as He loves, and may the gospel message ring clearly in and through our lives, to the praise and glory of God the Father!
