And await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. (Jude 1:21 NLT)

The pages of the Bible are filled with the stories of those who had such tremendous potential and started out well, but they ended miserably. They didn’t cross the finish line.

You may know people who started out with great promise in the Christian life. They made a profession of faith in Christ, but they haven’t followed through. They’ve become casualties in the race of life.

The Bible pulls no punches in this regard. It tells us story after story of men and women who initially flourished spiritually. But then they withered.

For example, Saul, the first king of Israel, was someone who had all the right stuff. In fact, if we were going to look for a candidate today to run for office, this would have been our person. He was charismatic, handsome, tall, and sharp. Most importantly, God’s Spirit had come upon him and anointed him for the task at hand.

For a relatively short time, everything was going well. But Saul allowed himself to give way to pride, paranoia, and jealousy. It consumed him. And he met an untimely end on the battlefield. Essentially, he wrote his own epitaph when he said, “I have been a fool and very, very wrong” (1 Samuel 26:21 NLT). How true that was. He threw it all away.

We think of the mighty Samson, whom God supernaturally blessed with an incredible strength to vanquish his enemies with relative ease. On one occasion he killed one thousand Philistines with a bone he picked up off the ground. As a he-man with a she weakness, Samson squandered his incredible potential. He allowed his lust to consume him and ultimately lost his strength, dying an unnecessary death.

Gideon, a man with humble beginnings, was plucked from obscurity when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12 NLT). God raised him up to courageously lead the armies of Israel into battle. But as he came to the end of his life, he lowered his standards and fell into immorality and pride.

The Bible tells us, “And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see” (1 Peter 1:5 NLT).

Jude 1:21 says, “Await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love” (NLT). And James 1:27 tells us, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (NLT).

In 1 John we read, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” (5:21 NLT).

Yes, God will keep us, but we have our part to do as well. The goal is to run the race He has set before us and to cross the finish line.

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For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. (Hebrews 3:14 NLT)

We all will leave a legacy of sorts. It will be a positive one or a negative one. But eventually our lives will come to an end, and we will leave a legacy. People might say some nice things about us at our funerals, but afterward, the truth will come out.

Of course, we don’t know how much time God will give to each one of us. We may live long, productive lives. And maybe we will be able to look back eventually and say that we finished well.

Or, our lives may be cut relatively short. We might not live quite that long. That is why we want to make sure that every day counts. We don’t want to waste a single moment.

On more than one occasion, the Bible likens the Christian life to running a race. Writing to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul said, “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” (1 Corinthians 9:24 NLT).

And the writer of Hebrews urges us, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (12:1 NLT).

The objective in the Christian life is not only to start our race well but also to cross the finish line. We must finish this race. The Bible warns us of failing to do that.

Again, we read in Hebrews, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. . . . For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ” (3:12, 14 NLT).

It doesn’t matter whether we’ve been in first place for nine laps in a ten-lap race. We have to cross the finish line. That is why Paul also said, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27 NLT).

We must be so very careful.

Paul, addressing the elders of Ephesus prior to his departure, spoke of his impending imprisonment. He told them, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” (Acts 20:24 NLT). That was Paul’s goal. He wanted to finish his race.

In the race of life, we’re not competing with each other. I’m not running against you. And you’re not running against me. Our goal is not to outrun each other. Rather, our goal is to stay in our lane and finish the race that God has set before us.

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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)

The Christmas story is the greatest story ever told. But it isn’t a fairy tale; it’s history. It is His story. The Son of God, the Savior, God incarnate, entered our world when He was born in Bethlehem on the first Christmas.

But why did God send His Son to Earth? Why did Jesus walk among us as a man? Why was all this done? It was so that God could give us the greatest gift of all: the gift of eternal life. Romans 6:23 says, “The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT).

The gift of Christmas is the gift of eternal life. That is why God came to this earth.

When we open Christmas gifts, we’ll initially feel excited about them—or at least about some of them. But it won’t be long until they’re quickly outdated or forgotten.

But God’s gift, the gift of eternal life, only grows in value as we begin to understand what it’s all about. What’s more, it isn’t a gift that we can only enjoy when death comes. It’s a gift that we can enjoy right now.

That’s because one of the aspects of this gift of eternal life is something called justification. This is a unique, biblical word with a twofold meaning. First, it speaks of what God has taken away. And what has He taken away? Our sin. The moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are instantaneously forgiven.

Think of all the things you’ve done that you have regretted. God can forgive you of those things because of the death of Jesus on the cross. If you will turn from your sin and call it what it is, God will forgive you.

Second, justification speaks of what God has put in place of our sin. When God justifies us, when we believe in Jesus, He places the righteousness of Christ into our account. And that balances the moral and spiritual budget for us.

Pastor and author Charles Swindoll describes justification this way: “Justification is the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the believing sinner—while he is still in a sinning state.”

The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1 NLT).

The reason we can approach God, the reason we have access to God, and the reason that God will even hear our prayers is because of the gift He has given to us. And while this gift is free to us, it was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Do you know God in a personal way? If you’ve never asked Jesus to come into your life, will you do it today? This is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He came to bring you this gift. As Isaiah tells us, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us” (9:6 NLT). He is God’s gift from Heaven.

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‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.”’ (Matthew 1:23 NLT)

For some, Christmas isn’t the happiest time of year. It can be the most dreaded time of year, because it reminds them of something. It might be the loss of a loved one, or it might be another loss of some kind. But Christmas can be a lonely, painful time.

Yet the essential message of Christmas is that Immanuel has come to us. And the name Immanuel means “God is with us.” We read in Matthew 1:23, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’” (NLT).

That is really the essence of the Christian life: God is with us.

Jesus knows what it is like to be lonely. When He walked this earth, He probably was the loneliest man ever to live. Yes, He constantly had throngs of people around Him. But on that final day, those multitudes were gone. Even His own, handpicked disciples deserted Him.

And as Jesus hung on the cross, suspended between Heaven and Earth, God the Father momentarily turned away as Christ bore all the sins of the world. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46 NLT).

Jesus will comfort us in our lonely moments. He says, “I am with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.” That is His promise to the children of God. We are never alone again.

Without question, one of the most remarkable teachings in the Bible is that Jesus Christ Himself will enter and live in the human hearts of those who put their trust in Him. Jesus said, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them” (John 14:23 NLT).

That is an amazing statement when you think about it. God the Father and the Son are saying they want to make their home with us.

All other religions essentially say, “Do.” “Do this and maybe you will be more spiritual.” “Do that, and maybe you will get closer to God.” But Christianity can be summed up in one word: “done.” Why? Because it is God living His life through us. God is with us.

Jesus said to His disciples, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NLT). He also said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5 NLT).

God is with you. That is the message of Christmas. You are never alone again. Maybe your marriage fell apart and you feel alone. Know this: God is with you. Maybe your children have forgotten about you in this Christmas season, and the pain is sharp. Know this: God is with you. Maybe you’re isolated and by yourself. Know this: God is with you.

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, God is with you.

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This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15 NLT)

It is mind-boggling to think that the Creator of the universe became an embryo. He who created the solar system chose to become an infant. The Almighty appeared on Earth as a helpless human being, unable to do anything more than wiggle and make noises.

Jesus didn’t arrive with His full faculties intact. He was a baby who cried and needed His diaper changed. That is the mystery of the Incarnation—that God would allow Himself to live within the limitations of a human body.

There wasn’t a moment when Jesus suddenly became God or ceased to be God. First John 1:1 tells us, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life” (NLT).

Jesus was God before Bethlehem. He was God in the manger. He was God as a young man. And He was God during His earthly ministry. He also was God as He hung on the cross, and He was God when He rose from the dead.

Jesus came to live among us. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (9:6 NLT).

At Christmas we celebrate the arrival of God’s Son on Earth. But it also was a departure from Heaven.

Jesus came and walked among us, enduring the limitations of a human body. He experienced the things we experience. Jesus knew what it was like to be hungry and thirsty. And like anyone else, He got tired and had to sleep. While He had the ability to perform miracles—and He did so–He never performed a miracle for His own benefit.

Also, Jesus knew what it was like to be lonely. Imagine how He felt when His disciples deserted Him. When He hung on the cross and all the sin of the world was placed upon Him, at that moment He was the loneliest man who ever lived. He knew what it was like for His friends to betray Him. And He knew what it was like for someone to lie about Him.

Jesus experienced all those things. That is why the Bible says of Him, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT).

When we go to God, we’re not talking to some distant celestial being who has no idea of what it’s like to live on Planet Earth. We’re talking about God who became a man. He knows exactly what we’re going through. Therefore, He can help us in our time of need.

It is hard for us to imagine both deity and humanity in one person. Yet when Jesus came to Earth and walked among us, that is who He was.

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So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:14 NLT)

Can you imagine looking at God in human form? During the earthly ministry of Jesus, we can imagine the disciples walking along with Him and looking at Him all the time.

The apostle John wrote of Jesus, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14 NLT).

The disciples watched Him. They heard His words. Yet interestingly, in all the Gospel accounts, not one person gave a physical description of Jesus. The Bible suggests that Jesus was ordinary in appearance, because Isaiah 53 says, “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him” (verse 2 NLT).

In other words, when Jesus walked this earth, He was an ordinary-looking man. He didn’t have a striking appearance. Nor did He have a permanent halo. In fact, when Judas Iscariot was about to identify Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss” (Matthew 26:48 NLT).

Why did Judas need to say that? Because they wouldn’t have been able to find Jesus in the crowd. Judas was essentially saying, “Let me point Him out to you.”

This makes it all the more extraordinary that God Almighty became an ordinary human being, a person just like us. He came to this earth. He walked among us.

John was saying, “We walked with Him. We talked with Him. And we want you to know that you can have fellowship with Him just like we had fellowship with Him.”

This isn’t a privilege only afforded to first-century believers. It’s one that is indeed available to twenty-first century believers too. We can know Jesus. Yet for some, God can seem so distant and unapproachable. But Jesus, who was God, came to show us what the Father is like.

Jesus stands apart from all other prophets, teachers, and so-called gurus. Jesus wasn’t a man who became God. Rather, He was God who became a man. And it never will happen again.

If you want to know what God is like, then take a long look at Jesus. You don’t need to look further. If you want to know how God feels about children, then look at Jesus taking the little ones into His arms, blessing them, and saying, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (Matthew 19:14 NLT).

And if you want to know how God feels about sinners, then look at Jesus reaching out to the down-and-outers of society and showing them love and compassion. We see Him going out of His way to make time for people that no one else wanted anything to do with.

Thus, if you want to know what God thinks about anything, then look at the story of Jesus. He is showing us what God is like.

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‘Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.’ (Revelation 22:12 NLT)

There were a lot of people who missed the first Christmas, the night that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. Of course, there were no the telltale signs that we have today. There were no Christmas carols, brightly colored lights, or sales at the local market.

Yet the first Christmas had its own signs that were being fulfilled before the eyes of the people, because the Hebrew prophets had foretold the arrival of a Savior. However, in the twenty-first century, we would be hard-pressed to miss Christmas. We can’t miss the fact that Christmas is upon us.

People today have a better idea of how to prepare for a Christmas celebration than how to prepare for the return of Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ, who was born in the manger in Bethlehem, who was crucified on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead, is coming back again. And we don’t want to miss that.

He came right on schedule the first time, and He will come right on schedule the second time.

Jesus said, “Yes, I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22:20 NLT). And the answer of the true Christian will always be, along with the apostle John, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” What’s more, anything that would prevent us from saying the same thing is out of place in our lives.

We are not only to be waiting, but we are also to be working. Jesus said, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward” (Luke 12:42–43 NLT).

If watching is the evidence of faith, then working is the evidence of faith in action. Watching for the Lord’s return will help us prepare our own lives, but working will assure that we bring others with us. We should be serving the Lord and looking for opportunities to engage people and tell them about Jesus.

Jesus also said, “The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat!” (verse 37 NLT). The word blessed could be translated as “happy.”

Looking for the return of Christ isn’t a miserable, repressive, confining way to live. It’s a happy, joyful, and purposeful way to live.

Christmas is coming. The signs are all around us. Of course, Christmas will come, and Christmas will go. And before long, we’ll forget about the gifts that we received. But Jesus Christ is coming back again. People missed the first Christmas. But we don’t want to miss it when Jesus Christ comes back again. He is coming for those who are watching and waiting.

So, don’t just be ready for Christmas. Be ready for Christ Himself. It is not about Christmas presents; it’s about His holy presence in our lives.

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What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me? (Psalm 116:12 NLT)

The psalmist David asked, “What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?” Then he goes on to say, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me” (Psalm 116:12–13 NLT).

One of the most well-known stories in the Bible is that of the wise men who came to visit the child Jesus. There’s a lot of misunderstanding about this story, however. For example, they have been called kings, but we really don’t know that they were. The Bible calls them magi, which is closely related to the word magician.

These men were advisers to the king and more like king makers than actual kings. They were very powerful. They studied the stars and were into astronomy and astrology. These were pagan men who did not believe in the Lord God of Israel. So, God came to them in a way they would understand.

He went to these stargazers, these magi, with a star. And that star brought them to the child Jesus, who had already been born. First they came through Jerusalem, where they met the paranoid King Herod. They told him they had come to worship the King of the Jews.

Then they found their way to Bethlehem. Matthew tells us, “The star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:9–11 NLT).

They came to worship the newborn King. And how did they express their worship? Verse 11 tells us, “They opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (NLT). They didn’t give Jesus their leftovers. They were meeting the living King, and only the best would do.

Sometimes in the church we limit the word worship. In a church service, we often call our time of singing our “worship time.” Then when the singing is done, we say it’s time for Bible study. But hearing a Bible study is also an act of worship, just as giving an offering is. Leaving the church building and sharing our faith with someone is an act of worship as well.

Serving others is an act of worship. In Billy Graham’s home, there was a sign near the kitchen sink that read, “Divine service done here three times daily.” Even doing the dishes can be an act of worship. So, let’s not limit our worship to singing.

At Christmas we celebrate God’s gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to us. There’s nothing that we ever could give to God that would be even close to being equal to the gift that God has given to us. But there are things we can do for Him to show our thanks.

When someone gives us a nice gift, we say thank you. If someone does something for us, we say thank you. In the same way, God has given us this amazing gift. So, we should say, “Thank you, Lord.”

The real happiness we are looking for is not in Christmas; it is in Christ. It comes from His presence in our lives.

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