God With UsSample

Introduction

The whole of this year may have felt like a blur, a bad dream, or like a messy scrawl on a piece of paper. Irrespective of how the past eleven months looked, before we knew it Christmas snuck up on us. 

Our ideas of celebration globally may have changed, or at the least, evolved with the constant threat of a pandemic, political unrest, and environmental changes. 

Immanuel—God with us—is the greatest gift given to all humanity. This is more real today than it has ever been. The constant in all of this searing uncertainty is Christ and His unending love for His creation. Even in the midst of our suffering, anxiety, and questions He still remains God and He has promised to be with us through eternity. 

What a hope. 

What a reassurance. 

What a comfort. 

Unfortunately we have all gotten more caught up in our own lives and find ourselves slowly yet surely drifting away from our Maker. We discuss politics, culture, moral degradation and fearsome plagues, yet it doesn’t pull us to our knees and closer to God. 

So, this advent, maybe we could take time to celebrate a God who is with us and who, in the midst of social distancing and isolation, has not for a second abandoned us. Maybe we could remember that He has plans not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future even in this broken world that we live in. Maybe we should renew our relationship with this God by devoting more time to Him in prayer and in His word. Maybe we should celebrate the coming of the Light of the World by being a light in our world in whatever we can, big or small.