A Very Matthew ChristmasSample

Dear believer,

Does your heart ever skip a beat when you see someone try to pull off a dangerous feat? An acrobat reaching for the trapeze as she spins in the air without a safety net. A high dive or some other such risk?

Sometimes, when I think of God’s plan of salvation, my heart catches in my throat. What a risk God made to place the gospels into human hands! What a wager that God would ask imperfect humans to tell the most important story in the world!

I recall reading Paul’s second letter to Timothy for the first time and feeling sick. His words to Pass on the Gospel haunted me, blew through my hollowed-out soul like a desert wind.

To hear someone like Paul, in his desperation, at the end of his life, tell Timothy and the Church how high the stakes are of leaving the Gospel in human hands…well, it was nerve-racking!

The weight of that responsibility hit all of us original disciples at some point. I think all believers must feel the overwhelming weight at a point in their spiritual pilgrimage.

I’ve found myself asking, “God, why me?”

Can you relate?

Do you ever ask yourself, no matter how you came to faith, “God, what are you doing using someone like me?”

How loudly did that thought pound through Mary's heart as she prepared to give birth that first Christmas?

Mary, me, every believer since!

I wrote my Gospel to challenge my readers to be honest about their lives, honest about the sin they could not hide and the righteousness that they could not achieve on their own.

What a risk that God leaves it to all of us, imperfect as we may be, to share the message of grace with others. It’s not an easy message to give, just as it is not an easy message to receive, especially today.

But it’s the truth that will set people free!

When people encounter Jesus, they are faced with the ugliness of their own sin, their innate inability to measure up with God’s holy standard of perfection.

You are called to be a herald of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To tell the good news to others. You’re not meant to hold that story in silence, but instead to risk sharing the story of Jesus’ advent so others will, like you, know the joy of salvation.

The risk of Jesus’ advent was great. But the risk of not sending Christ into the world was greater.

God wants us to tell the story. You may be imperfect, but there’s so much at stake. And I know that He will work in you, perfectly, to bring hope to the world.

Touched by that hope,

Your friend Matthew

Light the candle of Advent

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas by lighting the candle today, may God give us boldness and empower us to be heralds of good news to people in need of hope.