Christmas Friend

I pray your Christmas has been blessed!

One of the things that makes the holidays more enjoyable is friends! Friends are the people with whom we celebrate life. Friends are also the people with whom we may mourn losses. Essentially, friends are the people who are around or we want to be around when life happens. Sometimes friends may push buttons or bug you, but that's often what we do for each other, right?!

Christmas is the celebration of a very special Friend. Christ took a journey from Heaven and inserted Himself into our world. In so doing, He made Himself approachable, and He made Himself available.

Before Jesus came in flesh and bone, the concept of God was much harder for us to understand, and it would be easy for us to dismiss a God Who hasn't gone through the pains of life like we have. Indeed, we may even blame Him for our problems. Instead, in love, God came! What a concept!

This is the meaning behind a special name you may have heard of at Christmas: Emmanuel. I like the derivative spelling: Immanuel. You can get the sense of this name by breaking it apart in this creative way: "I'M the Man-with-you-God (El)." Since He is God, Jesus is also the only Friend Who will never fail you.

2,000 years ago and beyond, Jesus fulfills the friend requirement of Proverbs 18:24--He has shown Himself friendly!

Jesus also knows all about our troubles, since He went through them. (See Hebrews 4:15.)

Wherever you may find yourself as you read this (overflowing with friends or feeling lonely), know that Christ is the best friend ever.

Tomorrow, Sunday, December 26, we will celebrate the Friend we have in Jesus. He is the Christmas Friend!

If you have a need or question this time of year, I hope to be a friend to you. Feel free to reach back by emailing me (pastor@opendooronline.com) or filling out a Connecting Card.

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Dennis Schaffer