I have been in church all my life, and yet there are aspects of God that I am just now realizing, or rather God is just now revealing to me. I believe God reveals things to us when we are ready to receive them, and unfortunately, in all my rebellion and stubbornness, it has taken me a loooong time to mature enough that God could trust me with certain truths. But for the past year or two, I just stand in awe at His goodness and mercy. Last year, I heard for the first time that there were over 300 prophesies in the Old Testament that told of the Messiah. The prophets, inspired by God, told exactly how the Savior would enter our world; born of a virgin, a descendant of David, pierced for our transgressions, and the list goes on and on. Then, you can see with such clarity, that Jesus fit every one of those prophecies perfectly. It gave me such assurance that Jesus was and is the true Messiah. Another concept revealed to me this year is that Jesus has always been and will always be. For my whole life, even though I knew Jesus and God are one, I just always thought that Jesus came into being, when he was conceived in Mary's womb, but that is not the case. From the very beginning and before, God when creating the world and mankind knew that we would fall from grace. He knew that we would mess up, and yet He knew He loved us and wanted to commune with us, and so He made a way through Jesus. The Old Testament says that man was made in God's image, and in the Bible it says "our image", the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn't an afterthought. There was a plan of redemption from the very beginning of creation. How beautiful is that? This is what makes the Christian God different from every other god. He is a triune God. Some people say He is the same as Allah, but He is not. The Islamic faith doesn't believe that Jesus is God. That is an extreme difference, since there is no way to the Father except through the Son. Which leads me to the other thing I realized about God this year, and that is His holiness. I have been reading the Old Testament through for the first time. I have tried other times, but would always quit around Numbers, Deuteronomy, and especially Leviticus, but with a help of a commentary, I'm finally barreling through those harder texts, and what I have learned is how holy God is, and how extremely blessed we are to get to commune with Him every day and for Him to live in us through the Holy Spirit. Before Christ, people couldn't even look at God because of his holiness and purity. Also, for every sin a person committed, there had to be an unblemished sacrifice. There were all these requirements for the Temple and for entering it and for keeping clean. I think I have taken that holiness for granted for far too long. I am just so thankful now for the sacrifice of Jesus as the unblemished Lamb to cover my sins and your sins. We are so blessed. We can come before God any time we want because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We have direct communion with the God of the Universe. Why would somebody not want that? I can think of several reasons. I think some people believe they are too bad to be saved by God, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus loved us while we were still sinners. He died for the sins of all mankind. We don't have to clean ourselves up anymore to come to God, Jesus made a way, and He will clean us up when we submit to Him and fall in love with Him and trust Him to be God in our lives. That's good news, right? Another reason people don't want to trust in God is because they want to be their own god. They think they know what is best for them. Shame, pride, and arrogance can all keep us from becoming a child of God.
So what do I believe? I believe that Jesus is the one true God, that He conquered death for me and you on the cross, that He is love, that He is truth, that the Bible is His inspired word and every part of it is truth, that I can trust Him with every part of my life, and that I will live eternally in His presence one day. It changes everything. He gives me faith, hope, and love. I pray that if you don't believe that you will ask him to reveal Himself to you. He wants to know you and adopt you as His child. My Christmas wish is that you will let Him be your Father. You'll never regret it. I hope this Christmas brings you the miracle of His love. Merry Christmas!
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