Cozy at Christmas

Good morning,

Decorating our homes at Christmas is a month long gift that helps us feel warm and cozy with lights from the tree in the living room or pine garlands over doorways and mantles. The atmosphere in our house is changed just like the inside of a person is changed when they ask Christ to come in and love them. But, somehow a lot of people think instead of God loving them He is watching them to slip up and He will write it down and be mad at them instead of being crazy in love with them.

Pastor Rick Warren says it like this: Many people feel that God is secretly out to “get” them–that he is constantly playing a game of “Gotcha!” and just waiting for them to mess up and fail so he can say “I told you so!” A lot of people imagine God is a “grouch” who enjoys frustrating our plans and looking for ways to criticize, judge or get even with us. But God himself say otherwise; “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for a good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

No one wants what’s best for you more than God. No one knows better what will make you truly happy! God doesn’t want you to be afraid of Him. He wants you to run to him. In fact, 365 times in the Bible, God says, “Don’t be afraid!” So what are you afraid of? None of us knows what we’ll face this next year, but we can know that God loves us, God is for us, God is with us.

So where does our fear of God come from? Primarily two sources: a guilty conscience and ignorance of what God is really like. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Guilt makes us insecure. We assume that God is mad at us and that he’s going to scold us for all the ways we’ve fallen short, we seek to avoid even talking about him sometimes.

But God is not mad at you. He is mad about you! Jesus, said “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.” When you study the word and see that when you make a mistake, Jesus doesn’t rub it in, He rubs it out! He came to erase all your sins, mistakes, failures and regrets. Jesus came to save us, not scare us! It’s the reason we celebrate in a cozy, warm lit house with pleasant decorations! We feel safe and loved.

Love you Teri