A Very Merry COVID ChristmasSample

Praise God—He Is With Us!

Have you ever heard what happens when a Chick-fil-A opens its doors for the first time?

The famous chicken sandwich restaurant offers the first one hundred guests who camp out overnight a free one-year supply of food. One year! (I should have eaten a bigger breakfast today because I’m suddenly dying for a pickle-covered sandwich and a shake.)

What I think is ever cooler is that the CEO of Chick-fil-A joins the campers throughout the night, mingling with them, sleeping beside them, and waking them up with a traditional bugle melody to mark the first day of the new location. I’m guessing that camping out in a parking lot isn’t quite as comfortable as the warmth of your own bed, but I imagine that the promise of what’s coming soon gets the customers through it.

Remind you of Christmas?

The promise of Christianity is that Christ gives us eternal life with God. Even better than a year of free sandwiches is a forever of free access to the glorious face of God. And, mercifully, that promise is not for the one hundred most-devoted Christians but for everyone who calls on the name of Jesus, no matter how small and weak their faith might seem.

And if that weren’t enough, we don’t have to wait all alone for the day of our redemption to arrive because the CEO of heaven has decided to join us in this long night that we call life. Jesus took on flesh to live among us two thousand years ago at Christmas, but he’s also promised, “Surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

This Christmas, can I ask you to unwrap that gift slowly? Wherever you are right now, pause and think about Immanuel, the God who is with us. Attempt to picture Jesus, smiling because you are one of his beloved people, inviting you to remember who he is (all-powerful, merciful, in control, etc.) and also where he is (with you, right here, never leaving, etc.).

God is here.

You might be hoping for a Nintendo Switch, a new iPhone, an engagement ring under the tree. Whether you get those gifts or not, please fix your eyes on something infinitely better and eternally longer lasting.

The joy of earthly gifts fades all too fast, but the happiness of being with God endures forever.

Merry Christmas, fellow believer. I mean that, even during this crazy COVID year. 

Because of Christ, merry is what Christmas always is.

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