The Season Of Advent // Turn Your Eyes To JesusSample

A Refreshingly Different Way to Celebrate Christmas

I like being with you. I like sitting here with you—and walking with you. I like working alongside you and helping you carry all the things you need to carry. I like doing the work next to you. I don’t want you to ever feel alone. I know you feel weary. Holidays can be like that, particularly this one. It’s my birthday, of course—and yes, it’s worth celebrating! What is your favorite way to celebrate? What do you love most about this day? And what is most difficult for you?

You know I know the answer. I know your heart. I know it better than you do. But I love for you to tell Me. I love when you engage—when your heart engages—with Me. I can help you through this day, you know. I can help you so you don’t grow weary. I can help you so you don’t feel overwhelmed—so that you begin to believe that who you are, and what you do, is enough.

The world has been telling you so many things. And I can protect you from those messages.

Brother, sister, I am with you. I’m not leaving you. I am your King, your strong one. I am your sure thing—the One you can count on no matter what. This earth will fall away, but I am not leaving you. Even in the busy. Even when you are distracted. Even when you forget Me. I will love you. I will stay with you. I will be speaking to you. I will be helping you. I will be loving you.

My presence with you does not depend on your mood. It does not depend on how hard you try to love Me or not love Me. I can’t help but love you. My love is without conditions. There is nothing you can say or do or think or dream or plan or scheme that will change my affections for you. My love cannot be compared to anyone else’s. It does not compare. I will not hurt you with my love. I will not manipulate you with my love. I will not trick you, force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Everything is your choice: live awake or asleep; live hopeful or despondent; live in the present or in the past. I am for you. Always. Always. I am never going away.

So, when the noise gives you energy and when it leaves you sad; when the quiet restores and when it presses in so you can scarcely breathe, call out to Me, call out to Me. I know how you feel. I know what you need. I know what situations feel challenging, which people stretch you and require you to lean, even more heavily, on Me. Lean on Me, brother, sister. Lean on Me.

There is much to celebrate. But the celebration isn’t a single day. The celebration isn’t a singulatory moment. It’s all-the-time. It’s a way of living. It’s a way of seeing. It’s a way of breathing. For when you remember, you remember, that I am with you, that my love goes with you, that my hope is your hope, my joy is your joy, my life is your life, you will realize something astounding and true: the celebration of this Christmas day isn’t something to attend or participate in or experience: the celebration is who you are; the celebration is what you are made of; the celebration is the truest thing about who you are and what you are made to do. For I am in you. There is no separation. No separation. Not at all. None at all.

I celebrate you now. I celebrate my life with you. I celebrate our life together. I celebrate how all I have is yours. We are one, you and Me. I love you. I will never tire of showing you. Watch Me. Come close now. Let’s celebrate!

Exercise:

Jesus’ love astonishes me. It just . . . astonishes . . . me. Here we are, on this Christmas day, our hearts feeling so many different emotions: We might be full of love and joy and gladness . . . or full of sorrow . . . or loneliness . . . or regret. And our Jesus, in the midst of all of this, says He is here. He is here for us, on this day, this day when we’re to celebrate His birthday.

He’s filled with abundant love, abundant joy, abundant hope, abundant goodness and peace and Life! And He’s extravagant in His love for us, right here, right now. He’s talking about celebrating us! He’s celebrating life with us. No matter our mood. No matter our heart. No matter our situation. As Graham Cooke so beautifully puts it, “He loves you because He loves you because He loves you because He loves you. Because that is who He is. And He doesn’t know how to be any different.”

Jesus is love. God is love. Holy Spirit is love. They love and they love and they love. And this love can be trusted. This love must be celebrated. This love must be taken in and lived out. This love is the rejuvenation of all our hope, the source of all our peace, the foundation for all our joy, the beginning of all goodness. It is what we need . . . it is all we need . . . forever . . . and right now.

Isn’t it amazing how, on this special day, Jesus speaks to us about . . . us? He asks us what we love about this day. He asks us how we most love to celebrate His birthday. And He asks us what is most difficult for us about this day, too.

Because He loves us, He knows that, despite this being a day of celebration, it is also a day that might be hard. Because life is hard. Because living in this world is rough. And right now, He wraps His arms around our shoulders, looks us in the eyes, and invites us to remember something He never wants us to forget: we are not alone. We are not alone. And we are going to be okay. All the problems. All the pain. All the hurt. All the disappointment. All the betrayal. All the lies. All the anger. All the heartbreak. All the abuse. All the manipulation. All the disease. All the ways things weaken and break and fall apart. He is healing all of it. And He is loving―He is loving you. He is loving you right now because He’s always loved you and always will. He is loving you because He can’t help it. And this love is what’s worth celebrating. This love is worth experiencing and celebrating despite the fact that there is so much still to be worked out in the world.

So, Merry Christmas, dear friends. Merry Christmas from the bottom of our hearts. We pray abundant blessings of God’s love upon you. We pray that you are filled with a sense of God’s goodness today. That His love blankets you and overflows within you. We pray that all anxiety, all fear, is overcome for today. We pray for connection and community and the most wonderful, transformative, healing family conversations. We pray for restored relationships. New beginnings. We pray for love and love and love.

We are so grateful you are here. We are so grateful we get to listen together for the voice of the Spirit of Jesus. And He is not done yet, dear friends. He is not done with His plan for us. He is coming again. And He is here now.

So, join us in the celebration of that, today.

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