I love everything about it and have so many wonderful memories of Christmas.
This year, there are still things I love about Christmas, but so many people I know are hurting. They are grieving the death of loved ones or just walking through some tough situations.
With all the joy that Christmas is supposed to be about, it's often overshadowed by so much hurt, what's a heart to do?
If you aren't reading John Piper's advent devotional, "Good News of Great Joy," then you are missing out!
One thing yesterday really stuck out at me:
"Homecomings are a foretaste, and foretastes are good. Unless they become substitutes. O, don't let all the sweet things of the season become substitutes of the final great, all-satisfying sweetness. Let every loss and every delight send your hearts a-homing after Heaven."
So all the things that I love about Christmas are just foretastes of what's coming? That warm, happiness that comes from being home with people I love is just a taste of what Heaven will be like?
That's amazing!
Just think about it. Every delight of this season is just a taste of things to come! WOW!
There's also another side of this for so many. Pain.
What's a heart supposed to do with loss? Pain? How does that send our hearts "a-homing" after Heaven.
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."-Revelation 21:1-6
If that doesn't get you pumped up, you need to check your pulse!!!!!
That's where our hearts long to go! HOME! A home with God where there will be no more pain and sorrow!
If I could write this whole post in all caps, I would!!!
This is Christmas! God sent his son to replace the shadow of God with the real thing! Everything about this season should make our hearts ache for home! The pain and the loss that we face now should make our hearts ache for home!!
Don't lose sight of this! This world is not it. This world is not home. My prayer for you is that you find so much Joy this season! I pray that you delight in all the festive things. Most of all, I pray, that whether you're grieving this season or delighting, your heart would long a little stronger to be home!
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