The Statesman’s Appreciation of Christmas

The Statesman’s Appreciation of Christmas

Much of the world will soon celebrate Christmas. However, that same world has largely lost sight of the significance. It is not about enjoyment. Family is really secondary. It is about the significance of what Jesus brought to us from God Himself ‒ what He makes available to our lives.

Jesus said:

I came that they may have life and have it to the fullest (John 10:10).

The LIFE to which Jesus referred is much more than physical. It is to be so intimately intertwined with our Creator that we know He holds us by the hand in the midst of every challenge we face.

Jesus came to help us achieve what the Creator ‒ He and the Father and the Holy Spirit – intended from the very beginning: that we could have an intimate friendship with the God of the universe, one that would not even be interrupted by the death of our physical body. In fact, that LIFE will become even deeper when we finish our journey on this earth.

Jesus came to meet the greatest hunger the human heart can ever experience ‒ to have an intimate relationship with our Creator and our Lord. It is this that Jesus referred to when He said:

I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again…The one who comes to Me I will never cast out (John 6:35-37).

Jesus made it very clear that He came to provide a solution for our inability to resist self- interest ‒ sin ‒ that interferes with our relationship with our Holy God. This would be through His death on our behalf to pay a penalty we would be unable to pay by ourselves.

He came to help us carry the load on our shoulders, for which the consequences of our sin is one.

Then there is the weight of our human responsibilities. Humanly speaking, there is no more grueling responsibility than carrying the weight of the needs of our population upon our shoulders. And yet, our loving Father intends for us to have LIFE in the midst of administering a nation – LIFE to the fullest. He intends for us to have a Shepherd to whom we may go to lift the burdens from off our shoulders and place them onto His shoulders.

As I have studied the lives of those considered great leaders ‒ Statesmen ‒ a common denominator is that many, if not all, sought the LIFE we are speaking of.

Jesus challenged us:

Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

The Statesman recognizes this applies to him or her. I am convinced that the LIFE Jesus came to bring us is the only way to survive the stress of administering a nation. It is little wonder that the angel announced the birth of Jesus:

I bring you the most joyful news ever announced, and it is for everyone! The Savior— yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem! (Luke 2:10-11)

Humanly speaking, what Jesus described as His purpose for coming to earth may seem to be a mystery. However, God the Father challenged us:

Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3).

While others may be reveling, let us rejoice in the reality of “the greatest news ever announced”.

And let us make sure that in our own lives, the reality of Jesus coming is truly “the greatest news ever announced”.