RANSOM

I spent an hour and a half trying to travel two miles after an ice-storm struck Portland and stranded Christmas shoppers. Storms have an amazing ability to put things into perspective. What fragile creatures we truly are! In a power outage, people quit arguing over the appropriateness of “Happy Holidays” versus “Merry Christmas” and start thinking about staying warm. Buying presents takes a back seat to getting home without skidding off the road. Lights of every color some blinking some just brilliant, trees gaily decorated with trinkets and memorabilia, they are all nice. But they won’t keep me alive. Then it hit me, the real meaning of Christmas is LIFE! In the gathering storm, can we see that our survival is what God is after and not our need to enjoy His Son in diapers? Can we recognize that our happiness came at a horrific cost—a holy ransom!

Meditation
Psalm 49:7,8—No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for life is costly, no payment is ever enough.

Mark 10:45—For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

We come to a season where reason is heated,
and arguments rise to the top of the charts.
The crib with its Child if honored in public
turns some into snarling, unhappy hearts.
Their holiday wish is to leave out religion
and not have to listen to carolers sing.
They care not for wise men or Bethlehem manger,
just leave them with Santa and all that he brings.

We come to a season where none can offend,
so nothing is gained and nothing is won.
Convictions are muted to ruffle no feathers
‘til soon Silent Night will no longer be sung.
Lost in the battle for who should be heard
is the very foundation of what gives us might
Freedom to worship in pure, humble expression
is what turns our land to a beacon of light.

Maybe the Baby is the source of our focus
but surely the Lord is the need of our souls.
He came to this earth with a mission to save us,
a ransom that only He could pay in full.
In the midst of our tidings of yuletide and cheer
we ought to remember the cost God endured.
For Jesus the King did not come to be served
but to give up His life as a payment secured.

We live in a season with war all-surrounding
and now is the time when the battle is here;
To raise up the standard that most holy guidon;
proclaim to the world that His coming is near.
For God Who so loved us that He offered His Son,
calls us who believe Him to go out and share.
At issue is not whether ears are offended
but that sin is conquered in answer to prayer.

This Christmas, let’s thank God for giving us life, for ransoming His Son to save us.

Inspiration
It is easy if I reason from the logical common-sense point of view, to say that God created the man who became a sinner, and then condemns him to hell because he sinned. The Bible says nothing of the sort. The Bible says that God Himself accepted the responsibility for sin; the Cross is the proof that He did. It cost Jesus Christ to the last drop of blood to deal with “the vast evil of the world.” The true portrayal is that the Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God. The tragedy of the Cross is the hurt to God.—Oswald Chambers in Conformed to His Image