But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters.
Galatians 4:4-5
It seems impossible that another year has come and gone as we are down to a few weeks in 2024 as I write this blog. Time is such a precious gift and we are told to redeem it for God’s glory in Ephesians 5:16. As I get older, time seems to go by faster and faster and a week goes by like a day, a month is like a week and a year as a month. There seems to be no slowing down of time! Well, time is creation of God who is from eternity past to eternity future and a day as is to the Lord as a thousand years is to us, and a thousand years to us is as a day to God. (see 2 Peter 3:8) As we deal with life in time and try to make our life count in this brief time we have in this world, let us remember that God is the Master of time and He uses it as He sees best. He knows the beginnings from the ends of all things and the Bible tells us that He sent Jesus to be our Savior at the “fullness of time” for His purposes. Jesus came at a time when the Law given to Moses was the rule for mankind in righteousness, and He gave us a better covenant where we can live by the very Spirit of God. Very soon we will be celebrating the Christmas Holiday where we remember the advent of the birth of Christ to be our redeemer. While it is very unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25th, we use this day to honor and thank God for His rescue of us from our sins and the judgment we all deserve. Not a one of us can keep all of the Law of God perfectly, but thanks to Jesus, we now are set free from performing our way into Heaven and we can instead receive the gift of eternal life by placing our faith in Jesus Christ; God in human flesh taking on the sins of all mankind by dying for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. To truly celebrate and appreciate Christmas, we must understand that Jesus came to be our sacrifice, and unless we receive what He has provided for us, we miss the whole thing! Jesus died to provide us a relationship with God Almighty where we become part of His family for eternity. The reason as to why around 2,000 years ago was the fullness of times has been studied and debated, but God said it was in His Word and that is enough for me. The real question is “have we responded to this incredible provision by putting our faith in Jesus and receiving Him as our Lord and Savior?” It involves a surrendering/repenting of trying to rule our own life and turning to believing and receiving who Jesus is and what He has done. Only you can do this for yourself, no one can do it for you. It is a personal decision with the personal God who made you in His image and is keeping you alive at this very moment. I sure hope we all can celebrate Christmas this year together as a people who have been redeemed and set free as children of the Living God. Blessings!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek