What Do We Really Believe About Christmas?    

Matt 1:21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

John 4:34  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 

Luke 19:10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Matt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:46-47  “He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,

Jn 3:16-18  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. … 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

1 Tim 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle.

Rom. 10:1  Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Rom 10:9-17  “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. … 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 

Acts 4:12  “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Rom 15:20 “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known …”

1 Cor. 9:19  “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. … I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some….”

We love Christmas and all the celebration that goes with it – the decorations, the gifts, the food. We even go to special services at our churches and sing “Christ the Savior is born”.  But is that enough? If we believe what we say we believe, then we also believe that all those who have not yet believed in Jesus are condemned. Lost. Is that OK with us? Do we think there is some other way for them to be made right with God? Maybe by living good enough lives? Or do we have a burden, a passion for them to be forgiven, justified, saved? 

Wonderful Savior, give me/us the same kind of burden for others to be saved, (whether our relatives, or people in distant parts of the world) as You had for our salvation. We are thankful You suffered and died for us, and that somebody prayed, gave, shared with us! Now, put a fire in us that we can never be satisfied with our own salvation, and yet be indifferent to the destiny of millions of others for whom You also died. Move my heart, and each person who reads this to be zealous for others to receive what You have given me/us.  Amen!