That’s it folks we are over the line, we have passed the turn off signs, we cannot pass go and collect £200, it is November which means that Christmas is just around the corner. Do not panic!
As this Christmas season approaches people get excited, present are bought, carols are sung, meals are being thought through and flights are being booked. Adverts and songs and people tell you that this Christmas will be different, that there will be no arguments and that a miracle will happen and everything will be happy. People are looking for a better Christmas.
Matt Chandler has written a small booklet which helps us focus our minds, in the midst of the Christmas rush, on the true meaning of Christmas and the true lasting joy that this offers people. It’s so easy for people, even Christians, to go through the motions of Christmas without taking time to breathe and think about Jesus and who he is and what he has done for us.
Chandler takes us back to the Old Testament and tell us marvellous truths about God and how he dealt with His people, in their slavery the Israelites cried out and what happened? God heard and God helped! God didn’t leave His people in their mess and misery but He knew their struggles and he intervened, He got involved in the mess of this world. Bring those tremendous truths into your own life and ponder them for a second…
In all of your mess, in all of your struggles, and in all of your hardships God knows, God hears and God has intervened.
In December we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God in the flesh, the one who willing left his place of glory in heaven and stepped into the brokenness of this world and called the least expected people to be witnesses to the miracle of the incarnation… Shepherds.
“God did not come to tell you that he doesn’t like you. He came to show you that he loves you. Which is why God’s plan included not just the events of Christmas but the events of Easter”
So often at Christmas we focus on the crib or animal trough that Jesus lay in as a baby, but we forget the cross that he was born to bear! But the truth is that
“God’s Son did not come into this world primarily to live in it, but to die for it”
If we forget the impact of that truth, or if we have become numb to the message of Christmas and the miracle that the incarnation of Jesus is then look to the cross.
Christmas time gives us false promises of happiness in material things, in gifts from loved ones and in the joys of earth. But true and lasting joy can only be found in the ultimate gift of Christmas which is the person of Jesus Christ. Chandler does a great job of getting you excited about Christmas and the great events that it points back to. This little booklet can be read in just over an hour, it is an easy give away for two people:
- Christians
This book will help us all focus on the true meaning of Christmas and put everything in our lives into perspective, we will see the beauty and excellence of Jesus and the miracle of his stepping into the mess of this world. Not only that, but the result of his stepping into this world is that we can be reconciled with God. That is the glorious news of Christmas!
- Non-Christians
This short booklet is also a great give away to non-Christians, because it explains the good news of Jesus and doesn’t shy away from the tough details of it all. Chandler approaches the Christmas story in a down-to-earth, humorous way with a deep desire that people would know the true meaning of Christmas and the real reason that Christmas was needed.
I’d highly recommend that you get a hold of a number of these booklets and hand them out to loved ones this year, they are great stocking fillers that might just be the link in the chain that can give someone the best gift in the world, the gift of true life in God.
Matt Chandler is the Pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. The author of Explicit Gospel, Take Heart, and The Mingling of Souls, Matt also serves as President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network. He is married to Lauren and they have three children.
Rating 4/5
You can purchase the booklet here from The Good Book Company
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