With November comes the beginning of the holiday season—Thanksgiving meals, Advent candles, Christmas decorating and shopping—really a fun time of the year.

As we begin this holiday season let’s determine not to miss the deeper, richer, fuller meaning. Let’s not let the season pass without entering into ALL that it means.

Christmas is about the fact that Jesus Christ finally came.

For many long centuries God had been working with a people, getting them ready to receive his promised answer to the human problem.

He gave them stories of great ancestors, whose lives prefigured aspects of the Messiah’s life and who had themselves been given promises of a coming savior.

He gave them forms of worship and laws that pointed to the Messiah and the way he would undo sin.

He spoke to them through prophets, comforting them with the assurance of a coming age when Messiah would reign.

They waited, and they waited, and finally, at just the right time, he came!

Wow! What a truth! What an amazing fact of history!

We’re not dealing with a fairy story here, something pretty we just made up. This actually happened, in history. Jesus was born!

And the intensity and purity of his spirit is captured in the writings of the four gospels. He was like no other man!

It happened. It really and truly happened! God in flesh appearing!

Don’t let this truth pass you by! Don’t miss out on what God has for you! Don’t settle for pretty lights, tinsel, and the other external trappings of Christmas. These are mere symbols. Jesus is the substance.

I pray that you would know the profound wonder and joy that comes with Christmas. May that profound joy and wonder permeate all you do as you prepare to celebrate the birth our Lord!

Learn more about Salem Church of Darmstadt online: www.salemdarmstadt.org