“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15 NKJV)
Today is Christmas Eve, yes the night before Christmas; simply a short time from the Thanksgiving paid day off holiday and shortly before the long awaited Christmas morning when there is more focus on presents in many house as opposed to the presented; the presentation of our Savior, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, to a world that was more naughty than nice.
It’s Christmas Eve, but I want to really focus on another holiday. Let’s call it Independence Day. No. I am not talking about the July 4th holiday, another holiday like Christmas that lights up the sky, but for many it too has lost its meaning. I want to speak about another “Independence Day,” the day that children declare their adult liberty. Especially I want to focus on children who were raised in the church and their new freedom to make choices because they feel they are grown, unfortunately this includes straying away from the church and not only the church, but the principles they were taught and at one time concurred, as well as the faith that has brought them through so much.
Three points to make: (1) Believers never stop growing and must still depend on their Heavenly Father. One cannot live a good life estranged from the One who can order one’s steps in the right direction. (2) Those who have strayed may end up staying in their so called independence, not recognizing that their freedom has been invaded and they are simply held in bondage by Satan, the secular world; societal influences and strong, wrong definitions of what is right living, or self…our fleshy desires. (3) Finally, we who recognize this new independence day occurring in our orbit of interactions, especially our family members, we need to put forth some type of loving effort to let them realize that they have misused or abused their independence and they are only here, living on this earth today by the grace and mercy of God. Caution: Time can expire anytime; perhaps before they come to their senses.
The day of “He or she will learn for themselves” is gone and probably never should have been adopted. So let us make an effort to correct that by, at the minimum, forwarding this message to those who have declared the wrong type of Independence Day, accompanied with a message that says, “Let’s talk about this further.” Enjoy Christmas Eve! Teach about Independence Day, the one that I have referred to today! Do it at the family devotion time tonight or before even one present under the tree is opened. Open up the door for them to experience the real blessing of Christmas. Be blessed!
“If How true it is, and how I long that everyone should know it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the greatest of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as an example to show everyone how patient he is with even the worst sinners, so that others will realize that they, too, can have everlasting life. Glory and honor to God forever and ever. He is the King of the ages, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God, and full of wisdom. Amen.” (I Timothy 1:15-17 The Living Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King