Meaningless

This Christmas feels different. The lights aren't as captivating. The trees and decorations don't seem as magical. The songs and stories don't carry the same excitement they have in years past. It all feels kind of meaningless. Our little boy is halfway around the world, an orphan, living in a child welfare institution with hundreds of children, with no family to love him or hold him this Christmas. It feels silly to be celebrating Christmas in our comfortable, American way. The last few days, this has weighed heavily on my heart. I just don't feel excited about Christmas. What's the point?

Last week, Paul reminded all of us at Calvary what the point really is. In his sermon, "Jesus and the Wilderness" Paul walked through the beginning of Isaiah 40. Our comfort lies in the arrival of God. Isaiah 40 talks about God coming to the wilderness. A wilderness is a barren place of judgment, pain and condemnation. Our God is not intimidated by our wilderness. He chooses to show His grace in the least likely of places, a wilderness. You see, God, our King does not come to our palaces. He comes to our wilderness.

This Christmas season feels a bit like a wilderness. It feels broken, incomplete and barren. Perhaps your Christmas feels the same. Are you faced with loss, brokenness and sorrow this year? In the wilderness, the hype of Christmas seems to fall short, doesn't it? But the real hype of Christmas is exactly what you and I need this Christmas. On Christmas, we remember our Savior, our comforter coming to us.

Our little boy living in an orphanage is in a wilderness of his own this Christmas. More than anything, we pray that he would know the comfort that can only come from his true Savior. That's the only ultimate comfort any of us can have this Christmas. But it is a comfort worth getting excited about.