Young Adults' Group

Celebrating The Birth Of Christ

by Pastor Mark
December 24, 2014

The celebration of Christmas

It is Christmas and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Blessed and Merry Christmas. We thank God that we can celebrate Christmas at all. As we remember the glorious birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with joy as we appreciate all that Christ came to do for us. He came to bring light to a world of darkness. His purpose was to bring hope to a world of suffering. He came to bring salvation to a world of sin. We have every reason to rejoice this Christmas. Yet we recognise that not everyone will find themselves in the best of circumstances to celebrate Christmas.

Celebrating Christmas in hard times

We may find ourselves in an adverse situation which makes the celebration of Christmas somewhat more difficult. The prophet Jeremiah found himself in a difficult situation as he was thrown into prison for speaking the word of God. Not only that, God told him to buy a piece of land from his uncle, which he did. (Jeremiah 32:7-8) This would seem like a very unwise undertaking as Jerusalem was under siege by Babylon and was about to be destroyed, as prophesied by the Lord. Nevertheless, Jeremiah secured the purchase. The Lord had instructed Jeremiah to buy a piece of land with the understanding that Jerusalem will be restored one day to Israel, “House and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” (Jeremiah 32:15)  We recognise that exercising faith in the Lord’s Word is not easy.

Bringing our struggles to God in prayer

Jeremiah brought the struggle of his circumstances to the Lord in prayer. One key truth that Jeremiah focused on was that, “There is nothing too hard for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17) He made this declaration based on his understanding of who God is. He created the heavens and the earth by His power. He is the loving and great God who oversees all things. He demonstrated His awesome powers through signs and wonders in Egypt. These things revealed that there was nothing too hard for the Lord. Yet as Jeremiah saw the siege and the impending destruction of Jerusalem, he struggled with the purchase of the piece of land. (Jeremiah 31:25) It is sometimes challenging to apply our knowledge of God to our present harsh realities. Maybe we are going through our own fair share of struggles during this Christmas time. Let us be challenged to bring our struggles to the Lord in prayer.

“Is there anything too hard for Me?”

I very much like the response of the Lord to Jeremiah’s struggle. He told him, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:26) When we go through struggles, it is always good to listen to the Word of God. The Lord assured Jeremiah, “Is there anything too hard for Me?” The obvious answer to this rhetorical question is a definite “No”. While the Lord would have to bring Israel through those difficulties for the wrong that they had done, He assured Jeremiah that He would gather them from all countries and bring them back to Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 32:38) The Lord would restore His people and He would be their God again. He would renew His everlasting covenant with them and to restore the land. He gave His assurance that man will buy fields for money again. (Jeremiah 32:40-44) As the Lord promised, He would fulfil accordingly as there isn’t anything too hard for Him.

God’s love seen in doing the impossible

This Christmas, no matter what adverse circumstances we may be in, let’s celebrate Christmas knowing that God extends His everlasting love to us and He seeks to help us in our lives even in doing the seemingly impossible, as there is nothing too hard for Him.

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