A reprint of a former post....May you be Blessed the Christmas with the Father's Gift of Love!

Operation….Christmas Andrew!

Tis' the season of Christmas...gloriously  filled with all the sights and sounds of this special holiday with its twinkling lights, candy canes, sleigh bells ringing, children singing ...I am sure that you get the picture; however, the center of this season is and always should be the celebration of the birth of Christ. For each of us that profess to be a “believer” and call ourselves “little Christ”, we know that the birth of Christ is sacrosanct to our faith for it lays the foundation for us…it shows us that our God loved us enough to make himself one of us and to give his life for us so that we might forever live with Him.

EMMANUEL…GOD WITH US!!! Unfortunately, too many of us, on too many occasions fail to make this holiday a celebration of the birth of Jesus and his arrival among us; rather we toddle along with the world’s view that Christmas is about the money not the manager. We set aside our beliefs to satisfy our desires for pleasure and pride. Our gifts are about us and not about our spirit of giving.

What is the greatest thing you could do to bring about change in the life of someone this Christmas?

You should become a “Christmas Andrew!”

 John 1: 35-41 tells us how; “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”  “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.  Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.

Did you catch that? Andrew spent the day with Jesus and then he went to get his brother, Peter….WHY? So that he might introduce him to the Savior …The Messiah …God’s fulfilled promise of EMMANUEL.

Today, if you take a look around in your sphere of influence, there is a family member, a close companion at work or a nearby neighbor that for Christmas and all its pleasures and pageantry… they have become fixated on the familiar rather than focused on the Forever! They have become inoculated to the true meaning of Christmas and they need a Christmas Andrew…someone, who in love and gentle encouragement, will remind them that Jesus is the reason that we celebrate this season…or maybe, they don’t know the babe of Bethlehem at all.

It is your choice and you can be the “Andrew” that takes them to meet the Savior. You can share with them the joy that comes from knowing the true and living Messiah….Emmanuel. Then, they too can come to know that Jesus loves them and gave his life to ransom them from their sins. For the true message of each Christmas season is really quite simple….FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE…..WHAT WILL YOU GIVE THIS CHRISTMAS?

Give the greatest gift that anyone can give at Christmas...give YOURSELF... totally surrendered to your Heavenly Father. Be a Christmas Andrew and bring those you love to worship the babe in the manager….

Seeking to Share….Praying to be an Andrew,

WPQ

 

Poem for the day:

Christmas is a wondrous time

There’s always much to do;

But the greatest gift that you can give

Is to be a Christmas Andrew.

So seek to share the good news;

Tell others of the babe who came...

To heal the broken and discouraged;

The crippled and the lame.

This babe sent down from Heaven

With us as man to dwell...

The blessed Christ child with us,

OUR LORD...EMMANUEL!!!

 

WPQ © Dec 2017