Sarrie. Sarrier. Sarriest!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas

this is not another boring post, so please please please read on.

christmas.

it's not about the food; it's not about santa; it's not even about presents. it's about God sending his son to die for us; it's about Christ turning the war on the devil; it's about him giving us hope and a chance.

i'm sure all you guys have heard this famous verse: 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not periesh but have eternal life.' [john 3:16]

but that's the problem with hearing [or reading] something so often. it loses its meaning. so pause awhile and consider this verse and all its implications.

For God [the greatest being] so loved [the greatest love] the world [the greatest multitude] that he gave [the greatest gift] his only begotten Son [the greatest sacrifice], that whosoever [the greatest opportunity] believes in him [the greatest promise] shall not [the greatest certainty] perish [the greatest punishment] but [the greatest difference] have eternal life [the greatest reward].

amazing, isn't it, that such a simple verse can carry so much meaning. there's more.

breaking it down into smaller parts, there's the word love. its original greek word is agape. something interesting to note: the greek language is very comprehensive, they have many different words for love, from brotherly love to the love between husband and wife. agape signifies the greatest love of all, unconditional love. it requires nothing on our part, and nothing we do can make God love us less.

and then there's the word world. its greek word is kosmos, and translated it means the ungodly multitude. it refers to the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ. we turned away from him, rejected him, even crucified his son. and yet God still loves this world so much. it sounds too good to be true, but guess what? it is true.

yet people ask, just how much is that much? sufice to say, God sent his son into the chaos of this world. Christ humbled himself and took on the body of a mere man, come here to serve when it is him the angels serve up in heaven. he did this so this love is available to everyone, not just the powerful and influential. just think, Jesus was born the son of a lowly carpenter, a job which at that time did not have much status. and how sad is it, that the sole purpose of the birth of an innocent child is to die? and this barely even begins to cover how much he loves us.

and with this love comes the greatest promise of all, eternal life. all we need to do is simply to believe. if we don't, the bible states very clearly that we will perish. why? because the wages of sin is death [romans 6:23]. God hates sin so much; as long as we have sin in us it's impossible to get into heaven. don't misunderstand, he doesn't hate it because he is this prissy being. he hates it because sin causes us hurt and suffering, and it pains him so to see us like this.

so now there's a problem. God loves us so much and wants to see us in heaven, but because man has sined and turned away from him, it becomes impossible. but don't doubt God. he has his master plan all laid out, even if we don't know it.

God gave us his only begotten son. it's a huge sacrifice on his part. when you give in abundance it's just giving, but when you give in poverty, it's a sacrifice. God has only one son, immersurably precious to him. yet he sent him to earth, to bear the sin of all mankind, past, present and future. our God is a holy god, and he cannot stand sin. have you wondered why just before Jesus died, he cried out 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' , translated as 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' [matthew 27:46]. that's because of all the sin he was bearing at that moment, which caused God to turn away from him. and the amazing thing is, Jesus knew this would happen, yet came to earth willingly because of his great love for us.

and just to be clear, Jesus did not come into this world to judge us. if you read on, in john 3:17, it says 'for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.' if he came here to judge us, we would have all been found guilty, for no man is free of sin except Jesus. instead he came to deliver us, to give us a chance at eternal life.

in so doing, he opened the way to heaven. so now, as long as we believe, just this simple, simple act of believing, no strings attached, we are guaranteed a place in heaven. we have done nothing to deserve this, yet God has bestowed this great gift on us. all because of his unconditional love for us.

God's love is so immense, and we are so fortunate to have it. but there are still people out there who haven't been given this chance to experience his love, and everyday countless people die without accepting this gift.

today God spoke to me, what are you doing to spread this good news? so here i am, with this blog entry, hoping that you will be touched by it. credit goes to paster edwin wong [yea that fat guy who used to be our school's chaplain] for inspiring me with his sermon this christmas day. this is loosely based on his sermon, and i was worried i wouldn't be able to type it to my satisfaction, since i have the memory of a goldfish [mei will vouch for this :P]. but as i typed, the words just flowed. there were difficulties, like how i am typing now with a really bad headache since my specs broke and i can't see a thing properly, and also some uncertainties if what i was typing was biblicly correct, though that was solved by a simple yahoo search which turned up countless christian sites.

so to all you people reading this, what are you doing to spread the good news?

7:34 PM; sarrie~