Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
“Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us what He is.” – St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon(130 AD)
This year, God in his gracious providence has granted us the opportunity to live to celebrate another Christmas. As we celebrate with family and friends we need to ensure that we make time to celebrate before God with deep gratitude for his mercies especially the gift of his Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is God’s indescribable gift to us- the greatest and most undeserving gift that God has and will ever give to sinful rebels like us. The incarnation is an amazing miracle of divine mercy and grace. He is Immanuel- God with us!
The message of Christmas is that God in his extraordinary mercy and grace came down into the world taking on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ to do for us what we and no one else could ever do for us. He came to teach us the Truth, to suffer and die for us in order to save us from the penalty of our Sin and deliver us from the power of Satan and death, and to make us children of God so that we may live with him forever. Just as he came to dwell with us on earth at the first Christmas, he will at his second coming take us to dwell with him forever in eternal union. As Vladimir Lossky put it, “After the Fall, human history is a long shipwreck awaiting rescue: but the port of salvation is not the goal; it is the possibility for the shipwrecked to resume his journey whose sole goal is union with God”. In other words, God sent his Son not only to save us from the penalty of our sin which is an eternal Hell, he came to make us his children and unite us with himself in eternal fellowship and divine life.
Jesus also came to make the world a better place for us all. Here is how Dr Timothy D. Padgett put it: “What we must remember as we see this beautiful moment in the manger is that Jesus did not come for our souls alone. He did not come only that we might be saved from sin and death but so that we may be saved for holiness and life. He didn’t come to offer a get out of Hell free card, much less an escape from the world. He came that we might live as He had always intended. The salvation God provides extends to the fullness of the human experience in this world. When we follow the path of the Bible, we see the divine concern for art, politics, science, marriages, children, and anything else you might imagine”. That is good news for this broken world of ours.
Christmas season is indeed a season to rejoice in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to redeem us and a reminder to us to join him in his mission to redeem and change the world with his gospel. When we celebrate Christmas properly we will inevitably find ourselves praising and rejoicing in the Lord, preaching the gospel to lost sinners, and living a life worthy of the gospel – a life marked by gentleness, self-control, love of neighbor, the pursuit of peace, holiness of life, and the gift of kindness and grace to those who do not deserve our kindness or grace.
Lilian and I wish you a Merry Christmas. In Christ,
The Rt Rev’d Dr Felix Orji, is OSB Diocesan Bishop Anglican Diocese of the West (ACNA), Houston, Texas.
