An Always "White" Christmas

"Today's Devotion" For December 3, 2005

Read: Isaiah 1:18-28; Revelation 19:11-16

AN ALWAYS "WHITE" CHRISTMAS

"Come now and let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Is. 1:18)

One of the classic Christmas songs of all time, at least in the United States, is the song "White Christmas." The phrase, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know..." give us the sense that the song writer found himself fondly remembering another time and place where Christmas saw snow on the ground instead of, shall we say, palm trees and sandy beaches. For those of us living in the northern tier of states where the weather turns cold, the leaves drop their leaves, and winter is a time of starkness and bleakness, snow gives a softening affect to the landscape. New fallen snow, especially, seems to add a feeling of purity to the world, covering, as it does, the dirt and pollution that so clutters our roads, streets, and environment. I can honestly say that a snowfall has a calming effect on my general disposition and bearing.

For many people living in the northern climes, not having snow for Christmas has often been a "downer." Certainly there are many who would prefer to never see snow again, but, for the most part, even among those who feel this way, a covering of snow at Christmas tends to enhance the celebratory atmosphere of the solemn feast of Jesus' birth. Moreover, the symbolism of snow as a picture of being cleansed of our sins by the Blood of the Lamb, is a tremendous and timely reminder of the reason God came to earth as a Man and took upon Himself the sins of all people of every time and place. What a marvelous reminder of God's grace, mercy, and love in Jesus for a lost and fallen world. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, God calls us to come to Him in repentance and have our sins removed so that we stand before Him pure and holy - forgiven sinners in Jesus Christ.

For us, as God's dearly beloved children in Jesus' Christ, every Christmas is a "White Christmas" because it's a celebration of our salvation that came to earth in the Christ Child. Each Christmas is a "White Christmas" regardless of there being snow on the ground, because each Christmas we are reminded in a special way, in the birth of the Christ, that God seeks our redemption and calls us to repentance, faith, and forgiveness. Each Christmas is a "White Christmas" no matter whether it's snowing or not, because each Christmas is a reminder that Christ came to wash us clean with His blood shed on the Cross so that we might be restored to our Father in heaven and have the sure and certain hope of eternal life in Him. As God's people in Jesus Christ, we don't dream about a "White Christmas," for we live a "White Christmas" every day of our lives as forgiven sinners washed in the blood of the Lamb. For us there most assuredly is "an always White Christmas. "

Prayer: Father, as I approach another celebration of Jesus' birth in the flesh so that He could suffer and die to take away my sins, I am filled with joy and anticipation. I'm filled with joy because You have declared me to be Your very own child, washed clean from my sins in the blood of the Lamb, just as the saints in heaven who were shown to John in his vision of Revelation. I stand before You, pure white - clean from every stain of Sin because of Jesus. I'm filled with the anticipation of sharing in this solemn feast with those whom I dearly love, along with Your whole Church on earth, and rejoicing together in the "White Christmas" that is ours by faith in Christ. Help me to keep the world at bay - to not be overcome by a Christmas celebration overwrought with materialism and excess - so that I may truly celebrate my salvation in Christ in a way that is a witness to Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness for everyone. Hear my prayer, gracious Father, for the sake of Jesus. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright ©2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.