God's Gifts

Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner? Every year seems to go faster than the last one.  

Looking ahead to Christmas, I hope you can receive this email as a present from me. You might want to read the following out loud to yourself.

• I don’t have to be perfect.

• It’s ok to make mistakes.

• Life does not have to go the way I want it to go and that’s ok.

• I am not defined by any negative comments that come my way.

• I am blessed.

• I am loved, more than I even know.  

Truthfully, to fully receive this gift, you’ll have to give yourself a present too. You need to give yourself permission to believe everything I just said.

You need to forgive yourself.

I could have added more to the list above, but I think you see what I’m trying to express. We often look at the world, and ourselves, and forget who we truly are in Christ.

You are loved.  

9 This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. 10 This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins. (1 John 4, CEB)

Love is not a feeling. Love is not being treated a certain way by people close to you. Love is a gift given, and revealed, to you through the work of Jesus Christ.

You are forgiven.  

He carried in his own body on the cross the sins we committed. He did this so that we might live in righteousness, having nothing to do with sin. By his wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24, CEB)

You aren’t powerful enough to change God’s plans.

We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, CEB)

None of this is giving you permission to do whatever you want to do. What I hope you see is how often our own voices, and beliefs, get in the way of God’s truths.  

The gift is remembering to trust what God says is true.

Blessings, 

Pastor Matt