Christmas Means . . .

Christmas is just three days away; while we are likely busy finishing up with Christmas activities; children's programs, Christmas parties, special lessons, family activities and even last-minute shopping, don't forget in all your busyness to stop and remember what Christmas actually means!

To me, Christmas means . . . 

• I not only receive forgiveness; but I am able to live as a free person who is able to generously forgive others!
• I am free from feeling like I have to point a finger at others . . . in fact, I need to be sure I do not do this as Jesus said not to judge others!
• I am free to love others as I have been a person who has received this great and amazing love!

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, but it is so much more than this! Christmas is about us being free people and if we really lived as people who understood the freedom with which God's love and forgiveness has blessed our own lives, we would love others as Jesus did; with abandon! We would not be harsh, condemning or abrasive; as far too many Christians are. We would be people who; like Jesus, were called the "friends" of "sinners"!

Jesus loved others. He was not harsh or unkind in His words or actions. If we accurately reflected Jesus to others, we would be loving to others. Christmas means we are free to do exactly this; and model it to the children in our ministries!