Whew!  We made it!  Have you ever felt that way at the end of a roller coaster ride? I actually like roller coasters, but the last time I rode the Minebuster at Canada’s Wonderland I began to wonder how much longer the creaky thing would last!  As the train ground to a stop, I found myself agreeing with King Solomon: “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

Maybe that’s how some of you feel as yet another Christmas season wraps up. 

I really enjoy Christmas – family gatherings and all – but the older I get, the more I find myself enjoying the return to normalcy.

2011 is forever relegated to history. Now, as you review the year with its ups and downs, can you honestly say you’d like to do it again? I suspect the answer for most people would be “no.” And, probably for good reason, most of us are also glad though that we can’t see all that lies before us in 2012.  So we approach the New Year with a cautious optimism, knowing that just as previous years have come and gone leaving us somewhat intact, 2012 shall also pass.

This is where we can take great comfort in trusting God with our future. While most of us are pretty good at critiquing the past (hindsight is 20/20), none of us can predict with certainty what lies ahead. At best we can only make educated guesses based on the apparent course of history. Even the most informed predictions cannot take into account circumstances that lie beyond the limited scope of human control. But my faith in God soothingly informs my heart that where human knowledge ends, an eternity of divine wisdom, love and providential care is just beginning.

God cannot be quantified, contained or explained. If he could, he wouldn’t be God, after all. In the Bible, He declares, “…as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Simply put, God is infinitely beyond the radar of human intelligence and perception. Even religion itself (as a human construct) cannot grasp the divine nature.

But God has not left us without help. In the person of Jesus Christ, He revealed himself to us.  2000 years ago, He stepped into time and space clothed in human form, and in the person of Jesus, we have a living, walking, talking parable of God’s moral nature.  Further, by accepting His invitation to follow Him, we have an opportunity to experience fully in our hearts what our minds can’t begin to comprehend.

Jesus’ great invitation is to experience rest for our souls; to enter into a relationship with God by which our angst and concerns about the future are soothed by the heart-knowledge that God is holding us firmly in his hand.

King Solomon’s words, “better is the end of a thing than its beginning” is true concerning much of the past. But concerning the future, my policy is, “It’s better to put your trust in the One who knows the end from the beginning.” With faith in God, the future is always full of hope.

 “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…” (Isaiah 9:6)

As we pause to spend time with our families and friends again this Christmas, let’s be sure to make room in our hearts for the most important person of all—Jesus.  For all the celebrating that goes on in His name, isn’t it sad that He is excluded by so many during this widely anticipated (and conveniently renamed) “holiday season”?  This is an unfortunate reality that stems from the blindness and hardness of human hearts.  And it’s not a recent development; people are much the same as they were some 2000 years ago when the Apostle John wrote: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood” (John 1:5).  It’s all too obvious that this “darkness” is still present, but the Light of Jesus also continues to shine for the benefit of those who are being saved and who “are being transformed into his likeness” (2 Cor. 3:18).

Our prayer for CPC is that we would be more deliberate than ever in our pursuit of God’s Light.  May we draw inspiration from the Magi who relentlessly followed Bethlehem’s star just for an opportunity to worship at Jesus’ tiny feet.  They understood that He was more than just a baby and so they presented Him with the best gifts they could offer.  Jesus truly is “the light of the world” and if we, too, will offer our best—our lives—we will “never walk in darkness” and we will have “the light of life” (John 8:12).  What an awesome gift… and it’s within the grasp of anyone who has “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” God’s invitation to receive it!

More light than we can learn,
More wealth than we can treasure,
More love than we can earn,
More peace than we can measure,
Because one Child is born.
—unknown

May God richly bless you with the light of His presence this Christmas, and may the strength of Immanuel uphold you and be your guide in 2012.