Immanual

Today is Christmas. Blessed Christmas to you all!  For some of us, Christmas presents are already unwrapped due to an early Christmas celebration.  Perhaps, for some of you today is the big day for opening presents.  For others you do not plan to celebrate until later in the month or even into the new year.   In all the celebrating let's not forget the real meaning of Christmas on this special day.  

For all of us, the year 2022 is almost over.  Year 2022 certainly has had it's challenges, but there has also been huge blessings.  Now we look ahead to year 2023 with it's challenges and blessings.  Psalm 62 talks about trusting the Lord at all times.  Psalm 62:8 says, "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge."   Psalm 62 tells us that in God alone we find our rest, hope, and salvation.  He alone is our rock, refuge, and fortress which can not be shaken.  He is a strong and loving God.  

Circumstances may be difficult, and people may fail us, but God will always be with us.  We can always trust the Lord. The Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament calls Jesus, Immanuel, which means "God with us."  (Immanuel is also sometimes spelled Emmanuel.)  

God is with us because Jesus came to this earth as a baby.  He was God incarnate revealed to us.  He then lived a perfect life for us that we can't live and finally died to pay the penalty for our sins.  He rose again and is now in heaven, but He is still present with us through the Holy Spirit.  So the book of Matthew begins with a promise that God is with us.  The Gospel of Matthew also ends with a promise that God will surely be with us "to the very end of the age."  What a precious promise! 

Let's carry that precious promise with us as we seek to live out the last days of 2022, and as God ushers in the new year, 2023.