Friday, December 16, 2005

On TV news shows, we've begun to see again the faces of men and women in their combat fatigues, sending Christmas greetings home from wherever they're deployed in the world this season. It's one of the hard things about Christmas. And it's been true every Christmas for a long time. Soldiers who won't be able to be home this Christmas - men and women for whom "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is just a song.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Christmas Far From Home."

At Christmas, many people are on a mission that has taken them far from home. Ironically, the Christ of Christmas knows that feeling all too well. The baby born that first Christmas was very far from home. The angels who brought His birth announcement didn't want us to miss who this was in that stable - "A Savior ... He is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11 ) they said. "Savior" - God's Rescuer - sent to save you and me. "Christ" - that's the Messiah God promised. "The Lord" - the word means the Controller, the One who runs everything.

But this Son of God had to leave heaven and come to a world in rebellion against Him; a long way from home. He came on the most important mission in history - to give the people He had created a chance to get right with the God that we hijacked our lives from. Like a person trapped in the rubble of a violent earthquake or in a burning building, we're going to die unless a rescuer comes. We can't dig ourselves out. If any religion, if any good thing we can do could ever pay our sin-bill with God, believe me, Jesus would have never left home. He would have never carried His rescue mission all the way to that brutal death on a cross.

His mission is described in 25 of the most important words in the Bible, in John 3:16 , our word for today from the Word of God. You may have heard these words a thousand times. You may have never heard them. Would you listen to them this time as if your life depends on them? It does. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 ). It's a verse you need to put your name in - in the blanks that I'll leave this time. "God so loved _________ (there's your name) that He gave His one and only Son, that if _________ will believe in Him, then __________ shall not perish but have eternal life." You're the reason He left home. You're the reason He went all the way to a cross. He loves you. You were His mission.

Jesus was far from home in that manger that first Christmas. He was even farther from home on Good Friday. The Bible says He actually "carried our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24 ). On the cross, Jesus was actually cut off from God His Father so you would never have to be - so you could have heaven. Our sin is why our heart has been searching for home all these years, because home is the love relationship with God that only Jesus can give us.

And today, that stirring you feel in your heart, is the Man who died for you, drawing you to Himself. You can't come to Jesus when you feel like it. You come when God's drawing you or you don't come. And this season when we celebrate His coming to earth for us, He's working in your heart to open your life to Him.

This Christmas season can be the celebration, not only of Jesus' coming to earth, but of Him coming into your life. If you'll tell Him, "Jesus, I want what You died to give me. I'm done driving my own life - You were supposed to, and You're going to. Beginning right here and right now, I am Yours." If you want to begin this incredible love relationship with Jesus Christ, I encourage you to go to our website. It's yoursforlife.net. You can read or listen to exactly how to get started with Jesus. Or you can call toll-free 877-741-1200. We'll send you a printed copy of my booklet, Yours For Life. The website is yoursforlife.net. The phone number: 877-741-1200.

Wherever you are this Christmas, your heart can be home - because you finally belong to Jesus. He left home so you could find home.