Thursday, December 16, 2004
In some ways I'm glad the three little Hutchcrafts aren't little anymore. When they were, the day before Christmas always meant assembling some "easy-to-assemble" toys. Yeah! And the day after? That usually meant fixing what was not easy-to-assemble in the first place. It seems the day after Christmas there was always something that was broken. Maybe there's some fixing that needs to happen in your life before Christmas.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I'm Dreaming of a Right Christmas."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2 right out of the Christmas Story, verses 13 and 14. You'll know these verses. "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'" Do you see what the result of Jesus' coming was supposed to be? There's a celebration in heaven announcing there will be peace on earth.
Maybe in one of your relationships that word peace doesn't apply at all this Christmas. Are you thinking of someone? It's a broken relationship or a breaking relationship. There's someone who has hurt you or who you have hurt. Maybe someone's left you, betrayed you, someone's turned on you, could be a person who has talked about you, disappointed you. It might be a relationship where you were the hurter and they're feeling alienated from you. Christmas is approaching, and in this dark corner of your life right now there's no peace in that part of earth for you. This is the time to fix what was broken. It will never be smaller than it is now. It will never be easier to fix than it is now. It's only going to get worse.
Right now this is a season when hearts are soft, when people's guards are down. If you're ever going to be able to put it together, this is it. Will you take the healing initiative - the peace initiative? Write that letter if that's what it takes to ask for the walls to come down. Make that phone call to that person. Send them an appreciation gift and attach that bridge-building note right now. Admit the mistakes if there's been any mistake on your part. Seek that new beginning and say, "Let's start a new volume in our relationship." What's the alternative? Hebrews 12:15 - "See to it that no one misses the grace of God. If any bitter root grows up among you, it will cause trouble and defile many."
That bitter root may be growing inside of you right now and it's causing trouble. It's going to affect other people and you will miss the grace of God because God's grace and your bitterness cannot co-exist. Start this battle for forgiving, for healing, on your knees, and then deal with any of it that's your fault. And then look for the needs behind the deeds of that person that has been your personal hurter. They've probably hurt you because they've been hurt. Look at them as a bleeding person, not just one who's caused you to bleed. Then go to the place where you can get forgiveness and that's the cross of Jesus Christ where the great Forgiver forgave you. The Bible says in Colossians 3:13, "forgive as the Lord forgave you." They may or may not respond, but you do what's right.
Very possibly this could be the beginning of a new and better chapter in your life. You can enjoy the peace of knowing that this Christmas will be a right Christmas.