Christmas is About Reconciliation
Thursday (December 25)
Christmas is About Reconciliation
Psalm 133:1, 3
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! … It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!
Today is Christmas Day for you, and I bet you’ve sandwiched this devotional between a busy schedule. Maybe your day ahead will be filled with gift-opening and meal-prepping and even an uncomfortable dinner party with extended family members you’re not excited to see. Maybe there’s even bitterness in your heart that holidays like these bring out, and you can’t wait for mid-January when all the Christmas trees and Christmas lights and seasonal trappings get taken down. Christmas festivities are wonderful when families and churches are unified; but when there’s hurt and division, the festivities only accentuate it. Is there an empty seat at your table this year? Everyone’s got one. We’ve all had a close friend or relative who is now estranged. Maybe it happened over something small, like who they voted for, or what denomination they attend, or what sort of school they send their kids to; or maybe it happened over something great, like an angry outburst or a lie or a strong difference in conviction, so you left the church for another or refrained from attending the wedding or cut ties with the organization.
Well, Christmas is the day we set aside to celebrate afresh the wondrous mystery of Almighty God incarnating into our flesh and blood to become our brother, and to endure such a horrific, heroic travail to unify repentant men and women from every tongue, tribe, and nation under His unfailing banner of love. So, I suggest that one way to make the most of His sacrifice is to reconcile with those in your life with whom you’ve harbored a spirit of resentment or unforgiveness. As far as it relies on you, practice the reconciling principle at the heart of Christmas by extending an open arm to those who haven’t deserved it. Be the dew of Hermon at that family gathering today. Give the most precious, imperishable gift to your family members that you could ever give—one they can’t get at a store—by dwelling with them in the unity of the Spirit, full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
For Christ, the toil of reconciliation was worth dying for. What is it worth to you?