December 23

Read: Acts 1:7-11

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people (Luke 2:10).

Holiness And The Christmas Message

This is Christmas week. We hear the joyous carols, we remember the angels who sang in Judean skies, and we worship with lowly shepherds kneeling before a manger. Our minds and hearts are absorbed with the story of the first Christmas. Our spirits thrill to the realization of the angel’s glad message, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.”

It is well that our spirits are warmed as we remember the familiar Christmas story. But Christmas will fall short of its full meaning unless we remember all of the story. God’s heavenly messenger declares that these good tidings “shall be to all people.” The greater the blessings that have come to us through the gospel, the greater is our responsibility to share these good tidings with others. We who have been to Pentecost have been richly blessed.

The Babe of Bethlehem was born in order that the Man, Christ Jesus, might accomplish His work in the lives of men. It was the Babe of Bethlehem grown to manhood who said to His followers: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” (John 15:16). We who are followers of Christ have been saved from our sins and filled with the Holy Spirit for a purpose that is broader than the mere enjoyment of our salvation. An essential part of being a Spirit-filled Christian is to share that joy with others.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing.

— Isaac Watts