My Final Advent Entry for 2022
Hal Habecker
Dec 26The Day After Christmas
December 26, 2022
Christmas and the days of the Advent season are completed and Christmas is history until the Advent season of 2023. The gift wrappings are in the trash and new gifts are being enjoyed. Time rolls on.
But Christmas isn’t past. Christmas is here 365 days of the year, 24/7. The apostle Paul said it this way; “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1.21). For me to live is Christmas every day of this coming year. Each new day brings with it the opportunities to "birth the life of Christ anew in my life."
It is our joy as believers to live Christ every day of every year. Christmas is not a season. Rather, Christmas is a way of living because Christ is our life. Christmas is a living relationship with the God of the universe who loves me and gave Himself for me.
He is our life whether we live or die.
He is our life in every relationship.
He is our life in our homes.
He is our life with the generations that follow us.
He is our life in our work.
He is our life in every hardship.
He is our life in every opportunity.
He is our life in every new day that God gives us.
He is our life with every resource He entrusts to us.
He is our life with the ways we use our minds.
He is our life with every ambition we have.
He is our life with every person we meet.
He is our hope in every tomorrow!
He is the reason for our giving mindset – He gave first.
I have always loved the lines of the hymn of St. Patrick with respect to our life in Christ.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of every one that see me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
So for the next 364 days, in the strength of the Spirit of God, we will say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ.”
Have a blessed 2023 and an early Happy New Year living for Jesus!