Zephaniah 3:17 says, “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
“This is no ordinary love the prophet is referring to. It is mighty. It is like holding more roses than you can wrap your arms around. It is beyond your wildest dreams. It rushes in like Niagara Falls. God lavishes us with so much more than we could ever deserve. But why does He do it? It is because His Glory is revealed when He shows us a love so mighty, powerful, and pure that you find yourself wanting Him even more.”
“God wants you smitten. Dumbfounded. Flat-out taken.” (taken from Glory Revealed by David Nasser, page 22)
Many years ago, God demonstrated His Glory in the most peculiar way. His Son, who is also God, became like you and me, only to die at a young age of 33. God knew that man is going to reject His Son, and He still had Jesus leave heaven and enter our world which is dark, evil, and full of hatred.
Why? Because we are eternally separated from God because of sin, and God couldn’t bear the thought of leaving us in our helpless state. His love is too great to simply leave us alone to die.
By sending Jesus to lay down His life, God bridged the gap between hell and heaven. You can now personally embrace His love every day. He even takes it a step further. You can embrace His love moment-by-moment! God gives of Himself a third way, by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enters into you when you receive God’s amazing gift of grace and love.
You are never alone from this day forward.
This Christmas, there is a gift under the tree that is especially for you. Open it and take hold, I mean, really grab on and don’t let go of what is inside of it! There will be many distractions that will keep you from what this gift will do for you. You will find that it will be easy to put down and forget. Don’t let that happen! This gift is one that you keep with you forever.
It is the gift that keeps on giving.
My husband is experiencing such a gift. Five years ago, my niece had some fun with him. Rob and Sara like to play jokes on each other. Sara put confetti in Rob’s clothes, hiding it in pockets. Rob would find confetti at random times in random places, like socks. He figured he had found all the confetti for he hadn’t found any in a very long time. Well, last night, Rob found confetti in a pair of socks, apparently ones he hasn’t worn in five years!
God’s love is like hidden confetti. It springs up when you least expect it to remind you what God has done for you. God allows bursts of confetti to shower you when distractions are crowding around you or when you need a reminder that you are a child of God.
God understands the battle between our flesh and following Him. For 33 years, Jesus experienced loneliness, happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, hurt, etc. He is more than capable of helping us with whatever we face. Like Zephaniah said, Jesus not only calms your fears, but He also rejoices over you for He delights in you.
He celebrates the very life He gave you with you.
May this Christmas season be one of exuberant joy. God is smitten by you. He wants you to see Him the same way. Together, you both make a beautiful love story for the world to see.
Carol J German 