This has been a hard week and tonight I find myself processing a lot and wondering at life and death and all that it means and holds. How brief is this life? How grand is eternity? How consumed have I become with temporal things and fixated on things that just don’t really matter? All questions tossing around in my head.
I know, this is not the typical Christmasy, holly jolly post you would be expecting this season, but sometimes life happens —and so it has for us this week. Sometimes we feel the weight of this cursed world more than other times and are reminded of the brevity of our lives here. These past few days with sudden and tragic loss of several friends and being faced with hard life decisions, I am so grateful that He is Savior and that He came for us. Jesus, our rescuer, our victor came for us and He is coming for us. The Spirit brought to my attention this scripture and I find great comfort here tonight…
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
As I sit staring at the lights on my Christmas tree, taking in the wonder of this season… it’s meaning and beauty runs deeper in my veins. He came for us so that the sting of death could be swallowed up for good, forever. Our victory is so magnificent that even death doesn’t win. With so much pain circling around in my own tiny world, I know, more than ever, that this is a hard season for SO many who are grieving, who are alone, longing, hoping, missing, waiting…so much hard…and yet at the same time what a greater joy is this season to those who are waiting, missing, hoping, weeping to receive this gift of our greatest hope and eternal victory. The One who swallowed up death in Victory for us. Jesus, this Christmas story is so much more than a story or a season — this is everything. All encompassing, all surpassing, all we need — this is it and what it means for us is beyond good news! Death did not win. Sin has been defeated. Jesus won!
As my heart aches tonight for those known and unknown who are weeping, missing, longing even more my heart is rejoicing in Jesus and what that baby that came for us on Christmas means.