"Tidings of Comfort and Joy"

Many good people struggle with sadness during this holiday season. If you are among those please give yourself some grace and realize that you can't help how you "feel". I've never been one given to depression and dark thoughts but have walked with many through some dark days and learned to not judge them for how they feel because that is their reality. I may not understand it nor identify with it but my responsibility is to be a voice of hope. Case in point -

Jesus was challenged by a group of Sadducees (Jewish lawyers) who posed a question to him that they probably thought would paint him into a corner. Their question turned on a point of their interpretation of the Law regarding a widow who married seven brothers in succession as each previous one died. They wanted to know which of the seven would be her husband at the resurrection of the dead. In his characteristic way, Jesus ignored their legalistic question and left us a word of absolute hope:

     "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered
     worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry
     nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They
     are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the
     bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord, 'the God of Abraham,
     and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the
     living, for to him all are alive." Luke 20:27-38 NIV

Grieving isn't a bad thing, it's a healthy way of absorbing and ultimately dissipating sadness over the death of a loved one. Those Sadducees were too educated and intelligent to believe that dead folks can come back to life. I so appreciate Jesus' final comment in the above account and have shared it with thousands of grieving believers over the years - "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Please don't allow the enemy to rob you of the comfort and joy of the holiday season - celebrate the Son of God for the gift he has given to all who believe. We are "children of the resurrection" because through Jesus we are part of God's eternal family. AND to him "all are alive"! And that isn't just for this Christmas season alone but for every hour of every day of every year. HALLELUJAH!