*Day 25 - Christmas Day*

^{It's Christmas!} 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. -John 3:16-17

This little passage contains the secret to life. It isn’t the things we get wrapped up in at Christmas… it’s Jesus. God sent his only son into this world so that whoever would believe in him would have eternal life in Heaven. God didn’t send Jesus to this world to condemn us, but rather, he sent Jesus to save us from our sin.

God, in his love, sent his son Jesus to reconcile us to him. Our relationship with God is restricted by a chasm of sin. Jesus is the only way to reconcile that great divide. When we believe in Jesus, he is the bridge that closes the gap. We then have the hope of an eternity with the Creator… the Great Shepherd.

We, like his sheep, need this. We are desperately floundering in our sin, and Jesus is the only one who can rescue us from it. He shepherds us, provides for us, loves us… he went so far as to die for us.

So today, stop what you’re doing, and think about your eternity. Think about your forever… where will you spend it? “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”—Romans 10:9.

Do you really want to spend eternity apart from the one who made you? The one who loves you? The one who tends to your needs as a shepherd tends to his flock? For the last 25 days, we have studied how God works in mysterious ways. We have seen him orchestrate amazing things in people’s lives. We’ve heard story after story about how we are like sheep and God is our amazing Shepherd. Do you want that forever? I sure hope you do.

Jesus is like a shepherd who has left the 99 to go find 1 lost sheep… come home to the one who wants to love you.

May you always remember why we have so much to celebrate this time of year. We have an incredible hope for our future… with one who loves us tenderly, as a shepherd loves his sheep.

Merry Christmas, and may God bless you!

Esther