Christmas is almost here! And as we prepare to travel, prepare to host, or prepare to get cozy a lot of feelings can come up. I believe the biggest reason we chase the nostalgia of Christmas so hard is because it all used to be so simple. It seems like the older we get the more complicated our emotions around the holidays (any holiday) becomes. Maybe this is your first Christmas after losing someone special. Maybe you’re stressed out trying to help your kids build the good memories you feel like you missed during your own childhood. No matter the reason it’s easy to feel the conflicted emotion of feeling down while you’re supposed to be celebrating.
We don’t usually talk about Revelation around Christmas, many see the apocalypse as kind of a downer. However, there is a passage that points us to hope for the future even in the midst of things feeling bleak. Revelation 21:3b-5a “‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with mankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”
God makes it clear throughout scripture that his desire is to dwell among the people. God wants to comfort us when we feel the troubles of this world become too much. To reconcile us, God sent Jesus to enter into the world and live with us. Through Jesus’s life and work we are able to see that God has made “all things new.”
One day we will cry our last tear of mourning, the pain of former things will have passed away. As we celebrate Christ’s entry into our lives, we can remember he came to recreate us.
All things grow, all things grow.