The Christmas season is fully upon us. I have no idea how this happened, since it feels like only a few days ago I had 31 people at my house for Thanksgiving. I love hosting, but this was the longest day of my life. I am not at all opposed to going back to my growing up years, where I did absolutely nothing on Thanksgiving except show up with all my relatives at my grandparents’ house and proceed to plow through turkey and mashed potatoes until I was tipsy on tryptophan. Those were some good days.
Christmas is here whether we’re ready or not, and I pray it’s your best yet–not because your circumstances are the best they’ve ever been, but because you’re leaning into our Savior more than ever before (For some encouragement, check out this month’s special Christmas Cultivate Podcast). We have a choice this Christmas: to set our expectations on the inability of people and presents to meet our deepest longings, or to cast ourselves on Christ who is the fulfillment of our souls. I’m choosing Christ, and I hope you will, too.
As we prepare our hearts, I’m reminded of Gabriel’s words to Joseph in Matthew 1:21-23. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,’ which means ‘God with us’” (emphases mine).
Notice these two bookends regarding the name of Jesus.
The first is that He will save us from our sins (v. 21), and the second is that He will be with us (v. 23). I’ve read this account many times, but never noticed the marriage of God’s power to save and His intimate nearness. If He was only mighty to save but not mercifully with us, we would have a Deliverer but not a Friend. And if Jesus had merely drawn near to us apart from any power to save, we would have a Friend but not a Savior.
This time of year accentuates whatever place in which we find ourselves. If all is right in our world, the season is extra celebratory. How can eggnog, Christmas lights, and a month-long dose of sentimental music not make us feel extra hopeful? But if we’re walking through grief, loss or pain, these very same things only amplify our sorrow. So we take great comfort in our Savior, who is both strong enough to save and loving enough to have made His home with us. He is both Savior and Friend. I pray you are experiencing Him as both this year.
As we end this year together, I want to say thank you for all your encouragement and support. That you would go through my Bible studies, listen to my podcasts, and come visit me on the road is truly a gift to me.
Merry Christmas,
Kelly
*Download the graphics below to share on your socials. Don’t forget to tag @kelly_minter on Instagram and @KellyMinterAuthor on Facebook! Click the button below to open in a new tab, then right-click on the image to download.
WHAT THE FAMILY DINNER TABLE GAVE ME
Filmmaker and journalist Miriam Weinstein once asked in The Surprising Power of Family Meals: What if I told you that there was a magic bullet—something that would improve the quality of your daily life, your children’s chances of success in the world, your family’s...
DO YOU NEED A FRESH WORD?
For the past year and a half, I’ve been positively captivated by Matthew’s Gospel, specifically how he crafted the material about Jesus’ life in between Matthew 4:23 and 9:35. What Matthew states in 4:23 he repeats in 9:35: Jesus went all over Galilee “teaching in...
THE SIMPLE SECRET TO BEARING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). As followers of Jesus, we’ve all had the feeling of grasping for one of these fruits of the Spirit while wondering if we had a...
WHEN LIFE SEEMS COUNTER TO GOD’S WILL
I recently finished writing a Bible study on the life of Joseph. His story is captivating for countless reasons—we all “get” Joseph on some level. We can relate to him. We may never have had a multicolored robe that nearly cost us our lives hanging next to...
HONEYVINE MILKWEED AND THE SNEAKINESS OF SIN
I’m battling an invasive weed cropping up in my vegetable garden beds. It surreptitiously twists itself around my tomato vines while somehow looking like part of the team. It’s quick to grow and hard to root out. Its most troubling quality is its ability to blend in...
STUDY THE BIBLE FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS
I grew up in a church environment where a “Plan of Salvation” was regularly presented. If you prayed the sinner’s prayer, it was generally understood that no matter what happened from there on out, you were saved and good to go. Bibles were sometimes passed out with...
MOSES AND THE MUTUAL BENEFIT OF DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY
The concept of delegating isn’t a new one. Anyone who’s been a leader in any capacity knows that at some point you have to let go of certain pieces of your work. You realize that you can’t get to everything and you’re not good at everything. You see the idea of...
WHEN GOD’S BLESSING TAKES YOU ON A DIFFERENT PATH
I remember right where I was in my house. I was listening to Beth Moore give a message out of Genesis 17 and if I’m not mistaken I was listening to her by tape (as in those small plastic rectangles that used to go in tape recorders). I was in my early twenties and...
6 ESSENTIALS FOR SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH
Two years ago I began to hit a wall. I was run down and burned out. It wasn’t that I didn’t love the Lord or people anymore. It wasn’t that I’d lost my passion for God’s Word, teaching the Bible, writing, or taking mission trips to the Amazon and Moldova with Justice...
UNMET LONGINGS, HOPE AND CHRISTMASTIME
Most of us enter Christmastime with anticipation and dread, hope and jadedness, excitement and I’m-already-over-this. Perhaps for most of us, it’s a blend of all of these and more. You may not be able to tell where one emotion ends and the other begins, or even why....