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A CHRISTMAS EDITORIAL

"I CANT BREATHE!" has recently become the rally cry slogan of 2014. But what is the rally cry of the Biblically-informed, Gospel-changed, humble-bold believer? What should be emblazoned on our souls and trumpeted across the stratosphere? GOD WITH US! Emmanuel! Jesus, God with us who saves. But too often that slogan is practically rejected or denied.

We live in a time of super-sized expectations and microscopic returns. Where promises of fulfillment are seldom kept while packages keep arriving on our front door. Where Black Friday is now a month-long event, Cyber Monday lasts a week, and Green Tuesday is gaining momentum. Amazon delivers and souls remain empty. We have caved to our culture rather than cultivating a counter-culture to the glory of God.

Not as much like unreasoning animals, more like guilty addicts, we react by instinct to the trappings of a highly secularized holiday and are overcome with sentimental ideas of Christmas. We rush out with the masses, tripping at the altar of crass capitalistic commercialism, and consumption... wolfing down mass quantities of holiday trappings. As a result, our souls get squeezed out of shape by the multitude of bright and shiny collectable things that will someday all burn. We love Christmas, but hate what it has become.

God, who can restore what the locusts have eaten, can reignite a passion for Himself in your heart that is pulled by many magnet-like forces. Describe these forces however you'd like, but at the root they are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. Triplet enemies of revealed righteousness. They don't hold a candle to Jesus. Our rally cry "GOD WITH US! Emmanuel! Jesus, God with us who saves!" still stands.

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