December 22, 2013

Here in the Welch household, we like to watch Hallmark Christmas movies.  Yes, from the end of November to Christmas day, those sappy, happily-ever-after programs grace our family room.  It is an escape from life’s tough days and dark nights.  Funny thing is that I have discovered that we are not the only ones who frequent this channel with feverish intensity.  So many people that I talk to say they have come to rely on these movies to get them through the stress of the holidays or turn off the sadness of the news or numb the paralyzing loneliness that this season can bring.  If you have never seen a Hallmark Christmas movie, they all have the same recipe:  one lonely man or woman finds love and acceptance in the most unusual place or circumstance.  It is seasoned with some humorous antidotes and the result is pure bliss.  I feel as though these movies are filling a void in our lives.

And then I get John 3:16 for my advent reading.  We all know it.  We see it on the rims of coffee cups, the bottom of Forever 21 bags, tattooed on the arms of athletes.  It is truly the ultimate Hallmark Christmas movie.  What can be better than God loving us so, so much that he sends his Son to save us?  Love and acceptance in a very unusual place and circumstance.  But being the flawed human being that I am, I often forget this passage or take it for granted.  I look for answers on channel 197, when all I have to do is believe channel 3:16.  This is huge.  This is really good news.  

 

There is a reason John 3:16 is such a popular verse.  It offers so much more than any Hallmark Christmas movie—it offers hope.  It offers a life raft when you are drowning.  It offers comfort when you are hurting.  It offers the gift of salvation.  It offers truth. 

I think we all get overwhelmed during this season.  The holidays are not always easy for everyone and sometimes it brings to light things we hide in the darkness.  And sometimes I forget that I am just a foreigner here on this planet.  I, we, everyone have been given an incredible gift in Jesus Christ.  Believing that Jesus came to save the world and believing in Him does not give you a happy ever after life here on earth, but it does give you an eternity of bliss.  I think I need to change channels.

Lori Welch