The Twelve Days of Christmas: Hope at Christmas

Today I'm thrilled to be participating in The Twelve Days of Christmas blog tour hosted by Faith P. This is her second year of gathering bloggers who share various Christmasy posts with the blogging world during the twelve days previous to Christmas. (December 14-25.) There are giveaways, book releases, traditions and recipes shared, favorite Christmas books and movies, etc. A “what Christmas means to me” post is coming soon on Faith's blog. Due to how busy life is, this will likely be my only post during this time.

In trying to decide what to post about, I looked through my list of ideas I've gathered over the last few years. I saw one about hope that I had planned on doing last year but didn't. Lately hope has been coming up all over the place so it seemed a fitting time. Enjoy!

Hope. One word. So important. So full of comfort.

Have you ever watched Christmas movies, read Christmas books, seen Christmas cards, etc. with this continuous theme? Why is hope such a frequent topic in this season? The answer: Jesus. When the almighty God gave up his throne and came to earth in human form, that gave all of mankind the ultimate hope—hope of eternal life! Of forgiveness. Of love. Hope was born at Christmas. The very essence of Christmas is hope.

Romans 8:18 reads, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Because of Christmas, Christians have hope for beautiful future glory. Hope is what gets Christians through difficulty. They know that their present sufferings are nothing compared to God's greatness, love, and forgiveness. By becoming man and sacrificing himself for us, Jesus tore the divide between man and God so Christians have the hope that there is more than just this life. Their hope is in God—the only one worthy.

Live your life with the constant hope and longing for the day when we will meet Christ and spend forever with Him. Most of all, because we as Christians have this hope and so many others don't, share it! Share the good news! Let the world know that they do have hope if only they choose to embrace it. Imagine how wonderful it would be if everyone who is now living hopelessly discovers that there is hope. That is the Christians' purpose while on this earth. Share this hope that we have because of what Jesus did for us.

Isn't it wonderful? We have hope because of Christ's gift to us. Jesus bridged the gap that separated us from God. Now we know that if we accept his gift, we can live forever with Him in a perfect kingdom ruled by the most High! Praise be to God for giving us this hope.

Be sure to visit Faith's blog for a list of other bloggers who are doing other Christmas-related posts. Thank you for including me, Faith!

Please stop by Jesseca Dawn's blog to see her newest published Christmas story!

Also, be sure to visit my blog to see my new wintertime layout! And don't hesitate to let me know if the font is too difficult to read. Thanks!

Merry Christmas, friends!