You get 51 tips/year from me to help you thrive and survive at work and at home.
You get one per year at Christmas, telling you why it all matters to me.
I believe that Christmas marks the turning point in human history, when God injected Himself into history in the person of Jesus to come to earth and solve the sin problem that plagued mankind since creation.
If you’re violently opposed the Christmas story, I assume you’re not reading this because my title warned you and you clicked away. But maybe you believe the Christmas story to be a tale on the order of Cinderella: nice for those who believe but not historically true.
A friend mentioned to me awhile ago that he just lost interest in Christian faith. So if you’ve never considered it, or just lost interest, consider some stats.
Studies show that practicing Christians:
- are consistently associated with lower risk of depression, anxiety, suicide, reduced cardiovascular disease, and death from cancer
- live 4 years longer on average
- display increased civic involvement
- experience lower levels of divorce, and higher levels of marital satisfaction (Bradley R.E. Wright, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites … and Other Lies You’ve Been Told, (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2010), p. 133)
I could go on and on. I picked out these stats from a quick google search. You can do the same.
Consider that I begin every day believing that:
My life has purpose, there’s meaning in my suffering, that God loves me and watches over me every day, and that when I die, I walk through a doorway to a new amazing life, reunited with loved ones who died before me.
Let’s say I’m wrong. What have I lost? Wouldn’t everyone want that to be true?
Compare that with a different message on tap (and that our kids absorb daily)
They are told that they evolved by pure chance from a glob of protoplasm on a planet the size of a speck of dust in the universe, that what they perceive as love is just a chemical reaction in their brain, that they have no purpose, that nothing has any ultimate meaning, and that when they die they’ll be thrown in a hole like a dog and it will all be over.
Which is the better message? Which leads to human flourishing?
Here’s my suggestion this Christmas. Go back to the primary documents and read the actual Christmas story. Ask God to reveal it to you. See if it resonates with your heart. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Start here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%202:1-20&version=NIV
And to everyone of any (and no) faith, I wish you a very sincere
Merry Christmas!
