Really finished?

© 2012 Julie Crane All rights reserved

 
Christmas shopping got done early this year. Made a list. Checked it twice. Gifts purchased online with a few handmade. Food for dinner tucked away in the freezer. Even cookies baked. Everything is wrapped. Delivered. And its still a week until Christmas Day! Maybe I should buy one more gift for... no! Maybe I should bake up some... no! I made the list. I checked it twice. I'm done. The time has come to relax and say all is ready. There is no more to be done. It's time to rest in the peace that knowledge brings. Fuzzy slippers. Hot cocoa. Crackling fireplace.

Jesus came to save. His blood covers every sin. God made "a list" and "checked it twice". All is complete in Christ. There is no more to be done. Stop running, thinking, trying to do more for the love, acceptance and salvation found in God's heart and hands. It's time to rest in the peace He brings.

Got Jesus in your heart? Then believe in the good news: Your salvation, freedom and peace has been won by His sacrificial love. God - always fully your Supplier, Provider and Perfecter. It is complete and perfect. It is finished. Really finished. Just as He said. (John 19:30)

Christ our Savior is born.

Be at peace. His love for you is complete, full, abundant and beyond measure. Most beloved child...

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. - Galatians 4:4-5

Oh, what a beauty!

 

Oh, how we love our decorated trees! Taking time to place the lights just so. Holding an ornament a moment longer - remembering a special person or place in time. Covering bare spots; realigning to cover dark areas... until at last you step back and sigh at the beauty of it all.

Once a brown, rough wood with sharp, spikey needles - now sawn off at the bottom, cut off, removed from its former environment and now in the process of dying...

But wait! In the adding of ornaments new and old; adding color and lights and shine, and a couple kindergarten so-much-glitter! spots - now new life, a new beauty has been created. Even in its state of dying. It is beautiful, heart-warming, full of love, light, with great memories.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We are new creations in Christ! Gone are the days of standing out in the deep, dark woods. We are now covered in light and love, laughter and smiles, and warm memories.

Covered... covered... covered...

from head to toe.

With a bright shiny star up above.

Imagine: this is what you must look like to God, clothed in Christ. No wonder He delights in you and rejoices over you with singing! (Zephaniah 3:17)

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you." (Isaiah 60:1)

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light... (Ephesians 5:8)

The old is gone.

Look! You are a new creation!

Rise and shine!

Oh, what a beauty!